THE A417 Missing Link is expected to bring major new housing and employment developments to Cirencester which could fan fears of the creation of a “Milton Keynes” in the Cotswolds.

Earlier this year, concerns were raised about potential plans for creating garden towns across Gloucestershire.

And improvements to the A417 may contribute to major new house building projects between Cirencester and Kemble.

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the former Cotswolds MP who now represents the newly created North Cotswolds constituency, says one of his main tasks will be to ensure new infrastructure and services are provided for new homes.

The Conservative’s new constituency straddles the north of Cirencester, goes as far west as the Severn and covers areas such as Minchinhampton, Brockworth, Hardwicke, Churchdown and Chipping Campden.

“My thought is that the new A417 Missing link is going to bring quite a lot of growth to Cirencester,” he said.

“We are going to see a lot more development in the area.

"A major road between the M4 and M5, linking Swindon and Gloucester is bound to increase the pressure for both employment sites such as offices, warehousing and also housing.”

In his new constituency he says he will be working to ensure developments such as the proposed 2,500-home scheme in Whaddon, south of Gloucester, do not get the go-ahead without the right infrastructure.

“My main task is going to be liaising with the Government over targets and the framing of the rules,” he said.

“The Whaddon plan has 2,500 houses,” he said.

“It’s a very big development which depends on the upgrading of the M5 junction 12 which is a multi million pound programme which will come eventually.

“My task is to say to councils when drawing up their plans is for God’s sake, make sure you’ve got the doctors surgeries, libraries, community centres, schools, sewage works and roads to go with it.”

Earlier this year, a political row broke out over “secret” plans to “build a new city like Milton Keynes” in the Cotswolds.

At the time, Cotswold District Council leader Joe Harris (LD, St Michael’s) fiercely criticised the idea of building 23,000 new homes between Cirencester and Kemble at the time.

This came after the Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed that Shire Hall bosses had been developing a long-term growth vision for the county since 2020.

Cotswold growth areas identified in Gloucestershire's long term growth paper

A leaked Gloucestershire County Council document, which was previously shared with the leadership of all the county’s districts, suggested creating several garden towns to help build 142,000 across Gloucestershire by 2051.

The confidential draft discussion paper suggests the creation of new garden towns in places such as Boddington, Standish, Cam, Moreton-in-Marsh, Kemble, Northwood Green near Westbury-on-Severn and Aylburton near Lydney.

The draft strategy also proposed removing the green belt north of the A40 between Cheltenham and Gloucester.

While Gloucestershire County Council is responsible for planning infrastructure improvements, district councils are ultimately responsible for where new housing should be built.

Each of the districts has its own local plan, which is a periodically reviewed and updated blueprint for development.

The county council said the document is not their official policy but was a paper produced to discuss with districts where sustainable housing could be built.

And a timeline was released detailing when senior Shire Hall officers met and discussed the paper with their district council colleagues.