Local Plan News
Sharpness Vale is a draft allocation in the Stroud District Draft Local Plan and the council is now working through the representations made on the Draft Local Plan during the consultation period earlier this year. Our proposals are for a mixed used development including 2,400 homes by 2040 as well as a 10 hectare business park, with an eventual total number of 5,000 homes, to help meet the district’s housing and employment needs. We’re intending to submit a planning application in 2021 and we will engage the local community in this process from early on.
Transport News
New passenger rail link
Our vision for Sharpness Vale is that members of the community will travel by the most sustainable transport possible. The lynchpin in these plans will be a re-opened Sharpness branch line for passenger services, linking Sharpness to Gloucester. The line is currently only used for freight purposes. So far, we’ve had positive discussions with Network Rail and the Vale of Berkeley Railway (VoBR) Charitable Trust which are continuing. We have been engaging with Network Rail about their preparation of a capacity study for the reintroduction of services on the Sharpness branch and we’re also now looking at opportunities for government funding. The government has recently announced new funding opportunities for the reinstatement of closed stations and services, such as at Sharpness, through the ‘Restoring your Railway’ fund and this is something we’re actively pursuing alongside Stroud District Council and VoBR.
Our transport approach
We’ve produced a document which explains our approach and rationale to transport and movement at Sharpness Vale which we will publish shortly on our website
Protecting and boosting wildlife and nature
One of the key aims of our proposals at Sharpness Vale is to protect and boost wildlife, trees and plants to achieve a net gain in biodiversity. Biodiversity net gain requires us to demonstrate and ensure habitats for wildlife are enhanced and left in a measurably better state than they were before development.
As part of this work, independent ecologists carried out the latest winter and migratory bird surveys on the estuary front and site as well as breeding bird surveys of the site. They also recently completed other habitats and species surveys as well as the first stage of the arboricultural survey and a preliminary heritage setting assessment.
We are continuing to actively engage with the Environment Agency and Natural England about our work, particularly our approach to Green Infrastructure provision at Sharpness Vale. This engagement will continue to inform the evolution of the masterplan. We’re also looking forward to meeting with Slimbridge Wetland Centre.
The health, safety and wellbeing of local residents and our team are paramount and we’ve complied fully with Government Covid-19 guidance on site visits.