The following taken from David Drew's column from this week's SNJ (Jan 30).

I was pleased to be able to meet the Housing Minister, Kit Malthouse MP, to raise my very serious concerns about the housing burden being placed on Stroud district.

More affordable homes are desperately needed across Stroud and I know this has a real impact on families.

The government has now raised the number of homes that Stroud needs to deliver – but there is no evidence that this will help to solve our housing crisis.

In fact, the pressure placed on Stroud district through the Local Plan process may lead to inappropriate sites being developed, and it certainly won’t deliver affordable homes.

Stroud District Council has now been told it needs to find sites for 12,800 homes by 2040, up from 11,400 by 2031, which is why sites like Sharpness and Wisloe are now being considered.

SDC is under immense pressure to deliver housing sites. If it fails to do so, its planning powers will be revoked, removing local choice about where we build houses.

I have met with the community in Sharpness to discuss the housing plans and I have great sympathy with their serious concerns about housing developments which have the potential to swamp their communities and encroach further on green fields.

I discussed this unfair burden with Mr Malthouse last week, explaining that the high target does not take into account Stroud’s particular circumstances, where property prices are high yet we don’t have the wages to match. Private rent is also increasingly unaffordable.

We need more social housing as well as pressure on developers to deliver the 5,000 homes already granted permission that are yet to be built, many of them on brownfield sites which are ripe for development.

More of David Drew's columns can be found at stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk.