More new housing

South Glos Council has been warned that until it identifies extra land for new housing, developers are likely to get planning permission to build on land currently intended to be protected. This could mean loss of some Green Belt and Woodlands Farm.

In November and December, the council will be asking for your views on how to identify these extra sites. We’ll provide a link to this consultation on this blog when it's available. The sites will be included in a revised version of the Draft Policies, Sites and Places Document for further consultation next spring/summer.

Confusingly, there is also another major planning consultation already underway - on a Spatial Plan and Joint Trasnport Strategy for the West of England (Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Glos). It will say where the 85,000 homes currently predicted to be needed in the region between now and 2036 should go. That’s an extra 29,000 homes over those already planned by the four councils.

At this stage they are asking how the homes should be provided - Urban Intensification, Urban Extension, Town Expansion (for example Yate), New Settlement, Other Settlement Locations (Winterbourne, Frampton Cotterell and Coalpit Heath are named as examples) or Dispersed (adding a small amount to all our villages). You can find out more and have your say at https://www.jointplanningwofe.org.uk/consult.ti before January 29th 2016. Planners will use the answers to help draw up the Draft Joint Spatial Plan for consultation next summer.

We know many are in desperate need of a home, especially young people struggling to get on the housing ladder. How best can new homes be delivered, while making sure our villages keep their identities and we continue to have access to the much-valued countryside? Please let your Focus Team know your views.