McMurtry Automotive's plans to build a new facility to support its development of electric 'hypercars' have been turned down by Stroud District Council. The Stroud-based track car maker, founded in 2016 by the late Sir David McMurtry, had applied for permission to build a new 4,820sqm research and development centre on land adjoining Renishaw in Charfield Road, Kingswood. Planning agent Daniel Jones had told councillors McMurtry Automotive was 'exactly the type of high-value business the district and county should support and retain'. He added the proposed location adjoining Renishaw offered access to world-class engineering from the 'established centre of high technology and research', and also cited the family connection to Renishaw co-founder Sir David McMurtry. He said: 'There’s tremendous warmth towards the McMurtry family, to David McMurtry specifically, and to Renishaw as an organisation.