Planning inspector rejects builders’ appeal

CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save countryside on the edge of Tewkesbury from being built on are celebrating their latest victory.

An appeal inspector has backed Wychavon District Council’s decision not to allow the construction of 500 houses and a primary school on land east of Bredon Road. After the council threw out the plans in April, the developers went to appeal. Now the Planning Inspectorate has dismissed the developers’ appeal.

Its inspector, Michael Boniface, said in his decision the site could take houses in principle but the planned development might cause severe problems for roads and spoil the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Opponents of the scheme said it would ruin the countryside and cause flooding.

Barratt Developments, Mactaggart and Mickel, the North Tewkesbury Landowners Consortium, Stewart Pearman and The Croome Estate Trustees sought permission to develop the land. It is technically in Bredon’s Hardwick but is next to the Mitton estate on the northern outskirts of Tewkesbury.