Fears new towns plan would create ‘deprivation doughnut’ in Gloucestershire
New towns are being proposed to meet housing targets
There are fears the construction of two new towns in West Gloucestershire will lead to a “doughnut of deprivation” in the Forest of Dean.
Council chiefs are due to recommend their new strategy for the area’s new blueprint for development in the district.
The new local plan would be valid until 2045, if approved, and would set out how they intend to meet a new housing target of more than 13,000 homes during that time.
The preferred approach of the Green Party leaders in Coleford is for one or two new settlements to be built and housing and employment development to be concentrated in the main towns.
The suggested hybrid strategy would also include modest growth in larger villages and villages.
But there are concerns the district’s geographical constraints would mean the new settlements would be on the edge of the district – and mostly populated by commuters heading out of the Forest.
Independent Councillor John Francis (Longhope and Huntley), who was previously involved in a successful campaign to get council chiefs to drop plans for a new garden town in Churcham, believes the latest plans would not provide homes where they are needed.
“It’s the wrong place for the housing need,” he said.
“We are in a situation where we are being dictated to by the Government for housing targets which are untenable.
“There is a solution where we could use the housing numbers to reinvigorate our rural communities.
“If you increase the housing numbers at Forest towns by 12 per cent, and then put a larger conurbation in Lydney to take advantage of the train station and main road, that would leave you with about 2,000 houses to spread around the district and reinvigorate our communities.
“We should look at multi-use developments where we can attract people to work in their own communities and live and not travel outside those communities.
“Any large settlement wherever it is in the district, is going to cause a deprivation doughnut for the Forest of Dean.
“They are going to be on the outside and people are going to travel away from the Forest, leaving the Forest towns to wither and die in the centre.
“I term it as a deprivation doughnut.”
The Forest of Dean District Council’s cabinet is due to consider the local plan strategy at their meeting tomorrow (November 6) ahead of a debate at full council on November 13.