Plans from housing drop-in sessions now available online

Cllr Claire Young at the Yate and Chipping Sodbury drop-in

Now that the drop-in events on the new housing proposals have come to an end, you can see all the materials used at them here.

The proposals for the Yate/Sodbury area include housing coming round from north of the football club down towards the top of Nibley, employment to the west of the current business parks along Nibley Lane and then mixed housing/employment in the land between Nibley Lane and the railway arches. If these and the Coalpit Heath proposals go ahead, there would be very little separating the villages from Yate.


The proposals for Chipping Sodbury are for development areas on the south side of the railway, running from opposite the middle of Robin Way to south of Smarts Green roundabout. This means both sides of Dodington Road / Claypit Hill except the Chipping Sodbury School playing field, as far south as the Dodington Lane junction.

The submission draft of the Joint Structure Plan will be going to an extraordinary meeting of the West of England Infrastructure Advisory Board in Bristol on 25th, and the next meeting of the West of England Combined Authority will be 2pm on 30th October at the Bath Guildhall. Papers for that will be available on 20th October. It will then be coming to the South Gloucestershire Cabinet on 6th November and full council on 8th November.

Over the winter there will be a consultation and all submissions will be sent with the submission draft to the Secretary of State. The plan will then be tested at an Inquiry.

West of England Strategy - consultation until 27 September

The West of England Combined Authority is consulting on its high-level plans for delivering economic growth for all, under three pillars:

• Businesses that succeed 
• World class skills for employment 
• Infrastructure fit for the future 

They are keen to get the views of businesses, organisations and individuals - you can find out more and comment here

Thousands of new homes in our area?

A plan that could change the character of our area has been published this week.

The "Towards an Emerging Spatial Strategy" plan proposes:

• 1,500 new homes at Coalpit Heath 
• 2,600 around Yate and Chipping Sodbury
• Up to 1,000 homes at Charfield
• Up to 600 homes at Thornbury 
• 2,200 homes at a new garden village at Buckover near Thornbury 

That's on top of all the houses we already knew about.

The plan, drawn up by Conservative-run South Gloucestershire Council in collaboration with the three other West of England Councils, will go out for consultation in November.

This will come as a huge shock to many local people. It's striking that under these proposals most of the new homes we need are being concentrated in just a few communities to the north of Bristol.

Will these proposals create places where people want to live, where they can access services like doctors, dentists and schools and where they can easily get to the places they need to go? Will there be truly affordable homes for those who so desperately need them? Do you think the loss of the Green Belt, which is already very narrow, is a price worth paying for new roads? How does this fit with the Conservatives' promise to protect the Green Belt?

You can view the plan here.

The plan also talks about transport infrastructure, in the tables on pages 26, 29 and 30, where it includes mention of a "Coalpit Heath distributor road", and later on page 46 it says of the Yate to Bristol corridor:

"We are proposing a package of highway and public transport schemes including a link to a new junction on the M4 from the A4174 Ring Road (along with smart motorway management), park and ride, a new road north from this junction to Yate, and a MetroBus extension to Yate from Bristol along the A432. The new road to Yate and the MetroBus extension form a package, with road space on the A432 prioritised for public transport and cycling."

A map on the same page suggests the new road could impact on Westerleigh village. On the other hand it could provide a route for the articulated lorries instead of going via the Latteridge and Wotton Roads

It's vital we all have our say on these plans.There will be a consultation from 7th November to 19th December - we will let you know then how you can make your views known.

Update on planning blueprint for South Glos

There is still uncertainty about how many dwellings will have to be accommodated in South Gloucestershire in the next five years and where they should go.

 Local residents were delighted when the Engine Common appeal was dismissed but there was a sting in the tail. The Inspector dealing with it accepted the developer’s evidence that South Gloucestershire Council has not identified enough housing sites that are available during the next five years to meet Government requirements.

The Core Strategy Inspector has recognised that this means that he has to give further consideration to the housing figures. South Gloucestershire Planning Officers need to let him have any comments on the issue by 7th June.

A question mark still hangs over developer-proposed sites which so far the Inspector has not identified for development. 

Core Strategy saga continues

The Government Inspector considering South Gloucestershire's planning blueprint for development up to 2027 will be holding another session of the Examination in Public on 7th March in the Kingswood Civic Centre, starting at 10am. Although South Glos Council has accepted his requirement for 28,355 homes by 2027 it has objected strongly to his request for at least 8,493 of these to be available in the first 5 years. The council has, however, reluctantly put forward extra sites. The session in March would allow public discussion as the Inspector considers whether, if he insists on his requirement, these sites are better than the others considered at the inquiry last summer. He has specifically mentioned sites at Thornbury, Yate/Chipping Sodbury, Severnside and the East and North Fringes of Bristol. Watch this space for more news.