This Thursday vote for the local team working for Leckhampton

  • Julia Chandler and myself are the local candidates in Leckhampton
  • Ex-Super Martin Surl is the candidate for Police & Crime Commissioner
  • Don’t forget to take Photo ID this time!

Julia and I are standing in the double-header local election here on Thursday 2 May. It’s expected to be another close race between the Lib Dems and the Conservative candidates. No other party has ever won in Leckhampton.

Like me, Julia lives in Leckhampton and has a strong track record of working for local people.

She worked in Cheltenham as a community midwife and campaigned tirelessly for local NHS services with the Royal College of Midwives. She’ll be an expert voice on the council at a time when local health services face unprecedented pressure.

I’ve already been your councillor for six years, winning funds for renewables, bringing in air quality and nature recovery policies at borough level, championing Leckhampton’s green spaces and insisting that when new development does take place, it should be low carbon with a decent proportion of affordable homes.

Julia and I both live locally and use local facilities so we understand local issues and know what’s going on in our community. Pictured here (with best friends Harley & Nancy) at Burrow’s Field.

Julia and I will fight for new projects like the scout hut rebuild and keep campaigning for safer walking and cycling routes like a new zebra crossing on Church Road. And we’ll keep nagging Conservative-run Shire Hall for better roads and pavements.

And we’ll keep in touch all year round not just at election time!

You’ll have another vote on Thursday too – for Gloucestershire’s Police & Crime Commissioner. The Lib Dem candidate is Martin Surl who recently visited Leckhampton with Julia and myself. Leckhampton’s crime rate is well below average but we all know it happens and Martin’s slogan is ‘Every Crime Matters’. As a former superintendent and the former independent Police & Crime Commissioner, Martin knows what he’s talking about: “The last decade has been tough for policing with budgets and officers and staff cut right to the bone. But during my time in office, we were always praised for financial stability. In the last few years that has been put at risk. Under my watch I pledge to make sure our police concentrate on the primary focus of keeping us safe – by making sure every crime matters because every victim matters.” Martin has already got up to speed with the recent increase in anti-social behaviour incidents at Burrow’s Field, the most serious of which resulted in the death of a much-loved little dog.

The polls are open from 7am until 10pm and this time you will need Photo ID to vote. To check where to vote and what Photo ID you can take go to https://www.cheltenham.gov.uk/elections2024

Gove decides: build 350 next to Shurdington Road

  • Conservative county council says no problem with traffic
  • Lib Dems win environmental concessions & cycle route
  • .. and bid to build on Local Green Space defeated

Conservative ministers finally ruled in February that Miller Homes can build 350 new homes on the large greenfield site next to the Shurdington Road. The decision was taken by Dorset Tory MP & junior minister Simon Hoare on behalf of Michael Gove. The scheme was initially rejected by Cheltenham because it didn’t provide enough green energy. Miller later conceded EV charging points, solar panels and air source heat pumps throughout.

At the appeal hearing last summer, I argued that the sheer number of houses should be reduced given how many are already being built in Leckhampton. This would also have eased likely traffic pressure and preserved more green space.

But ministers were persuaded by the highways authority, Conservative-run Gloucestershire County Council, that there would “not be an unacceptable impact on highway safety or a severe impact on congestion” -a conclusion which was greeted with disbelief locally.

The county said improvements to the Moorend Park Road junction would help but couldn’t explain how or when they would happen. The planning inspector advising ministers said “nothing substantive was forthcoming at the hearing” but somehow accepted plans were “in hand”. Ministers agreed.

  • Renewable energy and EV charging points throughout.
  • A cycle route through the estate will connect the High School to Merlin Way and Moorend beyond, avoiding the Shurdington Road.
  • Miller promise to preserve and open up the line of Hatherley Brook and protect many trees and hedgerows, claiming a 14% net gain in biodiversity, above national targets. 

It does mean 350 new homes and thanks to Lib Dem-led Cheltenham’s tough local policy, 40% will be affordable. The scheme also respects the boundary of the designated Local Green Space (see map ). And Max Wilkinson and I and the Lib Dem council did win a series of environmental concessions:

Map of the Leckhampton Fields Local Green Space and the nearby site which will now see 350 homes built next to the Shurdington Road
350 houses will now be built next to the Shurdington Road but the protected Local Green Space is intact following the refusal of another planning bid next to Leckhampton Farm Court

You may wonder how Conservative ministers in London end up taking such important local decisions. The answer is that we have a ridiculously centralised planning system in the UK.

In better news, a smaller developer’s bid to build on the protected Local Green Space was rejected by Cheltenham Borough Council. Cheltenham designated 26 hectares of the Leckhampton Fields as protected Local Green Space in 2020, alongside planning for new homes like the Miller development. After logging more than 30 local objections, the council rejected the planning application for six houses next to Leckhampton Farm Court, citing the Local Green Space policy. Had this application been allowed it might have put all the remaining Local Green Space at risk. The landowner can still appeal and Redrow managed to win permission at appeal for 30 new houses on a nearby orchard site  last year but this latest site has the much stronger LGS protection in place so the developer’s chance of a successful appeal is very slim indeed.

Happy Christmas Leckhampton!

I’d like to wish everyone in Leckhampton a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Peaceful New Year. If you’re celebrating Hannukah or any other festival at this time of year, best wishes to you too!

You can take part in our 2023 FOCUS Holiday Quiz by following this link.

And here are a few charities local to Leckhampton you might want to think about supporting at this generous time of year if you have a little to spare:

Sue Ryder Care run wonderful hospice and palliative care at Leckhampton Court. Call 01242 246285 or email them at leckhampton.fundraising@sueryder.org to donate or see how you can fundraise for them.


ITSA Digital Trust in Mead Road (opposite Travis Perkins) recycles old IT kit for African schools and tackles digital exclusion at home. Call in with donated IT equipment or donate via the website.


Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust run Crickley Hill nature reserve and fight for wildlife and nature recovery all over the county. You can donate at Crickley Hill or via the website, where there’s also an online shop.


Leckhampton Village Hall They already run a successful & much-loved community venue but Leckhampton Village Hall volunteers are on a mission to raise £5000 to help get their project going to build new cloakrooms, provide better disabled access, convert the existing cloakrooms into storage and changing rooms and modernise the hall’s kitchen. You can help by buying a brick for £25 on their JustGiving page – use the QR code or go to https://bit.ly/LVHbrick.

Have a wonderful Christmas

Martin

Co-Op move gets go-ahead

Leckhampton’s Co-Op is on the move.

The Leckhampton Road store is going to move to the corner of Pilley Lane a little further up the Leckhampton Road – the former John Wilkins garage site. This follows a unanimous vote by Cheltenham’s planning committee. Most local people have welcomed the idea of the move.

Martin spoke at the meeting and explained the concerns that nearby residents had about the design and sheer scale of the planned three-storey building. It’s not ideal but on balance Martin backed the plan which also incorporates 14 new homes. There was no guarantee that if the plan was rejected the Co-Op move would have happened at all and something even less appropriate might then have been proposed.

On the positive side:

  • This means the Co-Op can leave its present site which is plagued by pavement parking and awkward shared access next to a busy roundabout. The new plan separates customer parking, pedestrian access and a loading bay for deliveries.
  • The 14 new homes -2 semi-detached houses and 12 flats – will include some of the most affordable in the area and better use of brownfield sites for housing always helps us to make the case for the defence of our green fields
  • The switch from a barren garage site to one with planting on two sides will actually represent a significant increase in biodiversity. And none of the new homes will be connected to the gas grid – they’ll all benefit from solar panels and air source heat pumps.
  • The new buildings will be further from neighbouring properties than the current garage buildings – because they’ll be separated by the residents’ and customer car park.

Detailed plans can still be viewed on the Cheltenham planning portal.

Decision to build on ancient orchard site condemned

Martin demands change to whole planning system to restore local decision-making and properly value ecology

An unelected government inspector has decided that Redrow Homes can build 30 more houses in Leckhampton on top of the 377 they are already building, on a site of containing two nationally protected ancient orchards and right in front of iconic views from the AONB at Leckhampton Hill. The site is at the corner of Farm Lane and Church Road, opposite the Crippetts.

Incredibly the inspector’s report acknowledges that the development will harm a valued landscape and break multiple planning policies but then concludes it should still go ahead.  The rationale is the shortfall in Cheltenham’s five-year supply of housing despite the fact that Redrow themselves are already building 377 homes next door, Kendrick and Newland Homes have been given permission for more than 30 more nearby and the agreed local plan anticipates a further 350 next to the Shurdington Road.

The Redrow scheme was opposed by the parish and borough councils, the AONB Management Board and hundreds of local residents and rejected by Cheltenham planners but taken to appeal by the developer.

Martin said “This decision represents everything that is wrong with our planning system. An unelected inspector has overturned not only local wishes but local policy at every level from the Cheltenham, Gloucester and Tewkesbury Joint Core Strategy to the Neighbourhood Plan.  This is a hugely important site ecologically with two nationally protected orchards in a recognised valued landscape and multiple designations by our Local Nature Partnership.  The inspector acknowledged all this, agreed that the development will harm the landscape and that it breaks local policy but has given permission anyway.” 

“The inspector says the need for houses trumps everything but Leckhampton is already looking at the best part of a thousand new homes – more than anywhere else in Cheltenham and including hundreds of affordable homes. We’re doing more than anyone to meet housing need but that seems to count for nothing.”

The housing land supply shortage in Cheltenham is largely because of the failure of developers and transport planners to bring forward large promised developments west and north-west of Cheltenham, heavily influenced by factors outside of local councillors’ control like the pandemic and the delayed delivery of improvements to Junction 10 of the M5.

Martin added: “We need to urgently change planning law  to restore local decision-making to its proper place, properly value ecology and biodiversity and stop using impossible housing land supply targets to ride roughshod over local plans and the environment.”

Key ponts from the inspector’s report:

  • Para 6: the inspector acknowledges that the development would be contrary to local spatial strategy (the Cheltenham, Gloucester and Tewkesbury Joint Core Strategy) and national planning guidance
  • Para 16: The inspector accepts that the site forms part of a ‘valued landscape’ – an important protection in national planning guidance.
  • Para 19: The inspector acknowledges that the development would harm the character and appearance of the countryside
  • Para 29: The inspector concludes the development would not harm the landscape and setting of the nearby Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)
  • Paras 32-34 The inspector acknowledges the recognised ecological importance of the site in law and local policy
  • Para 44 The inspector concludes the impact on biodiversity is ‘not unacceptable’
  • Para 60 The inspector concludes that the ‘pressing and urgent’ need for housing trumps the valued landscape, applying the so-called ’tilted balance’
  • Para 63  The inspector acknowledges that Leckhampton is already seeing a great deal of new housing but dismisses this as a reason to reject the permission


Good news (for now) on Leckhampton’s bus service

Martin with Warden Hill councillor Graganm Beale and Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Max Wilkinson, widely tipped to be Cheltenham's next MP.
Local Lib Dems were quick off the mark campaigning to save our bus service. Martin with Warden Hill councillor Graham Beale and Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Cheltenham, Max Wilkinson, widely tipped to be Cheltenham’s next MP. Photo by Anna Lythgoe.

Last autumn local people were horrified to hear that Leckhampton’s regular regular local bus service – the F bus – was soon to be lost. Its operator Marchants, who had struggled for some time to deliver a reliable service, notified Conservative county transport bosses on 17 August that they were pulling out. But Shire Hall were caught asleep at the wheel and didn’t begin ‘formal market engagement’ on a new service until 14 October blaming Stagecoach for the delay.

Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Max Wilkinson, widely tipped to be Cheltenham’s next MP, was quick off the mark supporting Martin and other Lib Dem councillors in their campaigns to save services as soon as the news became public in October. In the end the county subsidised Marchants to run an ’emergency’ replacement L bus service just in time. It is only 16 buses a day not 24. The L bus route is shown below.

The weekday L bus route. Currently free but fares will be back soon.
The new replacement L bus service will last at least until November 2023 and for now it’s free. But enjoy that while it lasts: fares will be back soon.

It was unclear then how long this would last, especially as no fares are being charged so far, and whether the weekend F bus, scheduled to end this month, would also be replaced. Now Shire Hall have confirmed to Martin that a weekend service with “similar coverage” to the L bus will replace the F and that the contract with Marchants runs at least until November 2023.

Sadly, the freebies are coming to an end though with fares coming as soon as the proper equipment can be fitted to Marchant’s buses.


Martin said ‘This is good news for now and we have time to campaign for a permanent reliable local service now.’

‘In the face of climate change, growing awareness of air pollution and rising fuel costs we should be doing everything possible to encourage and grow public transport. But Conservative leaders at Shire Hall seem to be lurching trom crisis to crisis and presiding over reduced services instead.’

A tribute to Mr Cheltenham

The news that Nigel Jones, Lord Jones of Cheltenham, died last week was terribly sad for Nigel’s family and for Cheltenham.

Nigel always told me he wanted to be ‘Mr Cheltenham’ and he was just that. When I was out knocking on doors in my campaigns I lost count of the number of people who seemed to know Nigel and had been helped by him. As his successor, I was very aware I had big boots to fill but he was always approachable, kind and supportive to me.

He won an historic victory in 1992 built on many years of determined campaigning. As MP he took a high profile when championing trade union rights at GCHQ and defending local health services. But he was effective behind the scenes too, lobbying successfully to keep GCHQ in Cheltenham when that seemed to be in doubt and constantly networking quietly and effectively. He held a bewildering array of spokespersonships for the party in parliament using his IT background to particularly good effect. He’d earned the right to put his feet up when he stood down undefeated from the Commons in 2005 but he went on to be an equally effective member of the House of Lords too. We’ll all miss his gentle manner and witty banter.

My thoughts are with Katy, Amy, Lucy and Sam and the whole family at what must be such a difficult time for them.

You can read my profile of Nigel on the section of this website devoted to Cheltenham’s past MPs here.

Thank you Leckhampton!

Thank you to everyone in Leckhampton who voted in yesterday’s local election. Thank you for putting me top of the poll here again and putting your trust in me to represent you as your borough councillor for another term. Leckhampton was just one of 18 Lib Dem wins across Cheltenham while the party celebrated more than 190 council seat gains across England.

Parliamentary candidate Max Wilkinson leads the Lib Dem celebration. These results mean he has a great chance of being Cheltenham’s next MP.

My majority over the Conservatives was just 13 votes four years ago but did increase a bit this time! After an unusually aggressive anti-Lib Dem campaign, the Green Party came third with a reduced vote compared to last year’s election.

During the campaign I promised to keep working for a fairer, greener, safer Leckhampton and I’m determined to do just that.

Thanks again for your support!

Martin

Vote for a fairer, greener, safer Leckhampton today

The polls have now closed.

Today, Thursday 5 May, expect another close race in Leckhampton between the Conservatives and local Lib Dem councillor Martin Horwood. The last time this seat was contested in 2018, Martin was just 13 votes ahead of the Conservatives so every vote here really counts! Greens and Labour have always come third or fourth here.

Since his election in 2018, Martin has worked tirelessly for:

A fairer Leckhampton with more affordable housing including 40% of any new private development and new council housing for rent across town. These will now include our first zero carbon council and private homes with lower fuel bills built in. And Martin has argued for a local catchment for our new secondary school so local kids stop missing out.

Martin’s the greenest candidate in this election, not just complaining about climate change but actually delivering results: successfully pushing developers to build more zero carbon homes and winning funds for renewable energy at Burrow’s.

A greener Leckhampton with record recycling, more renewable energy, a plan to get Cheltenham to net zero by 2030 and 26 hectares of our Local Green Space here finally protected by the Lib Dem Local Plan after decades of campaigning. Martin won funds for renewable energy at Burrow’s Field and has successfully pushed developers to bring forward more zero carbon homes – and opposed it when they didn’t. It’s easy to call yourself ‘Green’. Martin actually delivers!

Martin always keeps in touch – not just at election time!

A safer Leckhampton. Martin has repeatedly lobbied the Conservative County Council highways authority to do more on dangerous pavement and corner parking and to provide safer roads, walking and cycling routes – especially once the new school opens.

So vote wisely on 5 May. The polling stations are open 7am-10pm. For more information on where to vote – or if you need a lift to vote – call 01242 224889.

Miller 350 refused planning permission – landscape & climate change key

Cheltenham’s planning committee have refused Miller Homes’ application for 350 new houses on land next to the Shurdington Road.

I put a strong case to the committee based on issues I really care about as a Leckhampton resident myself:

The Conservative-run County Council thinks adding even more traffic to the Shurdington Road isn’t going to cause severe congestion. I beg to differ.

Traffic. I argued that Miller and the county council had still done nothing about the traffic this application would add to local roads. Even the Conservative county councillor and I agreed her own council hadn’t done enough. But the official county council highways advice was still ‘no objection’.

Landscape. I’ve campaigned to protect our green fields for decades. While development is expected next to the Shurdington Road alongside the 26 hectares of Local Green Space protected in the Lib Dem Local Plan, this application encroached on prominent fields a government inspector previously said shouldn’t be developed.

The Miller bid was refused because none of the planned houses were zero carbon, all would be gas-heated and less than half would have solar panels . I also argued that the development encroached on fields a planning inspector had ruled shoud not be built on

Climate change. I don’t oppose all development. Last year I backed 22 new zero carbon houses for Leckhampton on a nearby ‘brownfield’ site. But Miller said they couldn’t even manage solar panels on the majority of their houses because they faced the wrong way (even though they designed them!). Houses like these won’t be allowed anywhere under rules expected in 2025 so I’m proud Lib Dem-led Cheltenham is saying no to them here now. This was the key reason councillors gave for refusal.

Local facilities. I also argued Miller had made no space for a local shop or an expanded doctor’s surgery. We need communities where people can walk and cycle to local facilities. This wasn’t one of the grounds used for refusal but I’ll keep arguing for better local provision.

Miller may appeal and we might all end up in front of another government inspector. But I really hope Miller will come up with a much better & greener plan – and that the county come up with a traffic plan too.

You can rest assured that if I’m re-elected on 5 May, I’ll stay on the case.