CONTROVERSIAL plans to build 150 new homes on Mankley Field have been recommended for refusal.

The plans submitted by property developers Gladman will come before Stroud District Council’s development control committee at 6pm on Tuesday, September 10.

Officers recommended the plans be thrown out for the following reasons:

1. The proposed development is located outside the defined settlement boundary

2. National planning policy does not require the land to be built on for housing

3. Prehistoric/Roman remains may be present on site

4. Lack of information about the impact on protected species of wildlife

5. There is insufficient evidence about how to tackle potential problems at the March Lane/Church Lane junction.

Campaigners fighting to stop the development being built in their town delivered 259 letters of objection and a petition with over 1,000 signatures to the district council’s head of planning back in July.

Opposition to the development off Bath Road in Leonard Stanley is based on traffic issues, lack of provisions and because they believe the development would essentially force them to become one village – the Stanleys.

Diane Odell, chairman of the Mankley Field Action Group, said: "Mankley field is the green lung between Leonard Stanley and King’s Stanley and by building 150 homes on it we will not only lose our last bit of green space but also our separate village characters."

The meeting at Ebley Mill on Tuesday is open to the public.