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Cotswold villagers told to welcome affordable housing projects (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)
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Sadly and annoyingly the Lib Dems are badly out of touch here.
There is certainly no NIMBY attitude to affordable housing in Chedworth ward , indeed residents are so keen on affordable housing for Chedworth Village they have found a suitable site and with the backing of the Parish Council they formed a Community Lands Trust which is working hard to build affordable housing for Local residents, Indeed Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP has been to Chedworth to meet Community Lands trust reps and myself as District Councillor and offered his support for the project.
We Conservatives are perhaps guilty of doing too much and not making enough noise about it, and if the Lib Dems had invested as much time as I have in working to get affordable houses then perhaps I would not be quite as annoyed at this blatant piece of grand standing.
Perhaps Maggie is unaware of the dramatic improvement CDCs planning Committee achieved with the application for affordable houses at Ebrington where local people raised legitimate concerns that Officers had initially sought to ignore and only Local opposition backed by CDC councillors refusing permission changed an unsatisfactory proposal to something far better.
We had three DEFRA affordable houses converted from farm buildings in Chedworth, and a Farm shop and cafe in the last few years with little or no opposition, I just don't get what the Lib Dems are thinking about.
I'm very annoyed.
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Cotswold villagers told to welcome affordable housing projects
9:00am Saturday 17th October 2009
By Emma Tilley »
COTSWOLD villagers are being urged to welcome affordable housing projects to save the "lifeblood" of rural areas.
In a motion to Cotswold District Council’s cabinet last week, Lib Dem councillor Margaret Edney warned of the danger facing village life if residents continued to turn their backs on affordable developments.
"There can be a lack of understanding that in the longer term, refusal of such applications acts against the future well-being of a community."
Cllr Margaret Edney
She told the cabinet: "Recent research published in May suggests over 100,000 young adults will leave the English countryside over the next three years, prompting fears that traditional village life is in decline."
Key worker services, pubs, shops, post offices and small rural businesses would all be affected if more homes were not built for younger people, she added.
The NIMBY attitude of Cotswold villagers and residents in small towns was also raised and Cllr Edney urged CDC to tackle the problem by holding awareness-raising sessions with parish councils.
"When planning applications are made there is often local resistance," she said.
"There can be a lack of understanding that in the longer term, refusal of such applications acts against the future well-being of a community."
Cllr Stephen Hirst (Tetbury, Ind), who seconded the motion, said: "We have to assure ourselves that parish councils get on side to deliver the maximum number of affordable houses. Not only to protect the sustainability of the Cotswolds but also the sustainability of rural life."
CDC’s community health and housing tea has completed 73 affordable housing units in the last year and is currently negotiating more sites across the district.
Cllr John Burgess (Beeches, Cirencester, Cons) said there was a real concern about the erosion of local services.
He said: "Even Cirencester is classed a rural community so it affects the whole Cotswold district."
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