COUNCILLORS showed their continued concern at proposals for ten homes in Cam High Street on the former site of two houses.

Representatives from Stroud-based Vision Mill Architects attended the Cam Parish Council meeting last night to discuss their latest proposals.

Their new designs aim to improve the appearance of the proposed homes at 88-90 on the High Street to keep in fitting with the surrounding area and retain the character of Cam.

However, councillors and residents showed their dismay that developers Ashley Property Syndicate Ltd still intend to build ten homes on the site, despite voicing their views earlier this year that this was too dense.

Cam Parish Council agreed, in response to the previously submitted designs: “The development is considered out of character in the area and overbearing on the site and the overdevelopment of the site would deliver a harmful development.

“There was no affordable housing included within the application and insufficient parking bays.

“The visibility splays to access road directly onto the High Street at this location should be questioned as unacceptable.

“There is a lack of amenity space and a lack of mitigation for habitat and ecology studies.”

Vision Architects state that because planning approval had been granted for a ten-home scheme in 2010 – which eventually lapsed in 2013 – the developers felt it had a precedent to submit similar plans.

At yesterday’s planning and highways committee meeting, Vision Mills director Nick Mills informed councillors and some two dozen parishioners that changes had been made to the designs on the back of their concerns.

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Above - The previously submitted designs featured a more modern design.

He said: “It is our job to work with you to find it was best for the residents or stakeholders in the community as well as the developers and the reason we have come back with this plan is based on the 2010 approval.”

This includes changing the look of the homes to keep more in fitting with the adjacent terraced houses, as well as integrating bat boxes into the design of the roofs, with slits between the tiles.

Cllr Julie Douglass said: “Most people work outside of Cam and people drive their cars because of short supply of public transport.

“I do worry about drainage too, the run-off will either go into the High Street’s drainage, which already cannot cope, in some instances last year we had raw sewage coming up into the street, and we don’t want pollution going into the river, especially not far from the Water Vole re-introduction area.

“It’s all very well keeping bat boxes in the designs but they won’t be here if their habitat is destroyed, which looks likely to be the case.”

To help retain the character of Cam, the architects have adopted slate roofs and Cotswold stone for the main building materials.

Importantly, it agreed to move the development entrance further up the street so that it was not directly opposite a home, although concerns remain over visibility splays.

The two-to-three bed homes will be two storeys at the front of the development with 2.5 storeys to the rear.

Mr Mills stated that SDC does not require developments of this size to include affordable housing and that parking surveys showed a need for 1.5 parking spaces, not two.

This is what the council and parishioners preferred – with no excess parking available on the High Street outside of the site.

The latest plans do intend to include 17 parking spaces.

Stroud district councillor Paul Denney (Lab, Cam West), said to the architects: “If you come back with a lower number of houses then you could stand a chance, but not with ten homes.”

To view the previous designs in full visit the SDC planning website and search for application.

The new proposal is expected to be submitted in the next few months after further consultation.