Bloor Homes should now have delivered consultation leaflets to all homes in the parish about a proposed development of 180 houses on land west of Sodbury Road Wickwar. The consultation website is also live and this is the time to have your say.
Sodbury Road | Wickwar – Bloor Homes (sodburyroadwickwar.co.uk)
PLEASE NOTE that this a speculative proposal for a significant number of houses (180) in a village that currently lacks the infrastructure required to make it a sustainable location for development (see South Gloucestershire Council’s Draft Data and Access Profile for Wickwar for evidence). Drafting of the South Gloucestershire Local Plan is ongoing and NO sites for housing development have yet been identified.
How do I ask questions or respond to the consultation?
All residents are strongly urged to ask questions and/ or register their views on the proposed development by:
- completing the back of the consultation leaflet and posting it back in the freepost envelope enclosed OR
- visiting the consultation website and filling in the online form.
The Parish Council has requested that Bloor Homes hold a public meeting in order to present their proposals and answer questions from the public. Bloor Homes DO NOT currently intend to hold a public meeting or answer questions about their proposals in a public forum.
Your Parish Council has compiled and submitted a list of questions to the developers. who have committed to respond to in writing.
Questions-to-Bloor-Homes-from-WPC-Oct-2021
The responses from Bloor Homes will be published on the website as soon as possible.
When is the consultation deadline?
Bloor Homes have refused to give a deadline for the consultation stating that ‘no end date is specified at the moment’, so please submit your questions and responses as soon as possible.
Why won’t there be a public meeting as part of the consultation process?
The short answer is that Bloor Homes have so far refused a request from the Parish Council to hold an online public meeting (although they have not ruled one out completely). They have also refused a subsequent request to attend the Parish Council meeting on 6th October to present their proposals and answer questions. Instead they have offered to receive and respond to our questions in writing only.
The response from representatives of Bloor Homes is copied below:
These refusals are extremely disappointing, especially given the claim made on the consultation website that:
the project team is keen to learn from local residents how they feel this development could bring benefits to the local area and the existing community.
Your Parish Council feels that a public meeting is vital to ensure that the proposal is communicated as widely as possible, and so that residents can ask questions and make comments. We will continue to press for the developers to hold one. In the meantime, please make sure that you have your say via the means listed above.
This is a terrible idea, clearly submitted by a greedy and opportunistic developer keen to make an obscene amount of money out of an easy greenfield site, but with little or no concern given to the size of the development being plonked onto the end of this village or the problems it will cause for the new and existing residents due to the increased traffic. The problem with building at Wickwar is, and always has been, the road infrastructure. There is only one road going into and out of the village, though a narrow High Street. When we moved here 20-odd years ago, talk was circulating about building a by-pass as the village was struggling to cope with traffic even then and it’s far worse now. I think that should be reconsidered urgently before ANY further new housing is given consideration. BTW, this site might NOT prove to be the goose the laid the golden egg for the developer – the Site Manager at Lindon Homes has told me that sales on their site in Wickwar have been worryingly slow, which suggests that the market for new homes in this area is already reaching saturation point, with Thornbury, Yate, Chipping Sodbury and elsewhere also taking massive housing developments recently.. Also, once countryside has been concreted over it’s gone for good, so make sure that it’s needed and well throught-through.. This isn’t.
Thank you for your comment. I am sure you have done so already, but please do also submit your comments directly to Bloor Homes via the website or consultation leaflet.
I’ve responded very comprehensively to Bloor homes including aspects surrounding infrastructure of transport and sewers. I’ve also commented on renewable energy and leisure facilities and not just “a shop and play area”. It’s rather long and I will let you have a copy of my manuscript essay.
I think if you can build on one side of road you should be able to build on the other side.
But I think there should have shops and a pub as well.
I say yes to it and hope it goes though.
What a ridiculous statement Susan Clifford- Terrett. We should consider the framework of Wickwar and surrounding villages. We should consider the environmental impacts of the developments in this area for the future of our children and grandchildren. Material structures and facilities matter not at all if the reasons for building these houses destroy the natural environment, local history, countryside landscape and homes of those that live here.
Disagree, the same stretch of road is going to be used by masses of additional vehicles daily if this development goes ahead and it’s struggling already.