![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_TCB221025WhitchurchBRI_06jpeg.jpg\")
A community meeting at the Legion in Whitchurch Village(Image: Bristol Post submitted)<\/p>\n“It will destroy the greenbelt and the very community that makes this area so special”A community meeting at the Legion in Whitchurch Village(Image: Bristol Post submitted)<\/p>\n
There weren\u2019t many seats in the Legion in Whitchurch Village on Tuesday night, but it wasn\u2019t the football or a birthday party that had brought people from across the community together. Sitting in worried groups, more than 100 people studied maps and charts, and listened to their local councillor explain what the future of their village could look like<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cllr Paul May sits on the council\u2019s cabinet over in Bath<\/a> and is responsible for children\u2019s services, but it is what the planning department is doing<\/a> that is vexing him, and has brought all the villagers out on a dark and blustery Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n B&NES planners are taking the new Labour<\/a> Government\u2019s message to look to the Green Belt as a place to \u2018Build Baby Build\u2019, as the slogan from the party conference earlier this month said. And Whitchurch Village is a community literally defined by its Green Belt.<\/p>\n The village was here long before Bristol grew towards it in the past 80 years. First Brislington<\/a>, the Stockwood, then an area of urban Bristol itself was called Whitchurch, prompting the addition of the word \u2018village\u2019 to distinguish the North East Somerset village from the housing estates across the border.<\/p>\n There are green fields between Whitchurch Village and Bristol, but not many of them – it\u2019s more of a length of baler twine than a belt. But villagers have long fought against housing developers, roadbuilders and council planners in Bath, who have for decades wanted to meet the Government\u2019s house-building targets for Bath and North East Somerset by essentially tacking them onto Bristol.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Shock at plans to ‘turn village on edge of Bristol into town’<\/a>READ MORE: Plan revealed for South Bristol village to nearly double in size<\/a><\/p>\n The latest attempt, in the form of a 250-plus Draft Local Plan document<\/a>, outlines how there are sites aplenty on the Bristol-Bath corridor, notably in Keynsham, Saltford, on the edge of Bristol at Hicks Gate, and all the way around Whitchurch Village. Developing right across this area would effectively merge South Bristol with both Keynsham and Whitchurch Village with more than 12,000 new homes possible.<\/p>\n Around Whitchurch there could be more than 5,000 – and that prompted a full house at the Legion on Tuesday. Organiser Faye Dicker is a veteran of past campaigns, including one which successfully saw off – so far – the idea that what South Bristol and Keynsham needs is a ring road connecting the A4 with the residential roads of Whitchurch, Hartcliffe<\/a> and Hengrove<\/a> in South Bristol.<\/p>\n She thanked everyone for coming, and noted that there were many people there from Bristol\u2019s Whitchurch and Stockwood as well, who said they face losing the green countryside around their estates on the edge of Bristol.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat an incredible turnout and show of community spirit,\u201d said Faye. \u201cThis is our chance to make our voices heard before decisions are made that will affect our homes, our countryside, and our future,\u201d she said, urging people to get involved in the council\u2019s consultation on their draft Local Plan.<\/p>\n \u201cIf these 4,500 houses go ahead, Whitchurch Village will be turned into a town. It will destroy the greenbelt and the very community that makes this area so special. And with more houses comes an even stronger possibility of the South Bristol Wrong Road being built. We cannot let that happen,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n The call to arms last week and this was heard across this corner of South Bristol and North East Somerset. Jerry Hartrey runs the Bristol Spartak Youth Football Club, which is based on the playing fields of Hursley Lane, a mile or so south of Whitchurch Village. The council\u2019s maps and options include their pitches, with talk of thousands of homes being built, unlocking community benefits, including new roads and \u2018low carbon transport networks\u2019.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_EB_BRI_130819southbristolwrongroad_03.jpg\")
Councillor Paul May(Image: Bristol Live)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1_TCB211025WhitchurchBRIJPG.jpg\")
A Bath & North East Somerset map outlining the development possibilities for land surrounding Whitchurch Village, on the edge of Bristol – field by field(Image: Bath and North East Somerset Council)<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_TCB221025WhitchurchBRI_07jpeg.jpg\")
A community meeting at the Legion in Whitchurch Village, to discuss the Bath and North East Somerset Local Plan, which has identified four options for sites that could mean more than 5,000 new homes are built around Whitchurch Village(Image: Bristol Post submitted)<\/p>\n