Fears town won’t cope as 195 homes plan is approved
There are concerns a picturesque Cotswold market town will not be able to cope with extra housing as controversial plans for 195 homes have been given the go-ahead.
A planning inspector has allowed Bloor Homes Western’s appeal against Cotswold District Council who refused planning permission for a new estate off London Road in Moreton-in-Marsh in October last year.
The district council did not contest the appeal after taking independent advice which suggested it would be very unlikely to win and risked further costs falling on local taxpayers.
The proposals were strongly opposed by the town councils in Moreton and Shipton-under-Wychwood and Bledington Parish Council.
And campaign groups Bledington Flood Group and Windrush Against Sewerage Pollution also objected with concerns over sewerage, drainage and flooding.
The development involves disposing of foul water by connecting to the existing wastewater treatment works which currently does not have the capacity to accommodate discharges from the new homes.
However, Thames Water has stated that the necessary improvement works can be achieved and has provided a likely timescale of 20 months for the implementation of such works.
And inspector Owen Woodwards granted the appeal stating that overall “it is clear that the adverse impacts of the proposal would not significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits”.
Moreton County Councillor Daryl Corps said he is incredibly disappointed and saddened by the decision.
The Conservative said he has spoken to countless residents about the plans in recent months who feel the town will not cope with the extra housing.
“The message I heard time and again was that people feel Moreton has already taken a significant amount of development and are concerned about whether local roads, infrastructure, public services and the wastewater network can cope with further large-scale growth,” he said.
“Those concerns have not disappeared today.”
He is disappointed that Cotswold District “effectively abandoned its opposition to the appeal at the last minute” which left local councils, community groups and residents to continue fighting the case.
And the councillor criticised the Labour Government’s decision to impose huge housing targets on rural areas like the Cotswolds.
“Once councils cannot demonstrate enough housing land, local communities find it increasingly difficult to influence planning decisions, with more and more being determined through the appeal process,” he added.
“The appeal may now be over, but my job is not. My focus will be on scrutinising every condition attached to this permission, challenging any attempt to weaken infrastructure requirements, and making sure Moreton is not left carrying the burden of growth without the roads, services and wastewater capacity to support it.”
The Government has previously pledged to build 1.5 million new homes during this Parliament and they claim to have already reversed the anti-supply measures in the national planning policy framework.
And they have said that building thousands more good-quality homes in every region is the only way to fix the current situation where families are stuck in temporary accommodation and young people are locked out of home ownership.