A controversial bid for 32 ecohomes on a former printworks established in 1949 in the Cotswolds has finally been approved by planners - despite the scheme sitting on land designated as a "key employment site".

Stroud District Council called in Newland Homes' bid for the 32 zero-carbon-design homes which are proposed for the printing works site in Kingswood, Wotton-under-Edge, after multimedia communications firm Orchestra departed 13 years ago.

The site, derelict since 2011 when Orchestra departed, lies at the end of the Walk Mill Lane cul de sac with access for the new homes, first proposed in 2022, proposed via the residential street.

Initially, the site was offered for rent at £100,000 a year via a local agent before Newland Homes stepped in to seek permission to convert the site for 32 homes two years ago.

In the wake of a failed bid to market the site for business use in 2020, total clearance of the site's 37,000 square foot property, along with an historic pub embedded on the site, has been on the cards.

Concerns voiced by councillors on SDC's full planning committee on April 9 covered many aspects of the proposal:

● Cllr Mark Ryder questioned the height of some buildings, up to three storeys tall, but was told that as a brownfield site previous buildings set the measure.

● Cllr Lucas Shoemaker warned that a government "loophole" their decision because they left SDC unable to insist upon an affordable housing element. "It's good in principle," he said, "but a great shame not to be able to have affordable housing."

● Cllr Christopher Evans, who was one of only two councillors to vote against the bid, said he had worked at the original Inchbrook Printers site and regretted the loss of employment land. The density of the development, he added, was also "too high".

But Cllr Gary Luff said the derelict site was "pretty ugly" and provided a "very marginal employment opportunity".

A hefty report from SDC planning officer Alena Dollimore recommended approval but also suggested there were boxes yet to be ticked - a sentiment endorsed by Kingswood Parish Council, which stood firmly against the project.

Among its concerns, the parish council claimed that a marketing report, filed by the applicant to illustrate that the site is no longer commericially viable, was incomplete.

Ms Dollimore said: "The site was an established factory - The Orchestra Printing works were shut down in 2011, but the site was acquired and intermittently used. The buildings are vacant and have not been in active use since the site's closure in 2020."

The buildings on site are now "in a poor state of repair, with some buildings showing strong signs of dilapidation," she added.

A former pub, The Dog and Badger, which stands in the centre of the site, now has "no roof covering and has suffered significant damage". The slow decay and lack of any move to protect the building has been the focus of local criticism since the site became vacant.

One neighbour claimed to planners that the site had been deliberately rendered unmarketable by a crew during 2020's Christmas break. 

They said: "Initially the demolition crew were hostile towards us although eventually calmed down enough to tell us they were under instruction to take the site apart. Anything of value was removed first, wiring and plumbing ripped out, trees felled and buildings rendered useless. On one occasion we lost use of our telephone and internet as the BT cables adjacent to the site had been cut.

"This also included the old Dog & Badger pub which had its Cotswold Stone tiled roof removed. All this took a number of months and the site is now almost completely destroyed. This was a concerted effort to render the site useless and push through change of use. It has been a printers works for many years and only ceased due to the Coronavirus pandemic."

Two boundaries of the site are also defined by a stream, with planning history showing that that extensive work to strengthen the riverbank and prevent subsidence has been carried out, including the introduction of gabion walls.

In analysing Newland's Marketing Report, Ms Dollimore added: "There is no evidence of mixed-use forms of development and different types of employment having being explored. Indeed, the Planning Statement makes reference to heavy industrial usage of the site being unsympathetic to surrounding residential development, but does not consider whether different types of employment could be successfully accommodated. Until such time as this has been undertaken the application must be considered premature."

Alongside caveats over the choice of finishing materials, concerns also remain over the proposed density of development which, she added, was "dominated by car parking and with limited open space. A development of the density proposed is inappropriate in this location: on a rural, landscape edge of settlement location development should work hard to integrate into the surrounding landscape context."

Planners voted seven to two to approve the project.

Approval has heightened local speculation that the village's Post Office and general stores may benefit from the new development. In a recent social media post, the business appealed directly to local residents to use its services amid fear of potential closure. 

One resident told Punchline-Gloucester.com: "We have seen a monstrous amount of new homes in the last decade and more than doubled in size, but local shops continue to suffer."