COMMENT: Future of Stroud district in councillors' hands (From Gazette Series)

Gloucestershire Gazette comment: Future of Stroud district in councillors' hands

5:23pm Thursday 7th March 2013 in News By

THE prioritisation of where homes are constructed in future years is going to have a massive impact on the whole of the district, for good or ill.

The concentration strategy of building a large number of homes in specific areas favoured by the Stroud District Council is aimed to alleviate problems areas such as Cam face.

The parish struggles with links to the outside and despite a growing population, generates a relatively small amount of employment, with many residents travelling elsewhere for work.

At the planning advisory panel meeting on Tuesday, many councillors expressed reservations that there was not enough infrastructure for Cam to see an increase of up to 950 homes, as is being planned.

However the theory suggested by council officers is that the increased population could then ensure improved services and infrastructure were built.

Another concern is not where you build houses, but where you don’t. In particular, Berkeley has seen its hospital, police station and secondary school disappear within the last year and if it is not developed, it will almost certainly decline even further.

Obviously there will be concerns and disagreements about where houses should be built and how many, but it does need to be addressed and hard decisions will need to be made.

Without the clear and concise framework a local plan gives, Stroud will find it much harder to ensure that developments are built in the right areas and to their specifications to bring the maximum benefit to the local community and for future generations.