A PLAN to build 400 homes at a Cirencester site will destroy the character of the town and the independence of Preston village, residents said.

Pegasus Planning Group revealed on Friday, August 12 that the plan, which is being prepared by developers, would include associated infrastructure, landscaping and public open space on the land west of Kingshill Lane.

The planning application, once submitted, will be considered by Cotswold District Council's (CDC) planning committee.

Public consultation events have been arranged by Pegasus where their consultant team will discuss the proposals:

  • Bingham Hall, King Street, Cirencester: Thursday, September 8, 2.30pm – 8pm
  • Preston Village Hall: Friday, September 9, 3pm – 7pm

Preston resident Alexander Lindsay, 79, said that the development near Kingshill Lane would be “the end of Preston village”.

He said: “Cirencester has swept up several villages already.

“It is a great pity that smaller communities are being overtaken by larger ones. Because the large communities are bigger and stronger, they quickly destroy the rural character of the villages.

“At the moment, Preston is an independent village. If it becomes part of the town, the local council will treat it as a minor inconvenience.”

Cirencester town councillor Tatyan Cheung, who lives in the Kingshill Meadow area, said that he feared Preston would be “engulfed” by Cirencester.

He said: “The development is going to make Preston part of Cirencester.

“I rented an office in Preston for a few years and it is a peaceful farming village. I do not think the town should engulf it.

“I think CDC, without a local plan, is inviting all these developers to build everywhere around Cirencester."

Councillor Joe Harris also did not welcome the development: “We should be protecting Preston and it is disappointing to see Cirencester being asked to take so many more houses.

“It goes to show why we need a local plan to stop these speculative applications.

“We’ve got a situation where we don’t have an up-to-date local plan. The conservatives have been sleeping on the job.

“Developers can come and make speculative planning applications and half the time they get them through.

“What I object to is sticking so many houses in one site.

“They are also removing green buffer between Preston and Cirencester. We want to see Preston as a strong village. I don’t want it to become a suburb of Cirencester.”

Mark Pratley, chairman of the Save Our Cirencester group against plans for 2,350 houses in Chesterton, said he was fed up with the amount of planned development in the town.

He said: “How far does this go? How much more do they want to build down here? The infrastructure can’t take it.

"We have always believed villages should be developed but Cirencester is being used as a bloody gigantic dump pot and it’s not on.

“We have to pause, look at the infrastructure and look at what the town needs. Social housing requirements for this town is nothing like what is being proposed.

“This town in another 10 years will be totally unrecognisable."

Neal Dorling, 43, a resident in Chesterton, however said that he would wait and see what the plans looked like: “If the 400-home development is well planned, with plenty of open space, is not tightly-packed and high-rise, and the market-town-destroying quantity proposed at Chesterton is drastically reduced, then yes, i would be ‘for’ it.”