OAKLEY COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTRE,

26^TH JANUARY 2007

2.15PM – 4.00PM

•  Join our inaugural meeting at a campaign launch - with the aim of achieving
• An organisation dedicated to opposing greenbelt development proposals.
• A discussion on the issues and timescales involved. 

In a shocking reversal of its previous commitment to defend Cheltenham’s Green Belt, the Conservative leadership of Cheltenham Borough Council has submitted a tentative bid to the Government for ‘Growth Point Status’.  ‘Growth Points’ is a way in which the Government hopes to accelerate new house-building.  In Cheltenham’s case, it hopes to do this by creating a ‘north west urban extension’ of around 4,000 houses mainly on greenfield land along Tewkesbury Road.

Traffic nightmare - This is bad news for Cheltenham, which is already facing the prospect of accommodating 12,500 extra homes in the Cheltenham area by 2026. This would already be the biggest ever increase in housing in Cheltenham in an equivalent period of time. Building this ‘urban extension’ will make matters even worse.  Not only will it destroy a large area of Green Belt.  It will also throw large amounts of extra traffic on already-congested roads like Tewkesbury Road and Princess Elizabeth Way , with a knock-on effect on Gloucester Road and numerous residential roads in our area.   

Why we mustn’t give in - The Tories should have fought this disastrous scheme – which is what they promised to do.  But instead they have hauled up the white flag and put out the begging bowl. They are hoping that they will receive part of the money the Government is offering councils to speed up house-building.  At the December meeting of the Borough Council, Liberal Democrats tried to get the Tories to withdraw the Growth Points bid, but they and their PAB allies refused to do so.  Now Lib Dems want to mobilise local opinion to fight this urban extension – which they have dubbed ‘Toryville’ – and not to give in to it. 

Benhall & The Reddings Ward councillor Nigel Britter says: ‘This urban sprawl is yet a further example of the destruction of our countryside it will also be a disaster for Cheltenham, clogging up our existing roads and requiring massive new road-building and will hamper the redevelopment of derelict and under-used sites in Cheltenham, which really offers the best possibilities for creating more affordable housing.’