The Weston Vision

Weston-super-Mare is by far the largest and arguably the most important town in North Somerset district. It also has the largest and most intractable problems – a declining tourist destination, major industry closures, low wages and few permanent jobs to replace those lost. An identity crisis but also major opportunities – in the form of the ex- RAF Locking camp and the former Weston Airfield. One just outside the Weston boundary, one just in. One owned by SWRDA/EP, one by Persimmon Homes – England’s largest private housebuilder.

The landowners and speculative private builders have had their own solution to Weston’s identity – turn it into a commuter suburb of Bristol and concrete over all the open land from the sea to the M5! Both Weston and the adjoining villages would be reduced to soulless places – and the gridlock already found on many roads in town, at the M5 junction and in Banwell would just get worse.

For the last 6 yrs CPRE North Somerset has been campaigning long and hard alongside Parish councils and community bodies – sometimes supporting North Somerset Council, sometimes opposing them – to create a long term vision for an alternative future for Weston. A future where all further development- for the foreseeable future- is driven by jobs and improved infrastructure first.

The recent North Somerset Replacement Local Plan – taking us up to 2011 – supported this approach and gave the housebuilders a bloody nose, despite major campaigns by them at a Public Inquiry. And the first “new” employer has now been signed up for RAF Locking (now known as Locking Parklands). But we all recognise that there will be many more battles to be fought both to rejuvenate Weston and to protect the surrounding villages.