Roz Savage MP and Cllr Mike Evemy, Leader of Cotswold District Council, will meet Housing Minister Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on Monday 12 October to press for a reduction in the Cotswold district’s housing requirement of almost 19,000 new homes.
The meeting follows repeated representations to Government on the Cotswold housing target. Cotswold District Council has written to ministers three times, and Roz has written twice, including a cross-party letter with Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP urging the Housing Secretary to rethink the figure.
Under the Government’s revised Standard Method, introduced in late 2024, the district’s housing requirement more than doubled, to around 18,650 homes over 18 years, just over 1,000 homes a year. Around 80% of the Cotswold district lies within the Cotswolds National Landscape, and further land is constrained by flood risk and other planning restrictions. As a result, large-scale growth is being concentrated in a small number of communities outside the protected landscape.
In the South Cotswolds, villages and towns including Down Ampney, Fairford, Kemble, Siddington and Preston face significant proposed growth. Residents and parish councils have raised concerns about pressure on roads, GP surgeries, schools, wastewater and flood risk, as well as the character of their communities.
The Council has completed a full update of its Local Plan, as Government asked, underpinned by more than 40 studies and assessments and thousands of consultation responses. Roz and Cllr Evemy will argue that this evidence shows the scale of the challenge the current target creates, and that Government should now act on it.
Roz said:
“My constituents want more affordable homes for local families, and so do I. What they are asking is how a village the size of Down Ampney or Kemble can absorb this scale of growth when the roads, surgeries and sewers are already struggling. Those are reasonable questions, and they deserve answers.
“Cotswold District Council has done everything the Government asked of it. It has reviewed the Local Plan, gathered evidence, and listened to thousands of residents. That evidence shows a target set by a national formula that doesn’t fit a district where four-fifths of the land is protected landscape.
“I’ll be pressing the Minister to look hard at that evidence and work with us on a target that delivers the right homes, in the right places, with the infrastructure to support them.”
Cllr Mike Evemy, Leader of Cotswold District Council, said: “The Council is committed to delivering a sound Local Plan that helps secure infrastructure alongside new homes and protects our communities from the risks of piecemeal, speculative development.
“However, I have been clear since the Government increased housing targets in 2024 that the number being asked of the Cotswolds is too high for a district where around 80% of the land is protected National Landscape.
“With such a severe constraint, that means thousands of new homes must be squeezed into small areas of the district outside the National Landscape. Residents have understandably raised serious concerns about the impact this could have on the character and fundamental fabric of the places they call home.
“Having written to Government three times in the last 18 months, I welcome the opportunity now to take those concerns directly to ministers. While we remain committed to progressing a Local Plan for the district, I will continue to make the case that the housing target should be reduced to better reflect the realities of planning in the Cotswolds.”
