Opinion
Featured in various local newspapers, February 2010:
Dear Editor,
This week Bath and North East Somerset Council published a consultation document on the future of development, economic growth, and house-building in our area for the next seventeen years, known as the 'Core Strategy'.
With the Government's house-building targets in disarray, the Council's proposal to begin consultation on the original, more realistic house-building targets set by Government has been vindicated. Conservatives would rather the targets were scrapped altogether with local Councils' allowed the freedom to decide their own numbers and policies.
However, given that the Council has been instructed by Government to begin consultation on these plans, the 'Brownfield first' and 'infrastructure upfront' approach proposed by the Council is very welcome. The consultation document clearly states that significant infrastructure improvements would need to be made, particularly to transport, before any consideration of development could take place. I'm sure that many residents living in and around Whitchurch will still have concerns about the number of houses which are presented as an option for the area. However, I believe that this document actually shows that the level of infrastructure improvements that would be required means that large-scale development around Whitchurch is neither sustainable nor deliverable, and almost certainly not within the period covered by the Core Strategy, up to 2026.
I am personally of the opinion that no development at all should take place to the west of the A37, on the Maes Knoll side, and that it is now extremely important for Bristol City Council to make clear its views on Urban Extensions and related infrastructure requirements. But it is important that the views of residents are the ones that are listened to over this. So if this document is passed by Council, I hope that all residents take the opportunity to engage in the consultation.
Cllr Peter Edwards,
Cons, Publow & Whitchurch.