Scenario 2: Urban Extensions

This option would mean seeking to deliver development as urban extensions to the key urban areas of Cheltenham, Gloucester and Tewkesbury Town, and could include sites which fall within the designated Green Belt. The development strategy of the JCS focused on such extensions as a means of meeting some of the housing needs of Gloucester and Cheltenham. In addition, several areas of land were removed from the Green Belt and ‘safeguarded’ for longer term development needs.

Urban extensions may be one of the most effective ways of supporting high quality public transport infrastructure such as the Mass Rapid Transit scheme proposed in Gloucestershire County Council’s Local Transport Plan.

Nevertheless, it will need to be demonstrated through the SLP if new urban extensions, including the previously ‘safeguarded’ sites, should form part of the preferred development strategy for our area.

As with all options, this includes the urban capacity of Gloucester and Cheltenham as a starting point.