“A wanton act of vandalism”: Cotswold District Council relays scale of local anger over housing targets in new letter to Government
Cotswold District Council Leader Cllr Mike Evemy has written to the government sharing a sample of the huge volume of views and concerns received during the council’s consultation on its local plan update – to set out in black and white “the sense of anger and frustration” that communities feel.
Villages would be “engulfed”, new homes would “destroy communities” and residents felt a sense of “fear, frustration and powerlessness” according to a snapshot of the responses shared by Cllr Evemy alongside the letter.
Pointing out this was the third time the council had asked to meet with ministers at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to discuss the housing targets, Cllr Evemy said the lack of dialogue was felt acutely in the district.
In the letter, he also raised further concerns around the capacity and capability of the Planning Inspectorate to examine the large number of local plans headed its way later this year.
Additionally, he asked government whether large-scale development in the south of the district, and outside of the Cotswold National Landscape – where development is heavily constrained – is compatible with important and growing operations at Ministry of Defence bases in the area. The MOD has raised concerns in its own response to the consultation.
Launched in November, a consultation sought views from local people on the council’s high-level options to try to meet the Government’s new target of more than 18,650 homes by 2043 - over twice the previous requirement. It drew nearly 2,000 responses, the highest the council has seen.
There has been a real sense of anger and frustration at what this could mean for an area revered around the world for its beauty - Cllr Mike Evemy.
The council’s planning team is now reviewing all consultation feedback and evidence ahead of publishing a final draft of the local plan in summer 2026, which will be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate at the end of the year for examination in 2027.
In his letter to Minister of State for Housing and Planning Matthew Pennycook, Cllr Evemy laid out how the burden of meeting these “eyewatering housing numbers” fell almost entirely on a small number of towns and villages.
Many of these communities were historic settlements whose character helped shape the Cotswolds as an area renowned for its outstanding beauty, attracting millions of visitors from around the UK and the world each year.
The letter explained how the council’s limited options in responding to the targets could have stark implications, including:
- Ampney Crucis – a Domesday village – quadrupling in size
- The small rural community of Driffield, being overshadowed and submerged by a new village
- Siddington and Preston converging with Cirencester, threatening their historic identities
- Villages like Mickleton and Down Ampney being forced to take yet more development, while Kemble – a village with a train station – potentially tripling in size up to and beyond 2043
- Towns including Moreton-in-Marsh and Fairford, already under infrastructure pressure, facing further major growth.
Responses shared by Cllr Evemy with his letter to the Minister came from residents across the district. They reflected how communities felt overwhelmed, fearful, and angry.
“Government’s come and go – the Cotswolds will be living with the consequences forever” - local resident.
Neil Holt, from Ampney Crucis, said that “dumping 660 houses on the edge of a village” would destroy the community and added: “Government’s come and go – the Cotswolds will be living with the consequences forever”.
A response from Preston Parish Council said that the proposed developments posed one of the biggest threats to the village in its 1,000-year history which would “engulf the village and obliterate its unique identity”.
And campaign group Moreton Against Over Overdevelopment called the Government’s target “a wanton act of vandalism” which risked “destroying the very essence of what attracts people from all over the world to the Cotswolds”.
Even young people had their say, with schoolchildren from Ampney Crucis adding their comments. One 11-year-old said I don’t want a place where I am growing up to become full of rush, stress and confusion., and an eight-year-old added that he feared he wouldn’t feel safe riding his bike in the village with the new development.
In light of the overwhelming response to the local plan consultation, Cllr Evemy emphasised the importance of meeting with ministers as soon as possible.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg." - Cllr Mike Evemy
He said: “As requested by the government, we are responding to the housing targets it has imposed on the district by updating our local plan – at pace. As we have set out the options to do this and engaged comprehensively with residents up and down the district, there has been a real sense of anger and frustration at what this could mean for an area revered around the world for its beauty.
“Rather than simply hearing it from me, or my elected colleagues, it is only right that government sees the feedback from our communities for itself, in black and white.
“That’s why we’re sharing dozens of comments and statements sent to us by residents and organisations.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg. In March, we will publish all the consultation responses, and it will show just how difficult and detached from reality this whole situation – driven by an algorithm – is.
“We want to solve the affordability crisis in our district. We want young people born here to be able to stay here. And we want to deliver good-quality, low-carbon homes within thriving, well-planned communities. And so do our residents. But this is not the way to achieve those aims”.
In the letter, Cllr Evemy urges ministers to finally meet with him and local MPs to discuss a better way forward.
Notes to editors
Cllr Evemy's previous letters to the Government about housing targets can be viewed here:
Leader of Cotswold District Council responds to Government's letter stating housing targets remain