Update on Cotswold District Council’s Local Plan

The situation remains fluid, and we will do our very best to stay up to date and share information as and when there are significant changes.

• Mickleton Parish Council (MPC) wrote to Mike Evemy, head of CDC, with a copy to all CDC councillors, expressing our shock and anger at the details contained in the Regulation 19 document.
• You can find the text of MPC’s letter here
• You can find a copy of Mike Evemy’s response here
• We intend to respond to Mike Evemy’s reply with what we see as the most critical failings in the revised plan. This, together with any response, will be shared on these pages.
• Work undertaken by the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group has uncovered a more extensive aspect to the historic water system beneath several village streets which remains in use to this day. We are concerned that neither planners nor developers have a complete understanding of this water system, and may therefore have made poor planning decisions in the past, and may continue to do so. This relates particularly to traffic volumes and vehicle sizes, and harm that may come to some of our Grade I and II listed buildings if the subterranean water system were to be damaged. The Neighbourhood Plan team will continue to investigate with a view to having this water network registered as a Non-Designated Heritage Asset. Meanwhile, CDC Planning have been made aware of our concerns and we believe they now have a duty to investigate.
• The Mickleton Against Inappropriate Development (MAID) group held a public meeting at King George’s Hall on Thursday 20 July, with over 100 people in attendance. Members of MPC were also in attendance to listen to comments and understand the main concerns. Full details of this meeting, plus guidance from MAID on how to engage with CDC councillors, can be found on the MAID website: MickletonAID.co.uk
• Both MPC and MAID attended and raised questions at the CDC meeting of the Oversight & Scrutiny Committee on Monday 4 August.
  A recording can be accessed here: https://cotswold.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/1108273
• One of the items contained in Mike Evemy’s response to MPC is a commitment to hold a public session in Mickleton which he will attend together with members of the CDC Planning team. We do not yet have a date for this meeting.

There are many huge documents containing hundreds, if not thousands, of points of information, many of which could be debated. To MPC, it is becoming apparent that we all face an almost impossible choice:

1. Back CDC’s proposed Local Plan with the understanding that the addition of more than 1,400 houses will change the fundamental character of our village, but may bring some benefits in the form of affordable housing, an expanded primary school, a new local centre and improved public transport.
2. Oppose the Local Plan in the belief that the risk of allowing uncontrolled development, with less commitment to provision of infrastructure, will ultimately do less harm to the village than would be caused by committing to the Local Plan, because some infrastructure and affordable housing commitments will still be made and developers may never build because of escalating costs.

MPC will continue to try and help people understand the implications regarding this choice.

The window for submitting comments about Regulation 19 runs from 24 August to 5 October. We will publish details on this, together with details for the public meeting in Mickleton, as soon as details are known.