All Saints County Division

Charlton Park Ward is one of four wards in the All Saints County Division. Here you can find news from around the Division.

Senior School places for children living in the 'Leckhampton triangle'

For some years now some families living in Leckhampton have been unable to get their children allocated a place at either of the two nearest secondary schools; Balcarras and Bournside. It is something that I have raised on numerous occasions with the Cabinet member at Shire Hall. Up until now children have got places on appeal but June saw a very disappointing result for some families living in Leckhampton who lost their appeal for their children to attend Balcarras. I understand that those who appealed to Bournside were successful this year.

At the June County Council meeting I submitted some questions on this issue to the Cabinet Member:
What is being done and what more can be done by the County Council to allow pupils living in the ‘Leckhampton Corridor’ fair access to their 2 local senior Schools Balcarras and Cheltenham Bournside?

What measures are being considered to increase capacity at Balcarras School in Cheltenham which will help the school meet demand?
I was also recently sent a briefing note on this issue - please click on the link below to read that briefing note. Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any queries about this.

Click here to download senior school briefing

Brizen Farm Greenbelt development latest

Save Leckhampton Fields!

Klara with Martin Horwood and other campaigners at an earlier appeal

Brizen Farm planning appeal withdrawn

Developers hoping to build 350 houses on Green Belt land at Brizen Farm (on Shurdington Road by the Up Hatherley Way Roundabout) have withdrawn their Appeal. Tewkesbury Borough Council had refused the application for the housing development plus a 1,000 space Park and Ride and the applicants had decided to Appeal; this was due to take place in October.

This is fantastic news for Leckhampton and for local residents who were concerned about the impact of this development, increased traffic and flood risk. With a new government it is not clear what changes will happen to the planning system but what is needed is a move away from the top-down approach that we had previously – where housing targets was a driver for growth and imposed upon local communities.

A move to a bottom-up approach, where people have a say in what housing growth their communities can take without an adverse impact on local services and quality of life will be a far better way of achieving sustainable development.

A reminder that the local campaign group aiming to save Leckhampton fields from development is LEGLAG and they always welcome new members http://www.leglag.org.uk

Leckhampton Rd Co-Op

Local residents are pleading with visitors to the Leckhampton Rd Co-op to park safely within the car park for the shop. The pavement outside is wide and is frequently used by people to park on when the car park is full. This is illegal and also really inconsiderate to pedestrians and those who live nearby. I had a meeting with an officer from Gloucestershire Highways outside the Co-op to discuss the issue and was really shocked to see some of the parking which took place while we were there.

There are on-street spaces not that far away so if it is full please go elsewhere and don’t put pedestrians in danger by parking on the pavement. I have asked for more enforcement from the police and Borough Council but it would be better if wardens didn’t need to visit the area and people just parked legally and considerately.

Fairview Area Residents Parking Survey

The results of a residents parking survey in the Fairview area of All Saints are now available to view online. Please click on the link below to view the survey results.

Click here to view results of the recent residents parking survey in All Saints

I know there is high demand for new residents parking schemes in some areas in All Saints, College and Charlton Park.

I have been lobbying the County Council to bring forward more residents parking schemes in Cheltenham and progress is being made on this. If you think your area would benefit from this, please contact me (details on the contact page).

Action on illegal Bath Rd parking

I am backing College residents who remain concerned about the continued illegal parking at the Bath Rd shopping area despite increased traffic wardens in the town. Patrols by Parking Attendants have increased in recent months but in the evenings in particular the situation remains as bad as ever. The Bath Road shops are such a great asset for our area but illegal parking in the evening remains a problem and seriously compromises road safety.

Application to build up to 365 houses on Land to the West of Farm Lane thrown out at appeal!

The good news is that the application to build up to 365 houses on the former SD2 site at Farm Lane was dismissed by the Secretary of State (following on from the report of the Planning Inspector who oversaw the planning Inquiry). This is a very positive result and reflects the strenuous efforts made by local residents, councillors and LEGLAG during the Inquiry. However, in the decision notice the Secretary of State did include some less positive comments - Please click below to open the PDF document of the full decision.

click here to download file