Tewkesbury Borough Council has voted for a new approach to Tewkesbury Garden Town – with a commitment to increased community engagement and improved collaboration with partners and developers.
The Council decision follows a gateway review of the garden town, which was undertaken earlier this year after concerns were raised by councillors around the programme’s delivery.
No fundamental concerns were found with the aims or the principles of the garden town itself, but the review made hard-hitting recommendations to enhance the programme’s delivery, particularly regarding community engagement and collaboration with partners and developers.
A new programme of delivery, based on 17 recommendations made in the review, will now be developed and presented to the Council on Tuesday 26 September.
The Council decided to do a gateway review of the garden town, a step which is considered best practice for programmes of its size, to ensure its original aims and objectives are still being met.
The review highlights that without a garden town programme to guide high- quality sustainable housing, the risk of poor-quality, piecemeal development would be considerable.
Supporting a new approach, the council is also developing a Strategic Framework Plan, which will enable a collaborative approach with developers and communities to designing and building the garden town over the coming decades.
Councillor Richard Stanley, Leader of Tewkesbury Borough Council, said: “The findings of the gateway review have been fully acknowledged and a new approach for the garden town can now be developed.
The report puts forward suggestions for delivering the Garden Town in ways which will satisfy not only current but also future needs, with the emphasis on delivering high-quality green homes and infrastructure capable of supporting healthy communities and fostering community spirit.”
