Plans for £45m regeneration rejected by council

Plans for the £45m regeneration of a deprived area, including 172 new social homes, have been rejected by a city council over concerns of a loss of green space.

The plans for the Podsmead area of Gloucester were rejected by the council's planning committee at a meeting on Tuesday night.

Along with more social housing, the Gloucester City Homes' plans included a children's play park, Podsmead's first pharmacy, commercial buildings, and a multi-use sports area.

Guy Stenson, Gloucester City Homes, said the housing association was "massively disappointed" by the outcome of the meeting.

The development report noted 91 hectares (225 acres) of open space would be lost if the plans were approved.

Sebastian Field, city councillor for Podsmead, said he could see the benefits of the scheme - noted in the report as retail and economic opportunities, among others - but kept "coming back to the loss of green space over the whole site".

"As the report mentions, the proposed development would result in the loss of approximately 60% of the existing informal amenity green space," he said.

"That is quite a lot, 34 trees are going to be lost and yes, they are to be replaced and added to, but we all know that young trees do not capture carbon nearly as well as mature trees."

Other disadvantages listed included a lack of education and library spaces and limited benefits to the wider estate.

At the meeting on Tuesday, six voted against the plans, two voted for, and there was one abstention.

Mr Stenson said the Podsmead scheme had been "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity".

"We had an opportunity to access the Homes England Funding, and that went away last night," he said.

He added he believed the proposals "truly responded" to Podsmead residents' wants and needs.

"Personally, I can't understand why a £45m investment in one of the communities of Gloucestershire that really, really does need it was turned down."

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