Bid to build 150 homes refused at meeting

A BID to build 150 homes has been refused.

Developers Bovis Homes Ltd and Robert Hitchins Ltd wanted to build in Coombe Hill on land off the A38, by The Swan pub and traffic lights.

Their application to develop the land is currently with the Government on a non-determination appeal after Tewkesbury Borough Council officers tried to work with them so it could be “appropriate for committee” when it was validated earlier this year.

A separate application to build 40 homes on the land is currently under consideration by the borough council.

Council officers were opposed to the application with concerns about design, landscaping, drainage and the number of homes.

The borough council’s planning committee unanimously voted against the proposal on November 17, and no representatives of the applicants attended the meeting.

Explaining why the proposal should be refused, a council officer said in the meeting: “Officers are far from convinced that the site could accommodate could 150 dwellings in an environmentally satisfactory manner.

“The numbers proposed here means there would be less scope to provide appropriate levels of landscaping to help assimilate the development into the wider landscape.

“The indicative material submitted with the application shows a scheme that would result in a highly urbanised form of development which would be alien to other otherwise spacious and organic character of Coombe Hill as it stands. The proposal would not deliver the high quality design aspired to in Government guidance and our own local planning policies.”

The proposal was for outline permission to build up to 150 homes, associated infrastructure and a new vehicular and pedestrian access from the A38.

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