Stroud housing plan endorsed by independent report

An independent report has endorsed a local authority's house-building plan for Stroud in Gloucestershire.

Stroud District Council previously outlined plans for 9,350 new homes to be built in the area before 2026.

Campaign group Don't Strangle Stroud claimed housing targets were too high and based on outdated figures.

The recently-commissioned report said the council should plan for between 9,260 and 11,500 homes until 2031, an extension of five years.

The report was produced using updated data from the Office of National Statistics, the council said.

'Strong foundations'

In March, Don't Strangle Stroud said that its own research showed that about 2,250 fewer homes than the council projected would be needed by 2026.

Councillor Dennis Andrewartha said the new report confirmed population and housing target calculations were correct.

The executive member for planning said: "When building a house you need sound foundations and when you're putting together a plan to build homes for the whole district for the next two decades, those plans similarly need to be built on strong footings.

"I'm delighted that the huge amount of work undertaken so far has been endorsed and validated."

Mr Andrewartha said that the report would be discussed at the next planning advisory panel meeting and added that once agreement was reached on numbers, the location of where the houses would be built would be debated.