New bid Developer hopes to add homes to plan
HUGE piles of rubble on the edge of Cheltenham could soon be cleared to make way for a new housing estate.
The mounds were created when the Premiere Products site in Bouncers Lane was demolished. The company, which supplied cleaning chemicals across the world, closed its Cheltenham branch three years ago. Bromford Developments Ltd has submitted a new planning application to the borough council to build 49 homes on the brownfield site.
Plans to build 54 homes there were approved by the authority in April 2019.
But now the developer says that, with 18 homes on the land having also been approved in the past, it wants to build 67 in total.
The 1.7-hectare site is close to Cheltenham Cemetery and Crematorium, Prestbury St Mary’s Cofe Junior School and 12 houses which were built on the former Premiere Products Machine Division site.
In the latest planning application, agents for the developer said: “This application seeks approval for 49 dwellings with an additional 18 dwellings already approved.
“If approved, this will provide 67 dwellings in total, with 61 being located on the main site (an increase of seven units from that approved) and six on the smaller southern parcel.
“The design and layout of the scheme is similar to that already approved by the local planning authority, with the highways design and location of the main entrance to the site exactly as previously agreed.”
It added: “The development will create housing choice for the existing and new community, with strong links to the wider area that aims to create a development for the 21st century whilst reflecting the local vernacular. The aim is to achieve a high quality development with a strong identity, activity and a strong ‘sense of place.’”
But the council will have to consider whether the increase in the number of homes planned for the site is acceptable.
Previous concerns have been raised by members of the public about shoehorning houses onto the land and, by Cheltenham Civic Society, about the quality of design of the estate.
The council hopes to determine the application by August 18 this year.
The development will create housing choice for the existing and new community Planning application