Housing plans - Buckover, Charfield and Thornbury

The housing plans for our area made it into the Bristol Post earlier this week - but what they didn't make clear is that this is not a done deal. There is still a chance to have your say.

What the draft Joint Spatial Plan (JSP) says

You can read the full draft JSP here. The key points are:

• Around 3,000 homes would be provided in a new garden village at Buckover, with at least 1,500 of them being delivered by 2036.
• Around 1,200 homes in a number of developments at Charfield
• Another 500 homes at Thornbury before 2036 plus around 5ha of additional employment land on land at Crossways east of Morton Way

Transport

All of these developments would make financial contributions towards local and strategic transportation schemes, including potentially:

• M5 J14 improvements
• Charfield rail station re-opening
• local bus service improvements
• local highway, foot and cycle improvements.

Buckover and Thornbury developments would also contribute towards:

• Metrobus Extension to Thornbury & Buckover Garden Village
• A38(N) Park & Ride

It says in the policy for Buckover that "Consideration will also be required to ensure the A38 can continue to act as an effective relief road to the M5 without detriment to the new resident’s health & wellbeing."

The Charfield developments would also contribute towards "a comprehensive Wotton Road environmental enhancement scheme, new and improved foot and cycle connections through the village and to key local destinations such as Renishaws, KLB school and Wotton-under-Edge, and including a new Charfield circular public right of way route".

Chances to speak up

The JSP is currently going through a process of being approved for consultation. Members of the action group TRAPP'D and your local Focus Team attended the Infrastructure Board meeting on Monday to speak and will be in action again at the West of England Joint Committee meeting in Bath this coming Monday.

There will also be chances to speak at both the South Gloucestershire Cabinet meeting at 2pm on 6th November and the Council meeting at 7pm on 8th November (both at Kingswood Civic Centre).

Have your say in the consultation

If the consultation goes ahead, it's expected to run from 22nd November to 10th January. When it starts, we'll let you know how to have your say.