The site sits within the Principal Urban Area of Cheltenham, off Grovefield Way and is allocated for employment use in the Cheltenham Local Plan.
A small area of the site falls within the Cheltenham Green Belt.

MEP were instructed to prepare and submit an application, and formulate and lead a team of consultants to address the constraints of the site. A pre-application was also submitted to the Local Highways Authority.

As the site is allocated for employment in the Cheltenham Local Plan, MEP needed to justify the need to departure from local plan policy. There was also a requirement to address the issue regarding Green Belt.

MEP successfully demonstrated that there were key material considerations in favour of the scheme, which resulted in officers supporting the proposals. These included the Council’s considerable lack of housing land supply, in addition to the findings of a Marketing Report which confirmed that is no market for the extent of office use approved under the previous planning permission. Consequently, MEP was able to demonstrate that the proposal complied with relevant planning policy which resulted in officers supporting the proposals.

Outline Planning permission was approved in January 2025 for the erection up to 60 dwellings (including 40% affordable housing), up to 550 sq. metres of flexible commercial use (Use Class E), new accesses, landscaping, drainage and other associated works.

This permission is a step in the right direction to enable the Council to demonstrate a healthy land supply (currently 2.52 years) along with delivering well needed affordable housing in the Borough, all within a sustainable location for development.

The MEP team led and worked closely with a team of specialist consultants including Davies Landscape Architects, Highgate Transportation Ltd, Resi Resolve, John Ryde Commercial, Enviren Ltd, Wilder Ecology and Glanville.

Credit image DLA