This update is to let you know the latest on the development of the infrastructure and amenities around Hunts Grove. If you prefer, there’s a video version of the update, though we couldn’t cram everything from this blog in:
These are being delivered according to a masterplan agreed between Crest Nicholson as the master developer and Stroud District Council as the planning authority. Underneath that masterplan is an outline planning permission but all the details are covered in a series of further planning applications submitted by Crest (for the amenities and the houses they build) or the other developers.
The masterplan was changed in 2017. This was when the Neighbourhood Centre (inc shops) were shunted to the edge of the village and other detrimental changes were made, including moving the delivery dates for the facilities. (This means that the only thing that is technically late is the allotments, which have been delayed whilst the original landowner improved plans for the Farm House Triangle.)
The Parish Council has no specific powers in this space and the masterplan and outline planning permissions predate the council being formed. What we can do is seek to influence the detailed plans by working with the developers and the District Council, and we can support or object to each planning application as it is considered. In doing that the Parish Council will always strongly represent the views and interests of residents.
Phase 2 Public Open Spaces
All the hard landscaping, installation of the play equipment and the paths were meant to be complete by October/November according to the timeline provided last summer, which the Parish Council shared in a blog post. Clearly this didn’t happen on time and the delays were compounded by the wintry conditions then Christmas.
However, you’ll have seen there’s been a flurry of activity in recent weeks, with play equipment being installed in the play areas along the sound bund and other work. And work has been done to alleviate the drainage problems caused by some ditches and drains getting blocked.
Hopefully we’ll soon be able to stop nagging Crest about this in our regular meetings!
Roads
Harrier Way
The work on Brambling Way has clearly been a disaster and we’ve been in frequent conversation with Crest, highlighting the hazards and inconvenience to residents as well as the need for better communication.
Once that’s finally done, Crest’s contractors will start work on Harrier Way to remove the haul road and put down the final road surface. That should be well underway by now but has been held up by delays to the work in Brambling Way. There will be more comms from Crest but we’re expecting it to take approximately 2.5 months, including a few days when traffic will need to be routed the long way round and across the bridge on Hunts Grove Drive between Phases 1 and 3 which will be briefly opened. Crest will be in contact with the school and will arrange work in front of the school for the holidays.
Harrier Way/Marconi Drive
Once the Harrier Way works are finished, Crest will make improvements to the Harrier Way/Marconi Drive junction. The Parish Council raised concerns about the narrowness of the junction which means that buses can’t turn in without overhanging the other side of the road meaning that other vehicles are caught with no good place to be. Stagecoach, Gloucestershire Country Council and Crest agreed that the junction isn’t fit for purpose and so it will be widened by eating a bit into the verge on the Acorn Park side of the junction. Crest are currently finalising the plans and discussing them with the planners.
The A38 junction
Work will due to start in the spring and take about a year. It should have started this month but there’s been a delay in the County Council issuing the paperwork that allows Crest to get started.
The Parish Council has been chasing Crest and in the autumn we wrote to the County Council highlighting the importance of getting on with the junction as there’s currently only one vehicle access to the village. We’ve recently followed that up through our county councillor Stephen Davies.
If you’re not familiar with the design, you can find the plans on the Stroud District Council planning portal.
- From Hunts Grove, you’ll be able to :
- Head up to Gloucester on the A38
- Turn right across the bridge to Hardwicke and Quedgeley, or
- Head down the Bristol Road to the Cross Keys roundabout to get to the motorway. Traffic from Hardwicke and Quedgeley will enter the A38 closer to the bridge so we’ll have our own exit route.
- We’ll be able to get into Hunts Grove:
- By turning left off the A38 if coming south
- Coming across the bridge from Hardwicke and Quedgeley
- If coming from the motorway direction, going up the slip road and then turning right across the bridge.
Shops
The Neighbourhood Centre
Hunts Grove needs shops, ideally in the middle of the village. This was the original plan but Crest got Stroud District Council’s approval in 2017 to change the masterplan to move the neighbourhood centre to the A38 junction. And that new planning permission also changed the trigger point by which those shops had to be built, hence the delay.
We know there’s a lot of frustration about not having these basic amenities and as residents we feel it ourselves. Obviously many people had already lived here for years before the masterplan was changed, and saw what they’d been promised delayed and moved. Crest and Stroud District Council have definitely heard your concerns from us but unfortunately there are legal agreements in place and we can’t force anything to happen. The district council assure us that they will ensure that Crest deliver when they have to according to those updated, delayed, trigger points.
Crest have submitted plans for the neighbourhood centre (which you can see on the Stroud District Council planning portal) but there problems with them. For one they look like they’ve been designed for people to drive into on their way past rather than as something for our community. Highways have objected because the entrance/exit will be really close to the A38 junction. Hopefully Crest will bring forward new plans rather than try to get the bad ones through. We’ll work with them to do so, and object to anything that isn’t good enough. Your input on future proposals and applications will be really important. The shops down there will come but they are some way off yet and we don’t have a definite timeframe.
The Farm House Triangle
The changes to the masterplan and the resultant delays are among the reasons why the Parish Council has been supportive of the revised plan for the Farm House Triangle (again via the Stroud District Council planning portal or on our webpage).
This includes two retail units as well as the farm house being retained as a commercial community space with potential for a cafe. Our hope is that the farm house would be able to provide a base for community groups, youth provision, the Parish Council as well as providing working spaces.
The revised plan was the result of the landowner wanting to do the best development they could on the land they kept back for themselves and them working with the Parish Council to meet the community’s needs. They held exhibitions so residents could provide input. The cost of getting those things was moving half of the allotments across the footbridge to the other side of the M5.
Unfortunately, those plans have just been rejected by Stroud District Council’s development control committee, as you might have seen on Gloucestershire Live on Wednesday. We argued that the planning officers were wrong to recommend refusal because they understated the community benefit and overstated the disadvantages of moving some of the allotments. As we said at the planning committee:
If it’s a choice being allotments in one place or having a heart to our village, we choose having a heart.
You can watch a recording of the meeting on YouTube; click here to jump to Cllr Turner-Wilkes making our case.
Whilst the committee members seemed to agree with us, they weren’t satisfied with the changes to the ecological and biodiversity plans, and so it was rejected on a narrow vote.
We hope that it will still be possible for the landowner to progress this or a similar scheme – and we’ll continue to engage with them.
The Community Centre
We are also talking to Crest and Stroud District Council about the plans for the community centre and sports pitches. The legal agreement for the village contains a list of things that have to be delivered. Unfortunately a cost cap was added as part of the 2017 changes – and Crest don’t think that will allow everything to be included. Their plans from 2020 are available on Stroud District Council’s planning portal.
Members of the Parish Council continue to meet with Crest to discuss the plans and find ways to deliver as much as possible, and we’re encouraging Stroud District Council to hold firm. We want the Community Centre to be able to house more than one activity at once so it meets the needs of the community and is self-sustaining. We don’t want residents to have to subsidise the facilities and ideally it would run a surplus that can be reinvested into the village – which is the case for Quedgeley’s facilities. The masterplan also calls for a landmark building and we don’t want to settle for an ugly carbuncle.