PEOPLE in Shortwood and surrounding areas earmarked for new housing developments are being urged to be ready to have their say on South Gloucestershire Council’s draft Local Plan.
The latest version of the plan was due to go before the council’s cabinet on February 3, then the full council on February 12.
Council papers with details of the updated plans and dates for the six-week public consultation were due to be released after the Voice went to print; the consultation is expected to start around the end of February.
Members of campaign group Save Our Green Spaces South Gloucestershire (SOGS–SG) staged a walk at Webbs Heath in January to raise awareness of their campaign against the plan.
They say it concentrates too much proposed development in east Bristol, particularly in the area between Shortwood, Siston, Warmley and Oldland Common.
The plan will set out where the council thinks homes should be built over the next 15 years to meet demand. The authority is keen to get a plan in place because without one, any site is vulnerable to development.
The first draft Local Plan, published at the end of 2023, included two potential development sites at Shortwood for 1,430 homes, 195 at the site near Mangotsfield School where Taylor Wimpey has now applied to build 150 homes, 65 at another site off Pomphrey Hill, and 60 on a site east of Pucklechurch.
North of Lyde Green, a huge area of land between the M4 and Westerleigh Road was proposed as a potential site for 800 homes.
Last July, 17 new sites, for 1,751 homes, were added to the plan, including 175 near Frenchay and seven on a site at Pomphrey Hill, Mangotsfield.
But the government announced an updated National Planning Policy Framework in December, which sets compulsory targets for all councils in a bid to build 1.5 million new homes over the next five years.
It raised the total the council must accommodate by 2040 to 25,528.
This means South Gloucestershire’s annual new homes target has risen from 1,317 a year to 1,702 – up 29.2%.
SOGS-SG said in a statement: “The walk was to draw attention to the danger to our countryside due to the ill-thought-out Local Plan. SOGS–SG have been actively fighting to retain the Green Belt land in South Gloucestershire.
“Mass housing is proposed to be built on adjacent land to the commons.
“During last year’s consultation period on implementing the Local Plan, many members of the public will have responded. Your objections may have been taken into account or ignored, so it’s important to respond again when invited to do so.”