Cheltenham is my home town. I am incredibly proud of it, and doing my best for it is my life’s work. That’s why over recent months I have grown concerned that urban planners are taking the town in the wrong direction.
Even if they don’t realise it, they’re laying the ground for the ‘doughnut effect’. In other words, they’re focusing on developing the outer ring of the town, whilst leaving the town centre to hollow out.
Let’s look at the evidence.
Recently, developers announced plans to build 1,100 new homes to the west of Springbank on what are currently green fields. Disappointingly to those of us who conceived of the cyber vision to ‘level up’ deprived parts of Cheltenham, this is being proposed before the iconic cyber park is brought forward. It feels like cyber is being used as a Trojan horse for housing development.
Meanwhile, there is zero plan for regeneration of the town centre. North Place continues to be a grot spot that is visible from space, lying neglected attracting weeds and fly-tipping. A £3m government subsidy offered to Cheltenham to bring forward an affordable housing scheme on the site lay unused and had to be returned. Meanwhile, many retail units in west of the High Street beyond the bowling green lie empty, with no scheme to encourage them to be repurposed as homes, breathing life into the town centre and providing affordable accommodation for young people.
We don’t need a crystal ball to read where this all leads - we can just read the book. US cities like Cleveland, Houston and Baltimore all suffered from the doughnut effect when residents and affluence moved to the periphery, and urban decay stalked the centre.
Cheltenham must not go the same way. The plan should be clear: invest in North Place, bring on homes in the town centre, focus the cyber development on jobs.
[Column published in the Glos Echo}