Housing U-turn sees map redrawn

Gloucestershire's new housing map has been redrawn with 1,400 extra homes for Gloucester and Cheltenham.

Gloucestershire County Council has bowed to government pressure which insists 60% of all new development be centred around big towns.

Simon Excell, from the council, said: "If we don't make this move the Government Office for the South West could intervene and take over."

The new proposals mean rural districts will now take fewer homes than planned.

Green belt

The revision of the plans affects housing targets for the next 12 years.

Until now, Gloucestershire County Council has refused to bring its policy in line with that of Whitehall.

Under the new plans, the total number of homes to built in the county by 2016 has actually fallen by 110 to 38,630.

However, Gloucester will have to accommodate 870 houses originally earmarked for rural areas. Six hundred more homes will be built in Cheltenham.

The four rural districts with reduced housing development targets are: Tewkesbury, which is down by 800 homes; the Forest of Dean, down by 325; the Cotswolds, down 200; and Stroud down by 150.

"This means we have kept control with local people and the county planning office rather than hand it to the government," said Mr Excell, team leader at Shire Hall dealing with the negotiations with the Government Office for the South West.

If the proposals are ratified by the cabinet on 20 December, protesters in Tewkesbury have said they will use the reduced target to campaign for the scrapping of controversial green belt developments in Longford and Badgeworth.