Housing in South Gloucestershire

Until the 2010 General Election there were targets for housing provision set out in the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS), a 20 year plan for the South West 2006-2026. However the RSS was never ratified and the Government revoked RSSs nationally. The local spatial plans, or Development Frameworks of the local authorities in the Avonside area, which were supposed to reflect the RSS proposals, are all currently being produced at a time when a new national and local planning system is being introduced.

Bristol’s Core Strategy has been adopted but although the Planning Inspector accepted lower housing numbers, he would not allow the deletion of references to possible cross-boundary urban extensions in the Green Belt as a contingency measure if target numbers cannot otherwise be met.  It is not yet clear how the new planning regime will work, and although the top down targets of the RSS have been rejected, we are concerned about a proposed presumption in favour of development, which could result in similar levels of building on greenfield sites.

We responded to South Gloucestershire Council’s Pre-Submission Publication Draft Core Strategy which proposed 21,500 homes. However, in December 2011 South Gloucestershire submitted changes to its Core Strategy which propose an increase in housing numbers from the 21,500 in the original version to 26,400. This is causing us some concern especially because to accommodate this number of new dwellings they wish to remove areas of land on the North Bristol fringe from the Green Belt. We are submitting a response to this during the consultation period.

Developers have been targetting the Greenbelt, with applications being submitted for housing on land at Oldland Common and at Stoke Gifford. We have objected to these proposals.

We strongly opposed the RSS levels of housing growth and continue to argue for housing provision according to evidenced local need.

The Draft RSS included proposals for 23,000 additional houses in South Gloucestershire. The Secretary of State increased this figure to 32,800, including 3,000 north of Yate, 17,500 within the existing urban area of Bristol and a further 10,000 in 2 urban extensions on the Green Belt along the M32 and south of the M4.

We were extremely concerned about the proposals and our comments about the threat to South Gloucestershire were included in the CPRE South West Response to the latest consultation on the Strategy. To read the section of this Response relating to housing plans for South Gloucestershire read this document:
Regional CPRE Proposed C response Oct 08 – Section 4(2)HMAs