Councillors urged to reject plan for homes by Filton Airfield

BRISTOL councillors are being urged to recommend refusal for 1,100 new homes to be built on land bordering Filton Airfield because of the impact of extra traffic on existing roads.

The decision on whether planning permission is eventually given lies with South Gloucestershire Council – Bristol councillors can only put forward their comments.

But they will be told at a council meeting tomorrow that it should be opposed because the development would be "very car dominated".

The plan, submitted by Persimmon Homes and Ashfield Land, is to build 1,100 homes, together with a new primary school, public open space and landscaping on 133 acres of land off Wyck Beck Road, a dual-carriageway to Cribbs Causeway.

Business Cards From Only £10.95 Delivered www.myprint-247.co.uk

myprint-247

View details

Print voucher

Our heavyweight cards have FREE UV silk coating, FREE next day delivery & VAT included. Choose from 1000's of pre-designed templates or upload your own artwork. Orders dispatched within 24hrs.

Terms: Visit our site for more products: Business Cards, Compliment Slips, Letterheads, Leaflets, Postcards, Posters & much more. All items are free next day delivery. www.myprint-247.co.uk

Contact: 01858 468192

Valid until: Friday, May 31 2013

The site is bordered by the Avonmouth-Filton railway line, the dual-carriageway and the airstrip.

A report before councillors says that the proposed Cribbs and Patchway new neighbourhood would see a total of 5,700 homes and employment land on the airfield and surrounding area.

But Bristol's transport officers argue that the whole site should be planned so that all the highway and traffic problems are dealt with from the outset.

The report says: "It is clear that this site will have a major impact on transport in Bristol.

"For that reason, it is appropriate that Bristol City Council makes strong representations to South Gloucestershire on what we consider acceptable and what is unacceptable and what level of mitigation to reduce the impact within Bristol that we feel is necessary."

It goes on to say that in many ways, the airfield site is a good one for development as it is close to a large concentration of employment and therefore has the potential to be fairly self-contained in terms of travel.

But it says there are major issues with the plan before councillors. "As it stands, it is a large cul-de-sac with one access onto Wyck Beck Road which offers very limited permeability, access for public transport and assumes high levels of car travel.

"The whole of the Filton Airfield site needs to be planned as one with the key infrastructure (roads) provided early and phases constrained until the infrastructure has been delivered – otherwise, there is a high risk that the site will not function well and will be very car dominated."

The report says the best solution would be if the developers withdrew their plan so there could be one outline application for the whole neighbourhood.

If 1,100 homes were built, then they would generate more than 6,000 car trips a day which would be reached only from the Wyck Beck Road dual carriageway.

About half of the new traffic would be travelling into Bristol each day, the report says.

One of the problems would be the extra traffic at the roundabout where Wyck Beck Road meets Crow Lane in Henbury.

The developers would pay for lane widening on the approach to the roundabout but transport officers say this would not be enough – it would have to be fully signalised at the developers' expense to make it safe for pedestrians.

Councillors will put forward their recommendations to South Gloucestershire Council, which will make a decision on the planning application at a later date.