CAMPAIGNERS against the development of thousands of new homes close to Pucklechurch, Lyde Green and Emersons Green will step up their protests in 2025.
South Gloucestershire Council is finalising the latest version of its proposed Local Plan, which will set out where development should be concentrated over the next 15 years to meet the huge demand for housing.
As the Voice went to print, it was awaiting the latest targets from the Government, which has pledged a massive increase in housebuilding and has warned that this will mean building on parts of the Green Belt. Once the figures are known, the council will launch the next phase of consultation.
The authority’s proposals already include large-scale Green Belt development in Shortwood, Siston and Warmley as well as 900 more homes at Henfield, just north of Lyde Green.
Save Our Green Spaces South Gloucestershire (SOGS-SG) believes the planned development in east Bristol is disproportionate and that new housing should be spread more evenly across the district.
A spokesman told the Voice: “SOGS-SG wish to make it clear they are not opposed to building new homes within our communities. We want to see local people have the option to stay within the area that they grew up in.
“What SOGS-SG does strongly object to, is the huge number of new homes that this Local Plan proposes to build on the East Bristol Green Belt.
“South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) claim that they are building thousands of new homes on our green belt – for local people! This is simply not true. Building thousands of new homes in one area of South Gloucestershire, and building a much smaller number elsewhere, will simply lead to thousands of people migrating into our area from other parts of Bristol, other parts of the country, or even from abroad.
“Building a huge number of homes in just one area is an easy (but hugely damaging) option for SGC to build the numbers of homes that the government demands.
“Large-scale development on greenfield sites is a developers’ dream. Smaller, sustainable developments protect our villages from losing their unique identity, but they do not return the huge profit margins that the developers are looking for.”
The council has warned that until a Local Plan for 2025-2040 is in place, all sites are vulnerable to development.
A spokesman said: “The council has been committed from the outset to the goal of bringing development in South Glos back into being plan-led and has therefore been working to bring forward a new Local Plan for adoption as quickly as possible We have undertaken detailed analysis of the consultation responses and feedback from the public as well as the evolving guidance from Government. At the same time, the Government has been consulting on their new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
“We expect that the final NPPF will contain specific provision for local authorities who, like South Glos, are now in a position to make further progress with their plans, and to do so quickly. Having done our local analysis, once the final NPPF is published, we will confirm that our proposals are compliant with it, before setting out the housing numbers and strategy which we think will be sustainable for South Glos into the future and moving to the next phase of consultation. We expect to be able to update the community once more in the New Year and go out to consultation in the first quarter of 2025.”