APPLICATION NO: 16/02208/FUL OFFICER: Mrs Emma Pickernell DATE REGISTERED: 13th December 2016 DATE OF EXPIRY : 14th March 2017 WARD: Benhall/The Reddings PARISH: APPLICANT: Hinton Properties (Grovefield Way) Ltd LOCATION: Land At North Road West And Grovefield Way, Cheltenham PROPOSAL: Hybrid application seeking detailed planning permission for a 5,034 sq.m of commercial office space (Use Class B1), 502 sq.m day nursery (Use Class D1), 1,742 sq.m supermarket food retail unit (Class A1), a 204 sq.m coffee shop retail unit and drive-thru (Use Classes A1 and A3), with associated parking, landscaping and infrastructure works. Outline planning permission sought for the erection of 8,034 sq.m of commercial office space (Use Class B1), together with associated car parking, landscaping and infrastructure works, with all matters reserved (except access). REPRESENTATIONS Number of contributors 339 Number of objections 336 Number of representations 1 Number of supporting 2 76 Reddings Road Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL51 6UE Comments: 10th January 2017 I object to this application. There is already empty office space between the Nuffield Hospital and Asda. In addition, there is vast amounts in other buildings around the town. More office space in the town is unnecessary. There are already two supermarkets in the local area and at least 7 large supermarkets in the town already. Sacrificing greenbelt land for another is irresponsible. Whilst I accept there could be justification for a drive through coffee outlet and child care centre, the surrounding road infrastructure is wholly inadequate to cope with continued growth in traffic volumes, as any local resident will tell you. During peak traffic hours, the area near the Park and Ride roundabout becomes chaotic. Further development in the area will exasperate this. Equally, the increase in noise, light and air pollution that would come with this application is not in keeping with considering the welfare and health of local residents. There is empty brownfield land in the town centre that could be utilised (A4019 north place car park), rather than tearing up more fields, though even then the requirement for such developments seems questionable. 14 Leckhampton View Cheltenham GL51 4GW Comments: 10th January 2017 Morrisons in Hatherley is only 2.1miles from the recently developed Asda Superstore on Hatherley lane; it seems a total waste of space and money to erect yet ANOTHER superstore en route. This area of Cheltenham is extremely busy at the best of times let alone during rush hour traffic which will undoubtedly become even more severe with the addition of the BMW complex already under construction and further office space, retail outlets etc. Totally unnecessary. Chadwick The Reddings Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL51 6RL Comments: 11th January 2017 I am writing to object to the planning application 16/02208/ful on the land off Grovefield Way behind the BMW site. The land is in green belt and should be preserve as such. The traffic would increase and the area would be changed because if it. Parking being an issue already. We already have two supermarkets supporting the area and do not need a third. 16 Barrington Avenue The Reddings Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL51 6TY Comments: 6th January 2017 The proposed development would cause further traffic and congestion to the area which is otherwise beautiful with all the green belt area. Commuting twice on a daily basis is already difficult for many who use the Golden Valley already an issue and this would just simply add to it. Public use the Parkand Ride facility nearby for ease and regular travel into the centre of Cheltenham for work and leisure. The extra traffic would effect many and may cause issues with timings. Who will then subsequently use their own vehicles perhaps but as we are all aware this would put further pressure in the centre of Cheltenham in terms of parking which we have limited availability of as it is. Will people stop coming into Cheltenham unless they have to? This will of course effect the many elderly and families who live nearby. Will the extra noise and traffic pose difficulty for them. Lastly I would like to stress the majority of people who live in the surrounding area are elderly and may have no means of objecting or voicing their opinions is this a fair proposal to them? Please consider some of the points I have made thus far. 2 Tylea Close The Reddings Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL51 6RB Comments: 9th January 2017 Do we need another supermarket in the area? No. We already have Asda and Morrisons in close proximity. And indeed an Aldi is only a couple of miles away. Do we need a Costa Coffee? No. Asda already has a coffee shop and B&Q has a provision as well. Do we need more office space? No. There are already large numbers of unused offices within Cheltenham, some of which are in the immediate vicinity of the proposed development. Do we need another nursery? Possibly. With the increased numbers of houses being built, the local population has increased. However, the location proposed is completely unsuitable due to the large amount of traffic in the area which will expose any children to noise and pollution. Conclusion 1: The development is unnecessary and is just crass commercialism. What will the impact be of the proposed development? We will have considerably increased traffic on roads that already get gridlocked at certain times of the day. And this is before we are fully aware of the impact of the new BMW garage on the traffic. Increased traffic, also means increased noise and pollution. Commercial opening hours means more noise and light pollution. Increased footfall means more litter. Residents of the Reddings already see the impact of the lack of parking at GCHQ. The proposed parking for the development is inadequate and will mean people park in the streets near the location which will affect residents further. Conclusion 2: The development will have a huge detrimental effect on residents. Therefore please note that I wholly and utterly disagree with the proposed development. I hope that Cheltenham Borough Council will see that the development is neither wanted, nor needed, and will respect and support the wishes of local residents who overwhelmingly do not want the development. Comments: 5th September 2017 I note that revised plans have been submitted. All my previous objections submitted in January still stand. 2 Old Reddings Road Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL51 6RZ Comments: 9th January 2017 I have lived in The Reddings for over 30 years and have seen more than double the number of houses appear in the lower Reddings area alone in that time. My late wife and I used to take our dog for long walks in the fields and meadows that are now occupied by B&Q, Park and Ride, and the new Cotswold BMW! I don't agree that someone can buy greenbelt land and destroy it for the sake of a quick profit. We already have Asda and Home Bargains nearby, so don't really need another supermarket, and I know the amount of extra traffic generated by nursery and office development will only make congestion in the area even worse! How is traffic going to come and go into this new development - Traffic light control, roundabout, or just a feeder road off the main road. I hope there is serious thought being given to the implications of this development on the local community, before agreeing to the plans! Bethany House The Reddings Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL51 6RL Comments: 10th January 2017 This application is in the green belt, and there is no reason that it should be allowed for the same reasons that application 15/00573/OUT just up the road was rejected. For example: "inappropriate development…compromise the purpose of the green belt in this locality to check the unrestricted sprawl of large built up areas, prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another, safeguard the countryside from encroachment". How the ugly, enormous monstrosity of the BMW dealership got approved is a complete mystery and a travesty and it should not be allowed to influence this decision. The impact of traffic in the area would also be horrendous as there are already huge tailbacks in the rush hour. The £1m put forward in the section 106 agreement for the Asda development for traffic improvement was never used. There is also no need for another huge supermarket less than 400m as the crow flies from Asda, and with Morrisons also in the vicinity. There is also office space still available adjacent to the Asda development that has not yet been taken up. 15 Appleton Avenue Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL51 6TS Comments: 10th January 2017 We wish to register our objection to the mixed use development at Grovefield Way, application 16/02208/FUL for a number of reasons: There is no requirement for yet another supermarket: - Asda exists only a minute away from the site of the proposed development. - Less than 5 minutes drive away is Morrisons. - There is an existing Aldi only 10 minutes drive away. - On the B&Q site exists Home Bargains, which sells a variety of daily provisions. - There are also a number of local shops in The Reddings, in Caernarvon Road, and in Benhall. - It should be remembered that the outline grant (09/00176/OUT) for the Home Bargains store placed strict conditions on the products stocked, specifically "to protect the vitality and viability of existing centres". Adding an Aldi to the mix completely undermines this. Similarly, there is no requirement for another development of office blocks. - As others have stated, there is the existing 'Pure' development next to Asda, which is not yet fully utilised.