Development plans thrown out by Cotswold Councillors over flooding fears. (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Development plans thrown out by Cotswold Councillors over flooding fears.

EIGHTEEN months of argument over a housing development at Lechlade came to an end last week when Cotswold councillors finally threw out plans for 31 houses at Butler's Court.

Members decided they could not risk adding to Lechlade's flooding problems in spite of assurances from experts that a new - and untried - drainage scheme drawn up for the site "should" work.

The decision over-turned officers' recommendations that the scheme should go ahead, subject to conditions.

Residents of Lechlade, especially those living along the Fairford road near the site, had vigorously opposed the plans.

And district Cllr Christine Eatwell from Lechlade told the meeting: "These people are not NIMBYs but people with genuine concern about their properties.

"We are being asked to accept a plan which, we're told, 'in principle, should work.' We are asking people to put their homes on the line for a principle.

"These are homes which don't flood every 100 years, they flood every year. They cannot get insurance any more, and each year we supply them with sandbags.

"We are being asked to accept a scheme which as a whole has not been used anywhere before. And where is the community benefit?"

Cllr Eatwell added that although the site had been allocated for housing in the council's own Local Plan, the goalposts had moved a long way since its preparation. "The application should be refused," she declared.

Ian Tiller of the Environment Agency said the proposed new drainage system, using a network of ditches, would carry water from the site into a new, clay-lined pool outside the site and away from the Thames flood plain.

The water would then be released slowly into ditches alongside the Fairford road. He could not say the current situation would be improved, but he felt it should not deteriorate.

But Cllr Hazel Jones said the hydrology of the whole area had not been examined, and was not understood.

"Work which has been going on at RAF Fairford has caused new lakes to appear," she said, "and others have dried."

The new drainage reservoir proposed would also be an open lake on the airfield flightpath, something the Ministry of Defence opposed because of the risk of birdstrikes.

Cllr Sally Lindner added: "We cannot be assured these technical methods of flood prevention, in real terms, are going to work.

"It will certainly not be a community benefit to have a lot more flooding in Lechlade."

In a vote, 13 of the 15 members present voted to reject the plans and two abstained.

Tony Jones, head of planning, said he would draw up a refusal reason for approval at the next meeting.

"The decision is against our Local Plan policy," he said, "but I don't believe that an Inspector would be convinced either by what you have heard today. There are still a lot of unanswered questions."

Residents and town councillors in Lechlade have been fighting the plans because of flooding fears.

They welcomed the decision.

Cllr Rob Long, of Lechlade Town Council, said: "It's a strike for common sense and democracy, we will now wait and see whether the developers will go to appeal."

Colin Piper, who lives near the floodplain, said: "Local people are very sensitive to any increased threat of flooding.

"The planning committee confirmed the concerns of residents."