We need to tighten our rules on planning

✒ I AM deeply sceptical about the proposed deregulation of planning.

I fear this will prove a rubber stamp for developers.

The troops on the ground often know best.

As England is the most densely populated country in Europe, having overtaken the Netherlands, we need tighter controls, not a loosening of existing ones.

Brownfield sites are crying out for development – we don’t want concentric circles of red-brick round honeycrusted Cotswold villages.

Gloucestershire is a county where tourism contributes substantially to the

economy – no visitor wants to see a jumble of new estates, as in Bishop’s Cleeve, a textbook planning disaster.

This is what happens when developers are given a free hand.

Alderton could be the next in line, unless there is a robust response from Government.

And all the while, brownfield sites like Ashchurch army camp and the disused airfield at Moreton Valence remain untouched.

The North-west Cotswolds is an area that is fast becoming one free-for-all building site.

Too often proposed development for Cheltenham and Gloucester has been passed over to Tewkesbury.

In fact, Tewkesbury has borne the brunt of development in the NorthWest Cotswolds.

I would hope that all rural MPS would call into question the need to deregulate planning.

Luxury homes in green field sites do not help the housing shortage.

Instead, they help to engineer population shift.

What we need are affordable homes on brownfield sites, so that young villagers can have a house of their own in the future. Michael Newman Bishop’s Cleeve