GOV PLANS REMOVE YOUR SAY IN PLANNING DECISIONS

If you think recent decisions where South Glos planners have ignored local views were bad…. It is going to get worse. The government has published two proposals, which would remove ANY local say in a whole range of planning decisions.  Lots of things that have a significant impact on neighbours would no longer need planning permission. So no chance to have your say, no chance for South Glos to try to get improvements.  

We think this is a disgrace. We believe local communities should shape their own futures, together - not have a market based free for all in which developers can do what they like, whatever to cost to other residents. Today Lib Dem Conference condemned these anti-democratic changes  https://www.libdems.org.uk/f17-emergency

You can find out more about what the government is planning by going to  https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/changes-to-the-current-planning-system

And 

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/planning-for-the-future

Tories grab control over whether planning applications even go to a planning committee.

After the fiasco of residents not being allowed to speak at the planning committee meetings discussing Rockwood and the play area behind Meadow Mead - there is one bit of good news.

We made a huge fuss and S Glos has finally agree to restore the right for residents to speak at committee on line. Something most other councils found no difficulty in keeping when they switched to digital meetings, but S Glos said they couldn't.

But at the same time they have TAKEN AWAY the right of local councillors to refer planning applications to committee. At present as long as three local members want it referred, they have a right to take it to committee for a decision - so when officers are going against what residents want, local councillors can force it to committee so residents can speak and hope to persuade the committee. But now, the Chair of the Planning Committee is going to be given the power to decide whether that is allowed.

The Chair is not local, and on past form does not listen to residents. The Tories have imposed this new system, where they control what goes to committee and what is pushed through irrespective of local views. We will monitor carefully, and keep residents posted. Your Lib Dem local councillors will continue to try to get a fair hearing for residents when officers are not backing resident

Call for sites and planning consultations

On Tuesday South Glos Council launched a “call for sites”. This gives everyone a chance to suggest sites that you think might have the potential for development, for houses or economic purposes. It is open from Tuesday 7th July to Tuesday 20th October and is part of the process of preparing the new Local Plan.

The “call for sites” process sometimes causes concern, so it’s well worth reading the FAQ document to understand what it means. Further information, including on how to submit sites and the status of sites submitted through previous call for sites, can be found at www.southglos.gov.uk/CallForSites2020.

During the same time period the council is also consulting on a number of additional planning documents including:

• Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) 2020 – www.southglos.gov.uk/SCI2020
• Householder Extensions Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) – www.southglos.gov.uk/HouseholderSPD
• Barn Conversions Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) – www.southglos.gov.uk/BarnConversionSPD
• Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) – www.southglos.gov.uk/CILSPD2020

Plans to build on Station Woodland blocked

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Plans  for 2 houses and a bungalow in the woodland behind Station Lodge have been refused. Yate Councillors objected and this time the planners backed them - because of the impact on the woodland, wildlife and the important listed buildings around it - the Station Lodge and the raised history footpath for reaching the old station.

This week we have reported on some cases where planners have now backed locals, here is a case where they have listened to local objections.

PLANNING GREEN LIGHT TO NEW SPORTS PITCHES WITHOUT TOILETS OR CHANGING

Another decision this week from the planners. New junior sports pitches have to be provided by the developers at Ladden Garden. But the Tory Councillors who run planning, none of whom live within 5 miles of here, have said they need not provide toilets or changing.

So the new development will three junior pitches, on land land which is currently waterlogged every winter, with hardly any parking and no toilets or changing. And no electricity or water for them to go in later. Absolutely bonkers.

Yate Town Council who have years of experience running local pitches explained the problems. But S Glos planning committee simply ignored that. Once again, it is a case of whatever the developer wants seems to be good enough.

TORIES RIDE ROUGHSHOD OVER RESIDENTS TO GIVE DEVELOPERS WHAT THEY WANT

PLAY AREA & PAVILION GET GO AHEAD DESPITE STRONG OBJECTION

Never mind the fact that adjoining residents are opposed. Never mind that every single local councillor in this town is against it.Never mind it is not the strategic Master Plan for the new development, what developers want they get. Yesterday South Glos Planning Committee granted consent for developers to put a major play area, including aerial ropeway and a 'pavilion' without doors, or windows and a flat roof right behind existing houses in Meadow Mead, Brimsham Park. Nobody would have minded the small equipment for young children originally in the plans. But these massive changes will mean gardens overlocked, teenagers on the 'pavilion roof' or in it at all hours.

When as locals we identify ways to improve plans we are told we cannot depart from the Master Plan, but when developers want to, then it gets waived through.

Despite letters from loads of residents, despite representations at the committee from Cllr Mike Drew on behalf of local councillors, the Town Council - a committee majority made up of Tory Councillors who don't live within 5 miles of here dumped it on us, against every local person involved.

A disgrace.

Just look at what they are insisting goes up just yards from people's houses

Planners give go ahead to massive care home on listed historic park right by listed building in Y ate.

On Thurs 25 S Glos planners gave the green light to a massive 3 storey nursing home occupying the historic gardens of the Grade II Rockwood House. Residents and the town council objected strongly. They were denied the right to speak at the meeting and only allowed to put in written comments - because whilst other councils have managed to retain the right to speak at on line meetings, S Glos still insists it is too difficult. Worse, although they broadcast the meeting live, the live broadcast failed during the meeting, so effectively for part of the meeting the councillors were meeting in private. Cllr Mike Drew spoke passionately in support of residents. Trouble is most of the councillors don't come from round here, and seemed in a hurry to finish the meeting.

This will put a 3 story massive building right next to existing dwellings, and although partly dug into th eground the only way they could think of to screen it is massive 3 storey high leylandii. And the Tories on planning think this building is suitable to go in the listed gardens of by historic Rockwood House (the georgian one). Residents understandably feel cheated.

We need nursing home places but they don't have to be done like this. Surely we can do better?

PUBLIC GAGGED OVER MEADOW MEAD PLAY AREA

Meadow Mead play area

Back at the last planning meeting at S Glos before lock down, because a couple of Tory councillors didn't show up or send subs, the Planning Committee was able to back residents and throw out plans for a play area, including aerial walkway and pavilion right behind houses in Meadow Mead. Residents understandably want the play area moved into the park, which is yards away - and don't want the 'pavilion which will become a teen shelter. Local councillors backed residents and persuaded the planning committee at S Glos to back them.

But now the Tories at S Glos have put the application on the agenda of another committee, specifically with the aim of overruling the earlier decision. Never mind what local residents want, never mind what local councillors want, the Tories none of whom live anywhere near here know better.

And worse, they have used COVID as an excuse to BAN the public from speaking at the meeting. Other councils meeting on line have continued to let the public speak, but S Glos says that is too hard, so the residents won't even be able to speak at the meeting. Cllr Mike Drew has condemned this as a farce.

Ladden Gardens Play Area Fiasco

If you were planning a new play area on the new development in north Yate, would you put it within 30m of the existing well loved play area in the current park, Brinsham Fields?  Well that is what the planners are insisting the developers do. Instead of using the money to put more equipment in the current play area, they are insisting they build a new one just yards away - which means money gets wasted on unnecessary fencing, bins etc, when they could use that money in the existing fenced play area to put in more equipment.  It will mean a teenage kickabout area being with 30 m of houses.

But don't blame the developers. They were willing to talk to the Friends of the Park and the Town Council who run the park about a better solution. But S Glos officials were insisting it had to be separate.

Yesterday, the Friends of the Park, and Cllrs Chris Willmore and Mike Drew took the issue to the highest level, at South Gloucestershire Strategic Sites Committee. They showed officials and councillors the problems, they asked for them simply to agree to come to the negotiating table to find a better solution.

South Gloucestershire refused. They insisted on ploughing ahead and giving the green light to this crazy situation. Lib Dem and Labour Councillors voted for Mike Drew's proposal to get everyone round a table to sort it out. But the Tories, none of whom live anywhere near Yate pushed through the officer recommendation. 

The Friends of the Park raise money from all sorts of sources to improve our park, to see money being wasted just yards away is disappointing. We still hope we can work with the developers to get around this crazy mess.

(Picture: The red mark is the play area S Glos is insisting the developers put in, the blue one is the current play area in the park, which has lots of space for more equipment)

Play area and 'pavilion' plans behind Meadow Mead

Developers have put in plans for a play area and 'pavilion' right behind the houses in Meadow Mead to be used for community events. 

Two years ago, when developers first put in plans, they included an aerial cableway. Residents got a promise it would be removed. But it is back in on the latest plans. And on top of that they have added a wooden ' Pavilion' for public events, right behind houses. It will not be locked, will not have doors or windows, but will be flat roofed (ideal for climbing on). The Focus Team have written to residents alerting them to the plans, so they can comment. We've put the plan for the play area and the pavilion drawing below to give you an idea of what they propose. You can see where the existing Meadow Mead houses are at the bottom of the plan (number 6, is 6 Meadow Mead).

 Yate Town Council has objected, saying the play equipment should be in the park, in the existing play area within yards of this, not right behind houses.  Residents have been lodging objections. If you want to see what is planned and add your comments go to  the S Glos planning site:

https://developments.southglos.gov.uk/online-applications/ and put in the application number PK18/0529/RM

Tern Inn appeal withdrawn - but what next?

Focus Team members Tony Davis, Louise Harris
and Paul Hulbert at the Tern Inn

Great news - the developers have withdrawn their appeal, so their plan to demolish the Tern Inn pub and build flats right across the car park is now dead in the water.

But does this mean that we've won? Not necessarily. It just means that the developers reckon that they have no chance of getting their CURRENT plan approved.

They might submit a slightly revised planning application, so that the whole process has to start again. They might "land bank" the site for a few years and see what the economic situation is like then. Or they might even be willing to sell the site to the community or a brewery.

So we need to wait and watch to see what the developers do next. Whatever happens, the Focus Team will continue to support all the hard work being put in by the Birds Resident Group and Dodington Parish Council on behalf of our community.

If you're on Facebook you can follow the Birds Resident Group here.

Tern Inn - date set for Planning Inquiry - UPDATED

Many thanks to everyone who helped with the Heron Way traffic count (and kept us topped up with tea and coffee!)

This information is being analysed at the moment and will be passed on to the Government's Planning Inspector who is considering the plan to replace the pub and the car park with flats, with all the traffic chaos that will bring.

The Planning Enquiry will have a public hearing - it won't just be done on documents.

UPDATE: The hearing has been delayed, and we expect the hearing to be held at a local venue around 20th November. As a result the date for comments has been extended to the 31st July 2018.

You can submit any other (factual) comments of your own between now and Tuesday 31 July 2018 at the Planning Inspectorate website - please note that this will be offline between 9pm and midnight on Wed 13 June.

You can follow the Save The Tern Inn Facebook page here

Tern Inn - please help with traffic count

Dodington Parish Council, in partnership with the Birds Resident Group, is organising a traffic count on Heron Way to help the case opposing flats being built on the Tern Inn and car park site. This would be presented as evidence for the planning enquiry that will be held in the next few months.

The count will take place over the week commencing next Monday, 4th June (Yes, we know that next week includes an Inset Day and the School Sports Day etc - this will give us a week with varying activities so that we have a realistic picture of traffic patterns on the road)

Community volunteers are needed to help with the traffic count. If you follow the Birds Resident Group on Facebook you can contact them there, or you can email Dodington Parish Council on dodingtonpc@southglos.gov.uk

The survey will just count the number and types of vehicle (car, bus etc) - it won't be checking traffic speeds, and traffic won't be held up at all. Please just use the road as you normally would.

Update: Because we already have some data from South Glos, we just need to do a count on one day at peak times. The count will be this Wednesday (6 June) but you may see photos being taken at other times during the week.

Reminder - have your say on Local Plan

Don't forget you only have until 30th April to have your say on South Gloucestershire Council's new Local Plan at www.southglos.gov.uk/newlocalplanfeb2018.

This is your chance to have your say on how up to 1,800 extra homes can be delivered in smaller developments in our rural areas. This is in addition to the thousands of new homes already proposed in large developments at Coalpit Heath, west and north west of Yate in Westerleigh and Iron Acton Parishes, Charfield, Thornbury and Buckover.

Have your say on new South Glos Local Plan

South Gloucestershire Council has started a consultation on the new Local Plan, which will set out how the development proposed in the Joint Spatial Plan for the West of England will be delivered in South Gloucestershire. The consultation will run until 30th April and documents are available to view on the Council’s website at www.southglos.gov.uk/newlocalplanfeb2018.

A hard copy of the consultation document is available to view from 8.45am - 5pm Mondays to Wednesdays and 8.45am - 4.30pm Thursdays and Fridays, at the Council’s One-Stop Shops, which are located at:

• Patchway One Stop Shop, The Patchway Hub, Rodway Road, Patchway BS34 5PE
• Kingswood One Stop Shop, Civic Centre, High Street, Kingswood BS15 9TR
• Yate One Stop Shop (access via West Walk), Kennedy Way, Yate BS37 4DQ

There will also be public drop-in events. The nearest to us is 6-8pm on Tuesday 20 March at the Ridgewood Community Centre, Yate (BS37 4AF). Details of all the events are available at www.southglos.gov.uk/newlocalplanfeb2018.

Part 2 of the document introduces the proposed strategy for delivering the development:

• building out the developments already allocated in the council's Core Strategy
• maximising the use of brownfield land within the urban areas
• building the 5 large scale Strategic Development Locations set out in the Joint Spatial Plan for the West of England (Coalpit Heath, North West and West of Yate, Thornbury, Buckover and Charfield)
• smaller scale development in the rural areas. 

Yate is one of the areas being looked at for maximising the use of brownfield land in urban areas and the question about how to approach development in the rural areas affects all our villages. The consultation document also sets out what is happening with the Strategic Development Locations and how the local communities will be involved further but does not ask specific questions around those.

The council would prefer you to use the response form available online to make comments. If you are unable to do so, you can submit comments by email to PlanningPolicy@southglos.gov.uk or by post. There is no need to submit comments in multiple different ways.

Tern Inn redevelopment - appeal submitted

The owner of the Tern Inn and car park in Heron Way has submitted an appeal against being refused planning permission to rebuild the pub and car park as flats.

Some outline documents are on the South Glos Planning Website but the Planning Inspectorate will not consider the appeal until the developer has provided some missing documents. It's not yet visible on the Planning Inspectorate's own "Appeals Portal" but when it does, it will be under Case ID 3190390.

For the back story of this proposal, which has been strongly opposed by local residents and Dodington Parish Council, please check out our previous Tern Inn stories.

Consultation on new homes starts next week

All four West of England councils have now agreed that the consultation on the Joint Spatial Plan (JSP) should go ahead so it will start on 22nd November. The JSP proposes:

• 1,800 new homes at Coalpit Heath
• 2,000 homes plus employment land on the edge of Yate, between Engine Common and Nibley and down to Westerleigh, with at least 1,000 being built by 2036 
• 1,200 at Charfield 
• 3,000 at a new garden village at Buckover, with at least 1,500 of them being built by 2036 
• 500 at Thornbury 

Some headlines have given the impression that the plan has already been approved - it has not. A Planning Inspector will hold a public inquiry next year to decide if the plan is sound and whether any changes are needed to make it sound. They will see any comments you make in the consultation, which runs until 10^th January 2018.

This will be your last chance to have your say - don't leave it to others. Once the plan has been adopted it will be too late to change where the new development goes. 

The new South Glos Local Plan will just be adding in the details and possibly allocating smaller sites. It can't put the homes in a different place entirely from that allocated in the JSP.

The JSP document, supporting evidence and details of how to make a submission will be published online at www.jointplanningwofe.org.uk on 22nd November. If you would like to help spread the word to those who aren't online, please contact us.

Draft Joint Spatial Plan published

The latest Draft Joint Spatial Plan has been published. You can read it here (all 337 pages...)

The JSP looks at housing and employment needs up to 2036 (the "plan period"), but makes predictions of need and provision beyond that.

It's being discussed at various West of England Combined Authority meetings and will next go to the 4 member councils. Subject to them all agreeing, it will go out to public consultation.

The plans include:

• 1,800 new homes at Coalpit Heath, all within the plan period
• 1,000 homes plus employment land within the plan period on the edge of Yate, at Engine Common, Nibley and down to Westerleigh, plus another 225 homes as a "contingency", and 1000 homes after the plan period
• 1,200 at Charfield, all within the plan period
• 1,500 at a new garden village at Buckover, plus another 1500 afterwards
• 500 at Thornbury, all within the plan period
• "Contingencies" of up to 775 homes south of Chipping Sodbury within the plan period, plus another 725 afterwards

We will keep you updated and will let you know how to have your say when the consultation starts.

Update 1st November 2017 - South Glos say "In the first half of November, the JSP and proposed engagement plan will be considered by each of the four WoE local authorities. Only once it is approved can it proceed. Subject to approval by the four councils, the proposed public engagement is due to run from 22 November until 10 January, 2018. Following this process, the draft plan, along with all of the feedback received will be sent to the Secretary of State early next year"

Tern Inn - Birds Resident Group meeting 16th October

There will be a public meeting of the Birds Resident Group on 16th October.

The local community have been campaigning tirelessly for a year now to try to stop unwanted development of the Tern Inn and car park site. A planning application for this site requesting 26 new flats was turned down by South Gloucestershire Council earlier this year.

Although the pub closed in June of this year due to the developer not offering a lease renewal, this is not the end of the matter and residents and councillors have continued to work behind the scenes. This meeting is a chance to find out more about the current position in respect of the planning application/appeal, and how matters may progress in the coming months.

This is a vital opportunity to ask any questions you may have, and to make sure that the campaign is aware of the community’s wishes.

The public meeting will be held at 8pm on Monday 16th October at Dodington Parish Hall (Finch Road). This meeting is being held jointly by the Birds Resident Group and Dodington Parish Council.

Everyone is welcome and we look forward to seeing you there.

Railway Inn site latest

As local people will know, the historic Railway Inn was recently demolished despite local objections. The pub sign now peeks rather sadly above the site hoardings.

The developers then submitted an application for outline planning permission, but South Gloucestershire Council has refused to accept this and asked for full layout details before takinga decision on the application. They have been given until July 6th to provide the extra information, or the planning officer will recommend that the application is turned down.


Yate Town Council has raised concerns about the parking arrangements, and has urged that the new building should be made to match the historic style of nearby premises.