PLANS to build 40 homes on land in Northleach have been approved by Cotswold District Council, despite opposition.

There were concerns that the number of homes planned for the field next to Bassett Road was too high, and residents felt the access point to the development should be built in East End instead of Bassett Road to avoid traffic problems.

However, when the application was discussed by the council's planning committee last Wednesday, Cllr Margaret Rickman said putting the access point in East End would cause the new residents to be outcasts.

She also accused other councillors of opposing the plans - which were submitted by Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) - purely to win votes in the run up to next year's elections, saying: “I think a lot of these objections are nimbyism and I wish we didn’t have any planning applications near the election."

Residents and councillors in Northleach insisted they were not anti-development but said the properties would be out of keeping with the rest of the 800-year-old town.

Previously, GCC proposed up to 50 homes but reduced the number after residents and councillors complained.

However, Northleach With Eastington Town Council was still unhappy with the plans and opposed the application on Wednesday.

Despite this, the committee voted in favour of the scheme, agreeing to the planning officer's recommendation that the developer has to provide affordable housing and contribute to a new library, education services and leisure and recreational facilities.

GCC is expected to sell the land to a private developer now that permission to build houses has been granted, but Northleach With Eastington Town Council chairman, Cllr Vicki Hewer, said it hoped to buy the site.

“If we did this, it would not be about density, and we would have much bigger say in the design. Much better than a developer coming in and building boxes,” she said.