Claire and Pat both attended the Examination in Public (EIP) on July 12th, along with some local residents. Barratt Homes' representative certainly pushed very hard to persuade the Government Inspector that he should identify Woodlands Farm as an area suitable for development. He claims that because the combined populations of Winterbourne, Frampton Cotterell and Coalpit Heath is larger than the population of Thornbury, it should be regarded as a town suitable for an urban extension rather than a village in the Rural Areas section of the Core Strategy. South Gloucestershire Officers strongly opposed these views.
Barratt Homes' representative hasn’t just made these points on 12th July. He has managed to secure a place at many of the sessions throughout the EIP. This included the final session on July 18th when he was determined to continue making his point right up to the close of play.
The Inspector clearly feels that the Council has not identified sufficient land for development, at least in the early years. South Gloucestershire Officers have addressed this by agreeing some changes to phasing and also to carrying out a review within 10 years. Developers were suggesting a suspension of the Core Strategy to enable it to be changed now. Barratt Homes suggested just suspending the housing figures, so that developers who had planning applications ready for submission could have them dealt with without these being in place!
The Inspector closed the EIP stating that it would take him 3 to 4 weeks to consider everything and propose any modifications which he felt were necessary for him to assess the Core Strategy as “sound”. Any proposed changes would have a 6 week public consultation period before he made his final decision. He estimates that this will be around the end of October.
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