STROUD District Council spent £45,000 on hiring independent surveyors Savills to investigate sites for affordable housing in Minchinhampton, it has been revealed.

Parish councillor Gerald Ford announced the figure at a Minchinhampton parish council meeting on Monday, November 24.

In an email he wrote to SDC, he asked 'How much did it cost for Savills to investigate a site for affordable housing in Minchinhampton?'

SDC replied that it had cost £45,000.

Mr Ford said he was shocked at the amount because of what he called some of the 'ridiculous' suggestions Savills had come up with, including the churchyard, common and playing field.

"It's been a complete waste of time and money. Why did they include the churchyard and the playing field? It's obvious affordable housing cannot be built there. It just does not make sense," Mr Ford said.

However, an SDC spokesman said the £45,000 was a justified amount because the sum included exception site identification, a justification report for rural exception sites, design and layout of the proposed scheme and consideration of archaeology, ecology and other environmental issues and highways advisers. It also included preparing planning documents for outline planning application and responding to public inquiries.

Nick Hurst, chairman of the parish council, said he thought SDC should have put a cap on the amount spent and said the figure was too high.

SDC proposes to build 20 new affordable homes in Minchinhampton.

Two adjacent sites, to the south and east side of The Bulwarks have been selected as the best locations for the housing.

The new homes will be built by a housing association rather than the council.

A consultation event was held in Minchinhampton last month for residents to help inform the design of the proposed buildings.