CONTROVERSIAL plans for a rowing club base in Purton have been rejected following complaints by residents.

The planning application by the University of the West of England (UWE) to build a base for its rowing club had drawn strong criticism from villagers for being ‘out of place’ and ‘unsuitable’.

Despite being recommended to approve the application, Stroud District Council’s development control committee agreed to refuse planning permission at Tuesday’s meeting.

The application was called-in to the committee for debate by Cllr Gordon Craig (Con, Berkeley Vale) due to its contentious nature, and he said the facility was unsuitable for a village like Purton.

Committee member Cllr Haydn Jones (Con, Berkeley Vale) led the calls to reject the application, saying that Purton was not a sustainable location for development.

“Purton is a beautiful village but a long, long way from public transport and anything like that,” Cllr Jones said. “UWE and the architects have done a great job but it’s more about the location for me. We have five tiers of settlement [in the district council’s local plan] and Purton is in none of them because it’s so small.

“It is considered open countryside where development should be restricted.

“Sharpness is a much better place for this kind of thing.”

Following the debate, Cllr John Marjoram (Green, Stroud) proposed supporting the recommendation of the council’s planning officer to grant permission – however this was defeated.

A counter-proposal was put forward by Cllr Jones to refuse the application on grounds that it went against council planning policy, and was passed by seven votes to three.

Speaking after the meeting, Purton resident Beryl Varnam, who represented villagers during the debate, welcomed the committee’s decision.

“I’m absolutely ecstatic,” she told the Gazette. “It took a lot of determined work from a lot of people in the village but we’re delighted.

“Everyone worked so hard to fight this plan.”

UWE has a six-month window to appeal the decision.

Nobody from the university responded to the Gazette’s request for a comment.