THE Secretary of State for Homes and Communities Sajid Javid has given the go-ahead for the 200-homes Allaston Road scheme in Lydney.

Mr Javid said the proposal was incompatible with the Forest of Dean District Council’s core strategy but gave them limited weight because of the housing shortfall and he considered the policies were out of date.

He said permission should be granted in absence of a five-year housing land supply unless any adverse impacts of doing so outweighed the benefits.

The proposals by Allaston Developments Ltd include 20 serviced self-build plots and up to 37 retirement apartments, a community building of up to 2,000 sq ft and new public open space.

Lydney North district councillor Alan Preest (Con), who spoke against the proposals, believes the council should now make the best of a bad situation by improving the nearby infrastructure.

He said: “I’ve always said it’s a good plan, but it’s in the wrong place. This has been dragging on for many years now and it should have been called in by my predecessor at district council.

“But now that it has been given the go-ahead we should be working to secure cycle paths to and from the development into town."

District councillor Bill Osborne (Lydney East, FF) believes the road to the development will become a deathtrap.

The campaign Stop Allaston Development group declined to comment at this stage.