Tewkesbury Borough Council – along with Gloucester City Council and Cheltenham Borough Council – is asking landowners, developers and other organisations or individuals to identify land with the potential for future development.
The councils have issued a ‘call for sites’ which could be suitable for future housing, employment or Gypsy, Traveller or Travelling Showpeople accommodation. Sites that are submitted will be assessed against specific criteria to establish if they are suitable, and the results will inform the councils’ input to the Strategic Availability of Land Assessment (SALA) – a key part of the evidence base for preparing the future joint planning strategy for the area.
The responses will also ensure that the councils can identify land that is genuinely available for future development as residential sites for Gypsies and Travellers or residential yards for Travelling Showpeople, as required by the government’s Planning Policy for Traveller Sites (2015).
If land is identified, it does not automatically mean that planning permission for residential or employment use will be granted, or that it will be allocated as a site for Gypsies and Travellers or Travelling Showpeople in the area’s development plan – the SALA does not earmark sites or grant planning permission for development, but merely provides up-to-date information on their potential availability.
Tewkesbury Borough Council’s Lead Member for Built Environment, Councillor Mel Gore, said: “The Joint Core Strategy – the partnership between Gloucester City Council and Tewkesbury and Cheltenham Borough Councils – sets out the planning framework for the region, and it is important that we consider the needs of all the communities within the area.
“We need to ensure there is housing and employment opportunities for everyone, as well as enough accommodation available for the Gypsy and Traveller communities within our borough. If you own, or know of, a site that could be suitable for any of these purposes, please tell us about it.”
Suggestions for suitable sites should be submitted by midnight Monday, 14 March.
Further information can be found online at: tewkesbury.gov.uk/local-plan#joint-core-strategy
Alternatively, please contact the Planning Policy Team at Tewkesbury Borough Council on 01684 272151 or by emailing planningpolicyenquiries@tewkesbury.gov.uk
Submission forms should be accompanied by an Ordnance Survey (OS) map, which highlights the boundaries of the site – planning officers can help landowners with this, if needed.
