Tewkesbury Borough Council has adopted its new Local Plan, which will improve the quality of life in the area, after a report was constructed that tested the soundness of the plans.
The Tewkesbury Borough Local Plan will earmark sites that will receive new housing, jobs and other forms of development, that will be crucial over the next decade. General policies have also been designed to ensure the improvement of quality of life in the borough by maintaining the things that are already special about the area, as well as setting standards that others can follow.
Leader of Tewkesbury Borough Council, Councillor Rob Bird, said:
“Adoption of the Tewkesbury Borough Plan is a major success for this council and our area. Development planning affects everyone, and as one of the fastest growing areas in the country, there is huge demand for new housing here, and competing pressures on land availability.
This new, sustainable approach is our answer to effectively managing these demands, which impact on residents and businesses alike, and will facilitate natural growth, thriving communities and prosperity. The inspector’s approval of our plan delivers certainty for sustainability for sustainable development, and I would like to thank everyone in our community who took the trouble to help shape the outcome.”
The wide range of issues being covered by the new local plan include:
- Protecting the Green Belt and promoting nature recovery
- Carefully managing flood risk
- Providing affordable housing and local jobs
- Insisting on good design and protecting quality of life in existing neighbourhoods
- Introducing minimum space standards for new dwellings
- Resisting the loss of local shops and pubs
- Providing broadband connections to new developments
- Encouraging installation of electric vehicle charging points
- Extending cycle networks and making improvements to public transport
- Protecting historic and archaeological sites and promoting tourism
- Improving Tewkesbury and other retail centres
- Providing new sport and recreation facilities including preserving canal and former railway lines.
With the overarching theme of these developments being the aim to improve the standard of life in the area, this local plan is in fitting with the current push to level up parts of the country, provide opportunities and decrease the level of depravity in many places. New jobs, better quality homes and increased business in the area will only help achieve this.
Over the course of the last five years, the council has welcomed the views of residents, businesses and other organisations, and has carefully considered the thousands of individual comments made, whilst last year a government inspector held a series of public hearings to examine the soundness of the council’s plans. The report was received in April 2022 and confirmed that the Local Plan could be legally introduced, although a number of changes would need to be made.
The Tewkesbury Borough Local Plan was formally adopted by councillors at a special meeting on Wednesday 8th June and has taken immediate effect in guiding how individual planning applications will be considered.
