I WISH to clarify a few points in your leader article of last week 'High Court fight to stop homes'.

In your article you point out that this proposed development has been supported by Berkeley Town Council and this is indeed true, however a poll of local opinion which I took early in the life of this application showed that the town councils view was not representative of the clear majority of residents who considered amongst other things that this particular application was of the wrong scale and in the wrong location. (In forming its position, the town council has surprisingly chosen not to take a poll of its residents opinions)

Local planners have not forgotten what is known as “the Berkeley Cluster Area” and indeed since this application was first submitted, four new council houses have been built in Fishers Road Berkeley, ten new affordable houses for rent are nearing completion in Lynch Road Berkeley, work has begun on a new development on the old hospital site in Berkeley and lets not forget that 300 new homes are included in the local plan for nearby Sharpness which falls within the cluster (final public consultation held on Tuesday). So local houses are being built and more are on the way.

Returning to the development in question.

It is not included in the district’s local plan, it therefore challenges the plan and if the challenge were successful it could render the whole plan unenforceable leading to uncontrolled large development not just in Berkeley but throughout all of Stroud District.

District plans do not come cheap and a large chunk of taxpayers money (your money) has necessarily been spent in producing a plan that has not only been passed by the planning inspectorate, it has been selected as a finalist in the “RTPI Planning Awards under the “excellence in plan making” category.

So it should come as no surprise to all, including Berkeley Town Council that the district council is fighting this developer's challenge all the way.

Gordon Craig

Stroud district councillor

Berkeley Vale Ward