Town’s independent artists must not be made homeless, says MP amid bid to change industrial estate redevelopment

Plans to demolish Lansdown Industrial Estate in Cheltenham to make way for hundreds of homes included an art studio but this could change

Cheltenham MP Max Wilkinson is concerned the spa town’s only independent artists could be “made homeless” as plans to redevelop an industrial estate could change leaving them without a studio.

Plans to demolish Lansdown Industrial Estate in Gloucester Road to make way for 215 homes, an art studio and mixed use commercial units which front onto Roman Road were approved in January 2024.

However, signing off the proposals for the site, which was the home of H H Martyn & Co who were famous for making the Marble Arch gates, redecorating Buckingham Palace and manufacturing Spitfire propellers during the Second World War, has been delayed.

And now applicants Cheshire West And Chester Council, who administer the Cheshire Pension Fund, are in negotiations with Cheltenham Borough Council to change the plans for the artists to be relocated elsewhere.

Cheltenham’s Liberal Democrat MP has written to the council hoping they will help preserve the town’s only independent art studios.

“The artists had initially objected to the redevelopment of the site,” he said in the letter. “They withdrew the objection after support from your council’s cabinet enabled them to negotiate a deal for new premises on the same site.”

However, he said the Cheshire Pension Funding is looking to renegotiate the terms of the planning application and may no longer be committed to rehoming the artists.

Mr Wilkinson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the deal with the Lansdown artists was made in good faith and it must not be dropped.

“After helping the artists over a period of years as a councillor then as an MP, I’m concerned that the previous agreements made by the Cheshire Pension Fund now seem to be threatened by endless planning negotiations,” he said.

“Whatever discussions the fund is having with the council, the deal with the Lansdown artists was made in good faith and it must not be dropped. Cheltenham’s only remaining independent collective of artists must not be made homeless.”

Councillor Mike Collins (LD, Benhall, the Reddings and Fiddler’s Green), cabinet member for planning and building control, said the Borough Council has been in active and ongoing engagement with the artist studio related to their current location.

“The current site occupied by the Art Studios forms part of a live Section 106 negotiation which is ongoing,” he said.

A Cheshire Pension Fund spokesperson said they continue to work with both the artists and planning officers at Cheltenham Borough Council to seek to identify suitable re-homing for the artists at Lansdown Industrial Estate as part of the proposed redevelopment.