Flats get approved despite traffic fears (From Gazette Series)

Flats get approved despite traffic fears

A CONTROVERSIAL development at The Malt House in Bear Street, Wotton-under-Edge, has been given the go-ahead despite warnings that the adjacent road is "really dangerous".

Stroud District Council's development control committee on Tuesday approved an application to create 12 new flats and alter the access onto the site.

But Wotton ward councillor Paul Smith (Lib Dem) said he was deeply concerned the development could cause "major gridlock" in the town.

Cllr Smith, who last month prompted the committee to send a sites inspection panel to the proposed development, spoke at length in an attempt to persuade his fellow councillors to turn down the application.

He said: "I do find it incredible that Gloucestershire County Council has come back and accepted the revised Old Town/Bear Street junction lay-out.

"When their experiment with the cones was put on I stood watching what was happening to the traffic. It was conducted at 9.30am and even at that time it was causing complete gridlock."

As well as pointing out the way in which the roads were congested by the proposed road lay-out, he paid particular attention to the dangerous nature of the access.

Added Cllr Smith: "The entrance to the development is really dangerous. I don't think it is a safe access and I don't think it is a particularly desirable access.

"That junction can get clogged up at the best of times with heavy vehicles taking a short cut between the M4 and the M5 - this is going to cause major gridlock in the town.

"I reiterate the view of Wotton Town Council when I say that we want to see a refusal on the grounds of highway safety."

His views were partly backed up by Cllr Dennis Andrewartha (Lib Dem, Cam West), who agreed with many of Cllr Smith's points, but was concerned refusal on these grounds could be easily overturned on appeal at a cost to the council.

Cllr John Marjoram (Green, Stroud Trinity) though, thought it could be worth trying to reject the application, saying: "Sometimes the county council can be wrong and we have won appeals before with independent advice."

However, the vast majority of the other councillors did not see a valid reason to go against the view of the county council highways department.

Cllr Daniel Le Fleming (Con, Bisley) said: "There are really no grounds for opposing this application."

Councillors moved to follow the advice of the planning officers and give permission to the development - which was passed by nine votes to four.

Applicants Slater and Harrison can now go ahead with their project to convert The Malt House into ten flats and demolish and rebuild the west range to create a further two flats.