Fears over impact of plans for 1,000 homes in Long Ashton, Bristol
PEOPLE in Long Ashton are concerned about the impact a High Court ruling could have on development near the village.
As reported in The Post on Friday, Bristol University has won a court battle which could see 1,000 homes built on land between Long Ashton and the A370.
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Looking from Bristol towards Long Ashton
The case against North Somerset Council focused on whether planners should approve an urban extension to the city of Bristol.
The 70-hectare parcel of land lies within North Somerset Council's Bristol-Bath Green Belt and, under a core strategy adopted in April last year, the council rejected the proposed extension, limiting the amount of new houses to be built within the belt in the next 13 years to 14,000.
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People living in the village feel that building homes on the land could lead to traffic issues and would ruin the character of Long Ashton.
Samantha Hickman, 42, of Long Ashton, who works as a solicitor in Bristol, said: "I don't think it's a good idea because there are already traffic problems. There are problems getting into Bristol and it would probably be quicker to walk than to take the car.
"I used to cycle before I had to do the school run. I think this would cause massive traffic problems."
Nathan Watts, 38, an IT manager, said: "I don't like the idea of it at all.
"It's not going to have the supporting infrastructure. There's not going to be roads or transport there and there's not going to be schools and so on and so forth."
A man who wished to be known only as Mr Cross, 61, said: "I think the High Court should uphold the ruling that the green belt should be protected.
"Amenities and facilities in Long Ashton are struggling, particularly junior schools and retail outlets.
"The difficulty is the more people that are put here the more reliant they become on Bristol and we become a suburb of Bristol even though we are in the next county.
"I don't think that development ought to happen on the green belt."
Nicola Gibbs, said: "I don't think it would be great.
"We moved here about four years ago and we were hoping it would not happen because it would spoil our lovely view. I don't think anyone's necessarily for it."
Lloyd Davies, 69, moved to Long Ashton in the summer.
He said: "It does seem rather a lot of houses to have at one time.
"I think it would be better if they did work in advance to deal with the infrastructure first, like doctors, transport and roads."
Another said: "I think it would be really sad. This is a lovely village and we don't want it to turn into a town. I don't think anyone in the village wants that at all. It's the same with the City ground."
One man who did not wish to be named said it would not be so bad if they were nice houses.
North Somerset Council said: "The judge concluded that the inspector who undertook the independent examination had been right in his view that there was no need to review land in the green belt.
"However, the judge did find that the inspector had failed to give adequate or intelligible reasons in his report for his conclusion that the core strategy housing requirement of 14,000 dwellings made sufficient allowance for latent demand (which is a demand for housing unrelated to the creation of new jobs)."
The council said it was awaiting the judge's ruling due to be made on March 4 as to what action it would take next.
Nick Tyrrell, planning partner at consultants Alder King which is acting on behalf of the university, said: "This is a landmark judgment which will have implications for the whole Bristol sub-region and is bound to have repercussions elsewhere.
"It confirms our strongly-held view that city regions need to be considered in the round in order to plan for adequate housing and employment growth where a sound evidence base exists."
13 Comments
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by deep-heat
Friday, February 22 2013, 12:49PM
“@matic_113 - have to agree with you there. Always something slightly surreal about someone complaining that there are too many cars when they're driving.
My personal bugbear is when I go to the pub and have to wait for my pint because lots of other people have gone to the pub as well. Bloody disgrace.”
by matic_113
Thursday, February 21 2013, 3:24PM
“"Samantha Hickman, 42, of Long Ashton, who works as a solicitor in Bristol, said: "I don't think it's a good idea because there are already traffic problems. There are problems getting into Bristol and it would probably be quicker to walk than to take the car.
"I used to cycle before I had to do the school run. I think this would cause massive traffic problems.""
You chose to live somewhere not close to a school - how can you be surprised when there is traffic?”
by deep-heat
Thursday, February 21 2013, 11:37AM
“Sorry Mr Cross. Long Ashton may be in a different county but it really is a suburb of Bristol. Just do a straw poll down at the Miners Arms to see where most people go to work, which hospital they use, where they do their shopping, where they go out for meals etc. etc. They might say Wraxhall or Nailsea, but probably not. As per usual, quite happy to reap the benefits of Bristol but at no cost. Even their taxes go to N Soms.”
by piledriver
Wednesday, February 20 2013, 10:42PM
“To those who want to build a wall around AV & LA.
Be careful what you wish for because if SL doesn't build a stadium he'll build lots of other stuff AND go for the whole site and he doesn't care if it takes 20 years.”
by Jab_the_cab
Tuesday, February 19 2013, 9:12PM
“Oh the irony. Think how much less traffic there would be around the clock with just a stadium!”
by harryreg_uk
Monday, February 18 2013, 6:04PM
“@katachua, surprised they haven't Photoshopped a few already, definitely well within their morals”
by katachua
Monday, February 18 2013, 5:42PM
“Can't they fake some pictures of them dog-walking on it 20 years ago?”
by harryreg_uk
Monday, February 18 2013, 5:30PM
“and this traffic will be constant not once every 2 weeks - funny if we got the stadium as well!”
by THEIRONS
Monday, February 18 2013, 4:57PM
“Get all the problem families out of the South Bristol council estates ,and move them all into this development . Why because the residents of Long Ashton truly deserve it, anyone for a football stadium.”
by The_Ghost
Monday, February 18 2013, 4:27PM
“I walked my dog there 7 years ago, so you can't build on it”