Lydney housing estate with 29 affordable homes approved

PLANS for a new housing estate on the edge of Lydney have been approved.

Half of the 59 homes on the 2.6 hectare plot off Highfield Road between the existing Abbots Gate estate and the junction of the A48 would be “affordable”, the Forest Council’s development management committee heard.

Alistair Russell, of applicants Stonebound, said it was “a landscape-led scheme for 59 dwellings that directly responds to the district's climate, ecological, and housing priorities.”

The development would provide 10 homes for social rent and 19 for shared ownership.

Objections to the scheme were made on several grounds including putting more pressure on local infrastructure, the existing speed limit is too high and there is no identified need for more housing in the area.

Ward councillor Andrew McDermid (Green, Lydney East) said: “We've got the progressive concretisation of Lydney eastwards, and so the last remnants of kind of a rural idyll are disappearing for those people.

“The location is particularly unfortunate, being at the nexus of two high speed commuting roads.”

It is proposed to reduce the speed limit along that section of Highfield Road from 60mph to 40mph.

Councillors agreed by nine votes to one to accept the recommendation that officers be given delegated authority to grant permission.

A “note” will be attached to the permission stating that councillors would prefer to see a 30mph limit on Highfield Road.

While the proposal was in conflict with the council’s development plan, there is not a five-year supply of housing land in the district which would make a refusal difficult to defend at an appeal.

Mr Russell told the committee: “This site was previously supported by the council itself as a draft residential allocation.

“Whilst the wider local plan was reset, the underlying planning logic remains unassailable.

“Lydney is the district's primary and most sustainable settlement, and the council's own strategic planners recognise this parcel as one of the most suitable locations in the most suitable town.

“There are over 1600 people, households, on your housing register with families facing waits of three to four years.

Homes on the development will be subject to “higher levels of road traffic noise than would ideally be the case in a rural area”, but it was considered measures could be put in place to make it acceptable.

Cllr John Francis (Ind, Longhope and Huntley) said the proportion of affordable housing called into question claims that it was not viable on other sites.

He said: “We've got a developer that is actually done his viability exercise I can provide 50 per cent affordable housing.

“But we've all sat here before, on other sites, where they say, we can't even give you 15 or 20 per cent.

“It begs the question, are we not benchmarking our viability exercises wrongly?

“If the developer is saying this can be developed, and make the requisite returns, then our officers should look at benchmarking this development as part of the viability exercise.”