It is now up to the reader to decide how those concerned chose to interpret the somewhat equivocal agreement between the College and the Planning Authority. What came perilously close to reality suggests the College Council believed they had carte blanche to push their proposed property portfolio in Charlton Park unashamedly skywards as they submitted plans to build five 20-storey tower blocks with 400 flats and 13 houses. You may feel the need to read that sentence again to be sure you read it correctly, but make no mistake, masquerading behind questionable modernity, these five enormous edifices were seriously proposed by Cheltenham College for Cheltenham town, dwarfing nature's arboreal canopy, which had so naturally covered this beautiful parkland for more centuries than you might now wave an outline plan at on a windy day. To emphasize the point again, during a millennia in which local people had sprinkled little more than church towers and spires over Gloucestershire, as they daringly reached above nature's tallest root-bound landmarks, by 1960AD, more modern men believed it was acceptable to ascend to even greater heights in the heart of previously un-spoilt parkland, dwarfing everything this side of Gloucester Cathedral - and all in pursuit of mammon!
Thankfully, the County Planning Officer (no doubt influenced by local objections) indicated that the Planning Committee considered five 20-storey tower blocks were too high and would dominate the landscape. Nevertheless, in June 1963 the College Council still felt sufficiently emboldened (some might say arrogant) to submit another formal application along broadly the same lines, this time for only four 20-storey tower blocks, with access from Old Bath Road. This too was refused on the grounds that the scheme was not in accord with the agreed written statement and because four 20-storey tower blocks would still dominate the landscape.
An amended plan was then drawn up for five 16-storey blocks, which in the modern context is as unbelievable as the four 20-storey blocks. Thankfully, any lack of noblesse oblige on the one side was countered by statutory checks and balances on the other, as restraints we occasionally bemoan were imposed on this highly audacious scheme, regardless of how expensive or luxurious the high-end, high-rise apartments might have been. It can be safely assumed that Charlton Park Gate residents would have been singularly unimpressed at the prospect of living under such massive shadows and the resultant loss of privacy from countless sky-borne eyes looking down at them. Charlton Park Convent was equally concerned and took prompt legal advice to prevent it happening. It is worth looking at our Timeline again here because in 1948, a report by Cheltenham's 'Georgian Group' advised; 'the building of blocks of flats of simple form and 3 or 4-storeys high'.
© Cheltenham CollegeThe 1962 plan for five 16-storey tower blocks and a selection of low-rise houses
© Cheltenham CollegeThe 1962 (modified) plan for four 20-storey tower blocks (previously five)
plus two 7-storey blocks and a selection of low-rise housing.