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GRETTON PARISH COUNCIL

Clerk: Katherine Noble,
Church Cottage,
Church Road,
Tirley,
GL19 4HH


Planning Department
Tewkesbury Borough Council
Council Offices
Gloucester Road
Tewkesbury
GL20 5TT

4 September 2014



Dear Sirs

Gretton Parish Council has prepared a 2014 version of its Village Plan. A
detailed questionnaire was distributed to every household in the Parish to
gather views on all aspects of village life. The survey document was based
on a Yes/No tick box approach with the facility to add narrative on each
question. We achieved a 50% return rate. The process was designed to
encourage community involvement and to give the Parish Council a
clearly defined agenda to shape the future of the village.

The most contentious issues raised centre around Residential
Development. The Joint Care Strategy, as discussed in 2013, suggested
the amount, location and guiding principles for new development across
the county. Under these proposals Gretton would sit in the least affected
tier as a non-service village with no significant development proposed.

The delayed completion of the JCS has led to a feeling of vulnerability that
Gretton may be exposed to unwanted large-scale development in an
"open season" period between now and the JCS delivery and we seek
some assurance that this will not be the case.

In the section of our survey looking at housing, we looked primarily at the
issues of size, location and nature of developments. The survey results
showed that 84% of respondents were against any large-scale
development, defined as 10 or more houses, whereas 64% were in favour
of small-scale development. 64% of respondents also thought more
affordable housing should be provided, with opinion divided as to whether
this should be social housing or for private sale. From the narrative
provided, infill development is preferred over any ribbon development.

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The general consensus was in favour of low-density, low-rise development
in keeping with the area and the existing housing stock. Strong emphasis
was placed on the need to ensure that the local infrastructure is able to
cope with development whether it is in Gretton or elsewhere.
Our concerns over schools, doctors, transport etc. were all raised in our
original JCS submission and were raised again by 80% of our
respondents.

In conclusion, Gretton residents' opinion is firmly against any major
development of our village and we hope that Tewkesbury Borough Council
will recognise this and hold the line in the period up to the adoption of the
JCS. We would very much appreciate your views and comments on this
issue and look forward to receiving your response.

Yours sincerely




Mark Hutchings
Chairman