North Somerset Council Local Plan update - still 5,000 houses planned for the Green Belt
Up to 5,000 homes could be built in the green belt around Long Ashton, Failand, and Wraxall
North Somerset Council is currently developing a Local Plan to set out how it intends to accommodate the 20,000 new houses it is being told by Government it needs to build over a 15 year period. As we currently have just under 100,000 homes this represents a huge increase, it is about the size of two Clevedons.
The purpose of drawing up a Local Plan is to ensure that building is planned and avoids speculative and ad-hoc development. So far the council has consulted on both the challenges we face as well as the broad choices as to where development could go. The outcome of these consultations was that earlier this year it set out its preferred strategy stating that "priority will be given to locating new residential and mixed use development in or close to urban areas".
Although the greenbelt has to be the last area considered for development North Somerset Council has already acknowledged that it does not expect to be able to accommodate this huge increase without green belt development. The shortfall is about 5,000 houses. The map below shows the current green belt boundaries in North Somerset.
Where in the Green Belt could development occur?
As part of the process of developing a Local Plan the Council has to issue a 'call for sites' to landowners and developers. This has enable them to identify where there is potential for housing. All these site were then included on a map, this map is shown below with the grey areas representing areas where landowners/developers would like to build.
It is important to remember that this map does not show where development will occur, indeed the council makes no comment as to the suitability of any of these sites. Some may be suitable and others not.
If you are interested in your local area I have written separate posts on the following:
What's the latest position?
Documents published to accompany the recent North Somerset Council meeting stated that the meeting of the Councils Executive Committee of senior Councillors on 8th December would approve a draft of the Local Plan for consultation. This draft local plan was expected to contain detail as to which of the sites on the map above would be included in the draft Local Plan, and crucially which ones were excluded. As the Executive meets in public all documents it considers would have to be published in advance of the meeting, usually a week before.
However I have now heard that the Council intends to delay publication of this report until the new year. There appear to be two main reasons for this;
- The report will undoubtedly be contentious, turning a vague threat of development for many residents into specific sites. The Council wishes to consult on this and feels that publishing just before Christmas is not ideal.
- Rumours are starting to circulate that the Government may revise some of the housing numbers it is allocating to local councils, more specifically there may be a reduction in numbers allocated to areas such as ours. Michael Gove, who is now responsible for the housing numbers, made some interesting comments to the Housing, Communities, and Local Government committee in the House of Commons on Monday. Click here for a link to an interesting article entitled 'Gove promises overhaul of 'out of date' housing need formula'. It is very early days but government thinking appears to be shifting (keep those letters going to Liam Fox!).
I appreciate many people would prefer to know what is happening and may find the continuing uncertainty frustrating. I will update as soon as I know more. Please email me at Ash@Ashley.cartman.org.uk if you have any questions.
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