Residents Lose Bid to Shield King Charles's Highgrove From Housing Development

Residents in Tetbury have lost their attempt to turn fields next to King Charles's Highgrove estate into protected public space, clearing the way for a housing development of up to 135 homes on the doorstep of the royal residence.

The Longfurlong Greenfields Association had asked Cotswolds District Council to register the fields between Bath Road and Longfurlong Lane as a community asset — a legal designation that would have preserved them as open land and blocked the development. The council rejected the proposal, citing a lack of information about long-term management, maintenance and funding for the site Hello!.

The fields lie within the Cotswold National Landscape, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty where planning rules give special weight to conserving the countryside. That designation did not, in the council's view, overcome the gap in the residents' submission.

Miller Homes is preparing a planning application for up to 130 new homes on the site, including 56 affordable properties Express. An earlier figure cited by the BBC put the number at 135 homes, and residents have consistently used that figure in their campaign BBC News.

Highgrove House, near Tetbury in Gloucestershire, has been King Charles's private residence since 1980 and is where he has developed his celebrated gardens over four decades. Residents argue that building more than 100 homes on its border would destroy the seclusion that makes the estate workable as a private home.

Peter Martin, chairman of the Longfurlong Greenfields Association, said the community's concern was not only about green space. He said residents wanted to protect the King's privacy from the security implications of a housing development on the boundary of his lands Hello!.

The BBC reported in April 2026 that locals consider the plans a "serious security risk" to the estate BBC News. Councillor Laura Hall-Wilson went further, calling the developer's plan "cynical" and voicing fears for the King himself if the development proceeds Hello!.

The clash pits two familiar priorities against each other: the national need for new housing, including affordable homes, and the preservation of a landscape that happens to sit beside one of the most closely guarded private residences in the country. The planning application from Miller Homes has not yet been submitted for a final decision.

Until it is, the fields remain undeveloped — but no longer protected by the community bid that sought to keep them that way.