Gloucester MP backs housing plan despite advice to refuse it

If approved the new estate would be off Winnycroft Lane, in Matson

An MP has backed community groups calling for plans to build 180 new homes to help tackle a "lack of adequate housing".

Housing association Bromford wants permission to build a new estate off Winnycroft Lane in Matson.

However, officers have said permission should be refused because of the impact it may have on a nearby historic moat.

But Gloucester MP Richard Graham backed the plan to help thousands of people on the area's housing waiting list.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, an estimated 6,000 people in the city are waiting to be housed.

A decision on the proposals will be made by the planning committee at a meeting later.

Mr Graham says many people have written to him to support "new and energy-efficient housing, jobs, and the social value the scheme will provide".

'Mental health issues'

"These outcomes are all important for Matson, which scores highly for low incomes and health deprivation," he said.

As well as 136 energy-efficient, affordable, mainly family homes, the scheme includes an open meadow - with the historic moat at its heart - equivalent to the size of four football pitches.

The development would also see training offered and jobs created for local people.

Despite this, planners fear the development would also result in an unjustified urban extension into the open countryside.

But youth and community group, Together in Matson, which has operated in the neighbourhood for 30 years, said it has "great knowledge" of what the community faces.

"One of the most common problems we see daily, is the lack of adequate housing," it said.

"This in itself contributes to both physical and mental health issues within our community."

Bromford Housing says the decision essentially boils down to the issue of whether the scheme's benefits outweigh the potential harm to the setting of remains of the historic moat, which is a scheduled heritage monument.