RESIDENTS in Minchinhampton are battling a planning application to build four large houses on a former builder’s yard.

The developer wants to build the two-story detached houses on land at Old Builders Yard in Woefuldane Bottom.

They have applied for full planning permission to transform the vacant industrial yard at the end of Tetbury Street into a cluster of five-bedroom homes.

Plans submitted to Stroud District Council set out a vision to slot the four houses into an L-shaped parcel of land, which lies to the eastern side of Minchinhampton.

Up to now the area has been used as a builder’s yard for the storage of materials and machinery. So the developer would demolish the two existing building on the site to make room for the new-look homes.

The application includes space for small gardens and double garages and gravel driveways with room for 16 parking spaces – four cars per home.

Angry residents and local community campaigning group Protect Our Space say the proposed development is clearly outside Minchinhampton's settlement boundary.

But the developers say the plot lies just 75m to the west of the boundary line – right next to the entrance sign to the market town.

The site, which also lies within the Cotswolds AONB, borders other residential dwellings to the south and the main road to the north.

Opposition to the plans has dwarfed support – with every single one of the 30 comments on Stroud District Council’s planning website coming as an objection.

One of these is Shani Wills, who argued the town didn’t need any more large five-bedroom homes.

“In order to build a better proportioned and balanced community, we need more of the lower cost housing that allows younger, first-time buyers to move into the area,” she said.

Elizabeth Nagle agreed, saying: “The proposal it of no benefit to village or local housing.

“It is a beautiful area and it would be tragic to concrete over it and negatively affect the wildlife. The village does not have to roads or facilities to accommodate the development.”

M.Alpass said the homes would be “unsympathetic both in scale and design to the local architectural style” and “visually intrusive within the Cotswold AONB”.

Minchinhampton resident Tamsin Lapage-Norris commented: “This application as outside of the settlement boundary. “There is no point having a settlement boundary if planning is going to be passed for houses outside of it.”

Planners at Stroud District Council are currently considering the application.

To read the full proposal visit S.16/1490/FUL

Stroud News and Journal: