Chance for rural Stroud (From Stroud News and Journal)

Chance for rural Stroud

RESIDENTS have just four weeks to object to last minute changes that could see several towns and villages in the Five Valleys stripped of their rural status.

The areas under threat because of changes to the Stroud local plan are Nailsworth, Stonehouse, Thrupp, Brimscombe and Woodchester.

On the recommendation of a Government planning inspector, the settlements have been redefined as being part of Stroud's urban area.

And the move has provoked anger from environmentalists, who treasure the area's rural identity.

Green district councillor Martin Whiteside fears the recommendations are the thin end of the wedge.

"I suspect it's going to make it easier to develop these new urban areas, which I think would be a disaster," he said.

"I have already seen the argument of being 'adjacent to the recommended Stroud urban area boundary' cited in a proposal for 48 houses in a greenfield buffer area between settlements."

Among those with concerns is Whitbread award-winning writer Jamilla Gavin, who has lived in Stroud since the 1970s.

She said: "I am very concerned that Stroud retains its rural identity and the areas surrounding it do not become one big urban sprawl.

"Our rural identity is what makes people want to live here.

"If we let go of that we are killing the golden goose."

The local plan sets out the framework for development in the Stroud District Council area until 2011.

But residents can make their feelings known, and have until July 25 to do so.

Planning strategy manager Peter Gilbert said the fears were 'not completely unfounded but overstated'.

"We don't think the fears will come to fruition, but at the end of the day it's a matter of opinion," he said.

"We say we have got the framework in place to protect these areas. The Green Party say they are at risk."

Mr Gilbert said developers would not be granted planning permission to build outside the settlement boundaries, which remain unchanged under the plan, and that enough sites for new houses had been allocated up to 2011.

Anyone wishing to view the plan or make an objection should visit www.stroud.gov.uk or Ebley Mill. The council can be contacted on 01453 754326.