Councillors granted planning permission despite concerns
Mulgrove Farm Village east of Harry Stoke(Image: Google Maps)
A councillor warned parking could become a “daily frustration” for residents as plans for 154 homes near the M4 on the edge of Bristol were approved.
South Gloucestershire Council strategic sites delivery committee granted permission for the second half of a new estate called Mulgrove Farm Village on former agricultural land.
It is part of the 2,000-home East of Harry Stoke New Neighbourhood that has been under development since the local authority removed it from the greenbelt 12 years ago.
Planning and highways officers were happy with the proposals despite a shortfall of three visitor parking spaces compared with the requirements under council policy.
The committee voted 7-1 in favour, but concerns were raised by ward Cllr Neel Das Gupta and Stoke Gifford Parish Council about pressures on parking.
Cllr Das Gupta (Conservative, Stoke Gifford) said: “The shortfall may seem minor on paper, but we know from lived experience in Stoke Gifford and surrounding areas that even small shortfalls can have long-term consequences.
Sign up to receive daily news updates and breaking news alerts straight to your inbox for free here.
“We have seen this in places like Kings Drive, which is also near Parkway Station, where parking was provided in line with the standards and yet residents still experienced persistent issues with overspill and blocked pavements.
“So, while three spaces might seem negligible, it could very well be the difference between a well-functioning neighbourhood and one where parking is a daily frustration for residents.”
Parish councillor Andrew Shore asked the committee to defer the plans and request that developers Wain Homes make minor tweaks to the plans for the site, north of the railway line between Stoke Gifford bypass and the B4427 Old Gloucester Road, to remove one or two houses to make more room for visitor spaces.
Committee member Cllr Adrian Rush (Lib Dem, Chipping Sodbury & Cotswold Edge) told the meeting on Thursday, May 29: “I find it very hard to believe we can’t find another three parking spaces on this site.
“We ought to hold out for those three spaces if we can.
“I can’t believe that when we set a policy that builders should not adhere to that policy.”
Highways officer Myles Kidd said: “I was happy with the original underprovision, in all honesty, because if you go to any development site, while we set out these parking spaces, you will find any space of highway where you can put a car, there will be a car.
“So whilst on paper this shows an underprovision, in reality people squeeze onto other places, so it will be an overprovision like all of our developments.
“If you’re visiting someone, in all likelihood you’re going to be able to park on their drives.
“So the proposal is completely fine in parking terms and we should be concentrating on sustainable forms of travel.”
Cllr Kris Murphy (Conservative, Longwell Green) said: “Your view is that cars are going to park anywhere, whether there are parking spaces or not, so essentially there is no point providing any extra visitor spaces because cars will park where they want anyway.
“That’s not a very sound argument for not finding more visitor parking because if cars are going to park there, we should make it easier for those cars to park there rather than accept that they’re just going to park on high-rise kerbs and make it dangerous for residents, particularly children, elderly and disabled people.”
Mr Kidd replied: “What I was saying is that my observations from other developments are that people park if there are any spaces that they feel they can park, and peer pressure makes them not park in certain places.
“So in a development like this, there will be one or two, or five or six, additional places where people will end up parking, even though from the plan they’re not meant to.
“In terms of our policies, we are required to be flexible.
“There are quite a number of developments where we have reduced visitor parking.”
He said the first half of Mulgrove Farm Village, which is nearly complete following previous planning permission for a total of 327 properties and a primary school and nursery, had 20 more visitor spaces than required, so overall there was a surplus of 17.
John Rhys-Davies, of Wain Homes, told councillors that there were no more spaces available without compromising the wider design objectives of creating attractive, well-landscaped, pedestrian-friendly streets.
He said: “The site is highly accessible. There are many bus services, walking and cycle links and it is a short distance from Parkway Station.
“There are 154 much-needed homes, of which 57 are affordable, which is 20 more than we are required to provide under the section 106 [developers’ contributions] agreement.”
Cllr John Bradbury (Labour, Bradley Stoke South) said: “I can’t believe we’re going to hold up a development of 150 houses for the sake of three parking spaces, so I’m inclined to move the officers’ recommendation to accept this.”
Try BristolLive Premium for FREE without intrusive ads and brilliant new features
No intrusive adverts, pop-ups or distractions! Just our brilliant content presented in the best way possible.
Get your free one-month trial by visiting the ‘Premium’ tab on the BristolLive app now (auto renews annually at £19.99).
If you haven’t got it already, get started by downloading our app here on iPhone or here on Android. If you already have the app but can’t see the ‘Premium’ section, you’ll need to check for the latest update. More info here.