BERKELEY Town Council is to write to every member of Stroud District Council imploring them to stop 300 homes being built in the town.

Members are strongly opposed to the recommendations made in the Local Plan Inspector's Report and have already written letters to SDC cabinet members.

At a meeting of the town council on Monday, chairman Ralph Pinnell made the council's view crystal clear.

"The houses ain't going there," he said. "There is no excuse to build here unless there are jobs in the area and nobody has taken up the employment land at Sharpness in 30 years."

He added that the cabinet meeting which had recommended that the proposals go out for public consultation had been a farce and that cabinet members' failure to consider opposing the plan was disgusting.

He added that he thought minds had already been made up at Stroud.

The town's county councillor, Basil Booth (Con), said that even if the plan progressed at the district council's meeting on April 14 there was still a long way to go.

"They have got to go to public consultation before a decision can be made," he said.

"Everyone will then be able to make their points for and against the plan and the council will consider all the objections."

The town council will make a number of main points in their letter.

* They argue that it is wrong to categorise Berkeley as a principal settlement <sum> The inspector has referred to the land in question as a brownfield site when it is in fact a greenfield site <sum> * Alternative development land is available in the area around Sharpness Docks <sum> A survey carried out by the council has shown the vast majority of town residents to be against the plan. <sum> <sum> Finally, jobs are still being lost at Berkeley power station so the number of people travelling out of Berkeley for work will vastly overshadow those going in the opposite direction. <sum> Cllr Booth told the meeting that recent figures showed 664 travelled into the town to work compared to the 1,334 who leave.

A reduction in numbers at the nuclear site will only make this ratio worse.

Cllr Booth added: "When we are talking about people in the new homes looking for work they will not find it in Berkeley. This is not a sustainable development."

Stroud District Council will decide whether to put the plan out for public consultation at their meeting at Ebley Mill on Thursday, April 14 (7pm).