Tell us why Woodlands Farm is special

Both Westerleigh and Frampton Cotterell Parish Councils have asked South Gloucestershire Council to designate the land at Woodlands Farm as “Local Green Space”. For this to happen, the Government requires it to be considered very special to local people, so we need evidence to show why it should be protected.

Local resident Stella Beecher (pictured above left speaking at the site visit for the planning application last April) has already compiled information about the links with celebrated children’s author Dick King-Smith. If you think Woodlands Farm is very special it will be really helpful if you would write to Claire Young or Pat Hockey to tell us why as soon as possible.

Good news - no Woodlands Farm appeal

The deadline has now passed for Barratt Homes to lodge an appeal against the council's refusal of their application to build hundreds of new houses on land at Woodlands Farm. The good news is that they haven't done so.

Well done and thank you to all those involved in the campaign to save this important green space. Unfortunately this doesn’t mean that we won’t see another application at some point.

Woodlands Farm campaign hits the front page

The campaign to save Woodlands Farm from development hit the front page of the Gazette this week. Well done to Richard Merrick, organiser of the Save Woodlands Farm action group, and all the residents who turned out at very short notice.

Commenting on the rural policies in the Core Strategy

If you have found the recent advice in the Coalpit Heath and Frampton Cotterell Focus unclear or live in one of the other parts of the Ladden-Frome area, we hope the following will help you to comment on the draft South Glos Core Strategy.

Why comment?

The Core Strategy is the planning blueprint for South Glos for the next 15 years. As well as allocating land for new development, such as the land to the north of Yate, it also contains policies for dealing with potential development on other land in the rural areas. In the spring, a planning inspector will consider the draft Core Strategy at an Examination in Public. Developers will no doubt be challenging the approach South Glos have taken.You have until 17th February to show the inspector your support for the policies for the rural areas.

Viewing the Core Strategy

On the South Glos website, there is a page introducing the latest draft of the Core Strategy. Under "How to view the documents" click on the first link, "December 2011 Core Strategy incorporating Post-Submission Changes". This will open up the Core Strategy.  Alternatively you can click here to go straight to it.

Finding the relevant sections

Most software for viewing PDFs will allow you to go quickly to a particular page rather than having to scroll through the whole document. Unfortunately the pages of the PDF don't match the numbers printed on the pages. In the following instructions, we first give the number as printed on the page and then in brackets the number to enter into the page finder in your PDF reader to go to that page.
 
If you are concerned about potential developments in the rural areas, such as at Engine Common or Woodlands Farm, the most relevant paragraphs are:

• "Paragraph 4.1", which describes the vision for the future of South Gloucestershire, is actually several paragraphs in a box that goes on for three pages. It starts on the page numbered 21. (If you want to find it quickly using the page finder in your PDF reader, it is page 26 of the PDF). To find the part relevant to the rural areas, scroll down to the final point, on the page numbered 23, which starts "The rural areas will continue to be...". 
• Paragraph 4.27 and 4.28 are on the page numbered 33 (if using the page finder go to page 38). They set out the vision for rural areas such as Frampton Cotterell & Coalpit Heath. 
• The commitment to empowering local communities to shape the future of their communities through Neighbourhood Planning is in paragraph 16.3a on the page numbered 192 (use the page finder to go to page 197). 
• The vision for the rural areas is set out in the next paragraph, 16.3 and the policy for the Rural Areas, CS34, follows in paragraph 16.4. 
• Paragraph 16.8 on the page numbered 195 talks about how housing development will be handled in the rural areas in the first 5 years of the Core Strategy. 

It is important that you confirm your support for all these paragraphs if you agree with them and say why.

How to make comments

You can make comments online, by email to planningLDF@southglos.gov.uk or by writing to Strategic Planning Policy and Specialist Advice Team, South Glos Council, PO Box 2081, South Glos BS35 9BP.

Residents say "No" to Barratts

Barratts got a resounding message from residents on Monday when they held an invite-only “stakeholder workshop” as part of their preparations for submitting a planning application for the land at Woodlands Farm, Coalpit Heath.

Barratts are proposing to build 420 homes with a local centre and shop. Possible accesses to the site could be off Park Lane and/or Badminton Road or through The Meads development.

Claire Young and Pat & Dave Hockey attended the site walkabout (pictured) and the first part of the workshop to find out what is proposed and to listen to the views of the residents who attended. We made it very clear to Barratts that by doing this we were in no way endorsing any application for this site. Over the past year, we have made sure that the Woodlands site was not included in South Glos Council’s planning blueprint for 2012-2026, the Core Strategy. “This area is left in the plan as open countryside as we know only too well that this is what local people want,” said Pat Hockey.  

Every single resident at the workshop opposed development at Woodlands Farm and made it clear to Barratts that they value living in a village. They highlighted concerns including the loss of countryside, the impact on roads, drainage problems and pressure on local services such as schools and doctors.

Westerleigh ward councillor Claire Young said, “I am disappointed that Barratts are jumping the gun in this way. The Council’s Core Strategy says that communities should shape development in their villages through Neighbourhood Planning. It is local residents and businesses, not the developers, who should be in the driving seat.”

“Unfortunately the workshop was poorly handled. Local people were rightly unhappy at the short notice given, especially for an event being held on a weekday when many of them had to be at work. It was unwise to invite only immediate neighbours and local councillors without telling other residents when they will be able to find out about the plans.”

“The site is in Westerleigh Parish and stretches down to Badminton Road in Coalpit Heath. Despite this their brochure refers to Frampton Cotterell throughout and they chose to hold the workshop in the public building in Frampton Cotterell Parish furthest away from the site, even though there are a three community halls close to the site in Coalpit Heath."

Barratts have now promised to talk to Westerleigh Parish Council about holding a further workshop in Coalpit Heath and they say there will be an exhibition open to all members of the public in the spring. We will keep you updated through Focus and this blog.


What can you do now?

• Join the action group by contacting Richard Merrick on 01454 776693 or rjmerrick@blueyonder.co.uk
• Comment on the policies for the rural areas in the Council's Core Strategy by following the advice in this blog post.

Have your say on revised planning blueprint

February 17th is the closing date for any comments on the strategic planning proposals for South Glos up to 2027. These are contained in the Draft Core Strategy published by SGC at the end of December. Copies are in Libraries and One Stop Shops or they can be viewed online.

The story so far

The Government Planning Inspector appointed to consider the Core Strategy postponed the Public Inquiry scheduled for October to allow the Council to reconsider the number of homes it was proposing, justify the Green Belt boundaries and put forward proposals for Filton Airfield in the light of the BAE’s intention to close it.

In response to this the Council is now accepting 22,340 new homes should be built instead of 18,150. These extra homes would be accommodated on Filton Airfield, land that would have been too close to an operational airfield and on a further release of Green Belt land at Cribbs Causeway. Further employment is also proposed in these areas. With the 4,060 homes already completed since 2006, this would make a total of 26,400 new homes in the period 2006-2026 and beyond.

How does this affect our area?

It is hoped that these proposals will satisfy the Inspector and that he will accept that there should not be any addition to the 3,000 homes proposed for Yate, any loss of Green Belt beyond the motorways or any changes to the proposals for the Rural Areas. The current proposals for the Rural Areas would mean that local communities would have the opportunity over the next 5 years to come forward with proposals for where they consider any further development to meet local needs should be accommodated.

We already know that Barratts are unlikely to accept this and are likely to be proposing over 400 houses in Coalpit Heath. We also know that Bloor Homes & Sydney Freed Holdings are preparing plans for hundreds of homes and some office development at Engine Common.

What can you do?

You can view the Post Submission Draft Core Strategy either on line or see a hard copy available at libraries and the Council’s One Stop Shops. Turn to Appendix 2 where you will find:

• The Vision for the Rural Areas is the last point of paragraph 4.1 on page 23 and 4.27 and 4.28 on page 33.

• The commitment to empowering local communities to shape the future of their communities through Neighbourhood Planning is paragraph 16.32 followed by the Vision on page 192 with the  policy for the Rural Areas, CS34 on page 193 followed up in paragraph 16.8.

 If you feel they should be supported then you should take the opportunity to respond to the consultation before 17th February.