Concerns over potential 130 home development in Dursley (From Gazette Series)

Dursley Town Council raise concerns about a potential 130 home development in Woodmancote, Dursley

8:30am Saturday 23rd February 2013 in News By Daniel Chipperfield

CONCERNS have been raised about the environmental impact a 130-home development could have in Dursley.

Dursley Town Council members expressed a number of reservations about the proposed 4.9 hectare site on fields in Woodmancote and its effect on the local wildlife and countryside at a planning meeting on Tuesday, February 19.

Planning consultants Bell Cornwell LLP, who have yet to decide whether to submit a planning application for the site, asked the council and a number of other bodies whether they believed an environmental impact assessment was required on the area off of Ganzell Lane.

In response, councillors produced a long list of potential issues, with residents close to the potential development also pitching their concerns at the meeting.

Cllr Fiona Firth said that drainage could be a problem and that it had been highlighted to her that it could be an area of archaeological importance.

"I would say that there’s a lot of water running through there. There's a spring and a lot of ground water when it has been raining," she said.

"I have been in contact with a senior archaeology officer, he is concerned that there is quite a high chance of significant finds there."

Councillors and residents also made remarks about the high wildlife count along the hedgerows found on the green field site, including a number of different bird species, slow worms as well as deer, foxes and badgers.

Mike Griffiths, of Shakespeare Road, which is adjacent to the site, also expressed his worries about drainage and increased traffic.

"Once it rains we get very wet soil, it is probably clay. You are going to put a lot of surface water into another concentrated area if you build here," he said.

"I drive a minibus on that road on occasion, as do some councillors here, but it is a tricky area to have a long vehicle. If you build 130 houses there you are going to aggravate the traffic problem."

As well as flooding, traffic, local wildlife and archaeological concerns, the town council included in the letter to Stroud District Council reservations over access to the site and potential contamination of nearby water sources.

The responses will be considered by Bell Cornwell LLP when they decide whether to submit a planning application for the site.