FRUSTRATION has pushed Ecotricity to temporarily drop plans for a business park providing 4,000 jobs.

Plans for the Green Technology Hub, which would provide 4,000 jobs, will be put on hold until building is underway for the new 5,000 seater wooden stadium designed by Zaha Hadid Architects.

The Eco Park development, submitted to Stroud District Council in January 16, would sit by junction 13 of the M5 near Eastington and cost £100 million.

It is also proposed that it could give a £300 million a year boost to Stroud district’s economy.

Ecotricity has also announced that the stadium site will be moved to the north side of the A419.

Forest Green Rovers chairman and Ecotricity founder Dale Vince says that the Eco Park development has been hindered from the start and if not for traffic concerns from Gloucestershire County Council’s highways department building could have already started.

“They need to pull their finger out, if it wasn’t for highways we could have been building by now, I realise that they are chronically understaffed but it is not good enough from them,” said Mr Vince.

“Now, we don’t have a crystal ball and can’t guess that the revised Local Plan will show that Stroud district does not have enough employment space but we feel that this will happen and if that is the case then we will bring back the plans for the business park.

Stroud News and Journal:

“Eco Park has just been earmarked by the council for employment use as part of the Local Plan review. “The message we’re getting is that we need to come back in a few years’ time, we may do that.”

“The stadium is the most important part in the short term – the thing we need the most, and the easiest thing for planners to approve, so we’re removing the obstacles, which ironically we thought were the major benefits to the district, the 4,000 job green tech business park.

“By moving the stadium there is also more room for things like extra training facilities and we also remove some of the biggest things holding the plans back.

“But it is traffic and highways that is the biggest problem at the moment, we’ve taken this decision because of the on-going delays with the planning process for the original concept, so we’re being pragmatic about this and putting the business park plans on hold.

“At the moment there is only enough space for around 150 cars on Spring Hill and it is a real issue when we have a 5,000-seat stadium, so by moving we would get past that issue.

“We’re being pragmatic and that does not mean that we won’t come back to the business park but we won’t be building it right now – it is the most popular part of the plan and we think it would bring a lot of jobs to Stroud district.”

Stroud News and Journal:

Above - the original Eco Park plans featured a new stadium, training facilities and a business park

While GCC’s highways department do contribute to the planning process, their input is as a consultee, the final decision on the Eco Park plans rests with SDC.

Council leader Cllr Mark Hawthorne (Conservative, Quedgeley) said that if Ecotricity feels it has been unfairly delayed it should go straight to appeal.

“This feels like a bit of an attempt by Dale Vince to shift the blame because his project didn’t add up. Highways England, the county council and several local parish councils raised concerns about the impact this development could have on traffic,” said Cllr Hawthorne.

“Ecotricity’s consultants only submitted their transport assessment last month - 18 months after Ecotricity put in their planning application.

“We will go through it and give Stroud District Council feedback in exactly the same way we would with any planning application.

“But if a planning applicant thinks there have been unnecessary delays, or they’ve been unfairly treated, they’ve a legal right to go straight to appeal.

“Ecotricity aren’t doing that, which makes it pretty clear to me what the real story here is.”

The initial stadium plan is for a 5,000-seater, a similar capacity to Forest Green Rovers’ current home The New Lawn, but the scheme has planned in room to increase capacity up to 10,000.

There is a proposal in place to build around 100 homes on the site of The New Lawn after Forest Green Rovers relocate to their new stadium.