Urgent action needed to protect heritage

IN the rush to solve the housing crisis, we are in danger of loosing our heritage. Designations such as Green Belt and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty are being ignored by planners. Yes, some green fields will inevitably have to ‘fall to the bulldozer’. But this should be a last resort, not a first option... The CPRE has identified sufficient brownfield sites for 1.3 million new houses.

Too often public inquiries are weighted in favour of the developers, with objectors being classed as ill-informed amateurs. Principles such as biodiversity and rewilding are being set aside in favour of quick profits to satisfy shareholders. Yet biodiversity and rewilding feature large in the Government’s manifesto. Do they only apply in election year?

Nowhere is more at risk than the North-West Cotswold escarpment, which is beginning to look like one vast building site. Villages such as Bishops Cleeve, Gotherington and Leckhampton are in danger of losing their identity. Other villages are now at risk of joining them – Alderton springs to mind. The old-world character of this village (a tourist attraction) is being destroyed. In new legislation proposed by the Government, ministers will hold more sway as to what happens than the locally elected councillors or residents themselves.

In Alderton, the Village Design Plan would be rendered meaningless by the developers. The emerging Tewkesbury Borough Plan would fare little better, even though the area east of Alderton is a Special Landscape Area. One solution would be to give a tax break to developers willing to factor-in brownfield sites, something Gordon Brown attempted to do, before the EU intervened. Urgent action is needed now!

Michael Newman

Cheltenham