Locals feared the development would damage views of the countryside
How the Pucklechurch houses would look(Image: Stantec)
Councillors have voted against granting planning permission for 100 homes in a village east of Bristol due to concerns about the impact on “glorious” views. Developers are applying to South Gloucestershire Council for permission to build the houses on a field outside of Pucklechurch.
The homes would be built on Marsh Farm on Feltham Road, which is protected as Green Belt land. However developers and council planning officers said the site fell under the designation of “grey belt”, and should be built on, although they failed to convince a group of councillors.
Councillors on the strategic sites delivery committee voted against permitting the plans on Thursday, May 14. The application will now be referred to the spatial planning committee, who could either refuse permission or overturn the decision.
Michael Knott, representing the developers, said: “The development would meet the golden rules for grey belt. The development would provide 50 per cent of new homes as affordable, with new and improved public open space and sports provision, and with necessary improvements to infrastructure in the area.”
As well as new homes, developers are planning to build a village green, allotments, a community orchard and a children’s play area. Local roads would be improved, and they would pay money towards supporting outdoor sports and the village hall. But locals are concerned that the new houses would pave the way for much more development to the east of Pucklechurch.
Rosalind Abbott, a local resident, said: “What is to stop developers going on to the next field to the east or the south, and all the way to Dyrham or Hinton or up to the A46? There will be an increase in traffic, which is bad enough already. 100 houses could quite easily mean 200 more cars.”
The farm was owned by Avon County Council and then sold in 1995, because the land was then in the Green Belt, and was protected from development. However the government has recently weakened these protections, calling some land on the edge of towns and villages ‘grey belt’. But the farms east of Pucklechurch play an important role in creating cherished countryside views.
Liberal Democrat Councillor Marilyn Palmer, representing the ward of Boyd Valley, said: “If Marsh Farm is assessed as so-called grey belt land, then so is all of the farmland near Pucklechurch and Dyrham and Hinton. If the settlement boundary is breached, it will open the door to a raft of applications on adjoining farmland, and the glorious view will be lost forever.”
She added that cows were still grazing on the fields, and developing the land would erode the rural character of the village. The reason the government created the grey belt category was part of its drive to build 1.5 million new homes. But Cllr Palmer said enough homes were already planned in South Gloucestershire to meet the district’s targets.
Concerns also included a lack of public transport in the village, and road safety along the busy Feltham Road. There is an hourly bus that runs from Pucklechurch to Yate and Emersons Green, and its future is in doubt. There is no service that goes into Bristol from the village.
However, the council is in a bind at the moment because the government changed its housing targets. Its current local plan now lacks enough space for new homes, making it easier for developers to get permission for sites which are not in this plan. A new local plan is still being worked up, and until this is eventually approved, lots of countryside is at risk of development.