Controversial proposals to build 190 homes on green belt land between Swindon Lane and Hunting Butts Farm near the racecourse were thrown out by Cheltenham borough council's planning committee last week.

Les Godwin, borough councillor for Prestbury (PAB), and member of the planning committee, explains why the land must be protected from development for years to come.

Prestbury residents will no doubt be glad plans to build 190 homes on green belt land near the racecourse were unanimously rejected by the borough council's planning committee.

I share those sentiments. It is what many of us said would happen and it was the right outcome for an area of land which should not be considered as developable.

It is not included in the much maligned Regional Spatial Strategy and on this fact alone would not be included in the emerging Joint Core Strategy document.

Whichever of these two documents is adopted for the future, we should be assured that the land will not be developed for the next twenty years in the future development framework plan.

The concept of a green belt is to stop the coalescence of two settlements and it is also a means of checking unrestricted urban sprawl into the countryside.

The swathe of land on the north side of Swindon Lane is the most important buffer to keep Prestbury and Bishop's Cleeve apart.

Since it was formed in 1976 the PAB group has been successful in defending it, forever keeping vigil against those who would wish to spoil it.

In 2006 Cheltenham borough council engaged independent consultants to conduct an extensive review of the green belt in readiness for the new local development framework, which will supersede the current borough local plan in 2011.

We were delighted when the findings of the review revealed that land on the north side of Swindon Lane and around the racecourse were classified as high value green belt land.

I have no doubt that there will be attempts by developers to build there in the future and I know that the PAB group along with local residents will stand firm against all comers.

The lesson to be learned here is that there are substantive policies that spell out clearly what should happen in any set of given circumstances and, providing those who have the power to interpret them do so correctly, then we have nothing to fear.

Les Godwin