Following an urgent request from Wickwar Parish Council, the developers Crest Nicholson, have agreed to hold a public meeting via the ZOOM platform on Wednesday 20th January @ 7pm regarding their proposal to build 150 houses on land east of Inglestone Road.
ALL are welcome, but ZOOM can only accommodate 100 attendees, so entry to the meeting will be on a first come first served basis.
Click on this link to access the meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86236958811
All residents are welcome to attend the public meeting and are urged to do so, to ask questions and register their views on the proposed development. In the meantime please make your views known via the developer’s consultation questionnaire survey – direct link (deadline 22nd January 2021).
Crest Nicholson will answer questions sent in advance of the meeting, so if you have a question please send it to Callum Warren by 15th January 2021 callum.warren@tfa-ltd.co.uk (close of play).
The Parish Council has agreed a list of questions that it will submit to be answered at the public meeting. The list is reproduced below for your information.
1. A significant proportion of houses in the parish have not received a leaflet about the public consultation (as only 500 were printed/ delivered) and many residents have not been informed that it is happening. The current communication policy from Crest Nicholson appears to be based on the populous having internet access and subsequent visibility of the proposals. This is not the case particularly for the older members of the community. As such, from a transparency and equality point of view, this consultation process is flawed. Will you commit to deliver a leaflet to every household AND extend the consultation deadline to enable those who have not been informed to take part in it?
2. Have you sought pre-application planning advice from South Gloucestershire Council? Will you make this advice public before you submit the planning application? If not, why not? Also with regard to the advice given, will you be implementing its recommendations?
3. What evidence has been collected about the level and type of local housing needed in the village?
Wickwar currently has a low level of support infrastructure. The following essential services are lacking in the village and the nearest services are not accessible by walking or cycling (according to the draft Data and Access Profile for Wickwar Wickwar_DAP_2020.pdf (southglos.gov.uk))
- Health facilities (GP surgery, pharmacy, dentist)
- Convenience store or supermarket
- Post Office
- Library
- Cycle way
4. Which of the facilities from the list above, will be provided as part of the proposed development?
5. What infrastructure to provide safe pedestrian/ cycle access to the essential services listed, will be provided as part of this development?
6. The South Gloucestershire Local Transport Priority list includes a scheme FV50 to provide a Cycleway from Frith Lane to Peg Hill Yate for the benefit of the Wickwar Community. Will Crest Nicholson provide funding for support of this scheme as part of their proposal of providing appropriate supporting infrastructure?
According to the draft Data and Access Profile for Wickwar Wickwar_DAP_2020.pdf (southglos.gov.uk) at least 70% of working residents commute outside of the immediate area. There is no train station within 2km of Wickwar, bus services are very poor and there is no safe route for cyclists. This means that the vast majority of residents who will occupy the proposed houses will commute to work by car. Additional car journeys are also anticipated to access the essential services listed above.
7. What is the anticipated impact of the new development on the volume of traffic passing though the village via the High Street at peak times, and in total?
a) Will a traffic survey be carried out?
b) Will you commit to conducting a traffic survey at a representative time (i.e. on a weekday, avoiding public holidays and not during a national lockdown)?
(The Tracsis High Street traffic survey carried out in 2017 recorded a weekday average traffic total of 9,028, with a weekly total of 58,405. This survey was conducted before significant developments were completed in Yate and Charfield, which will have increased these figures). There are also the two new Wickwar developments which, when fully occupied, will increase the traffic flow by approximately 340 vehicles.
8. Even with current traffic levels in lockdown the High Street gets snarled up with traffic. What are you going to do about this problem, bearing in mind that you are putting another 300 cars onto the High Street and when lockdown ends there will be far more traffic?
9. The single point of access/ egress for the new development will be the Inglestone Road/ Sodbury Road junction. How many additional daily car journeys along Inglestone Road are anticipated as a result of the proposed development?
10. What mitigating measures will be put in place along Inglestone Road to safeguard road safety in light of the expected increase in traffic?
11. What mitigating measures will be put in place along Inglestone Road to relieve congestion at peak school drop off and pick up times, in light of the expected increase in traffic along the Inglestone Road?
12. What mitigating measures will be put in place at the junction of Inglestone Road and Sodbury Road to relieve likely congestion at the single access/egress point?
13. How many construction vehicles will be travelling along Inglestone Road per day during the construction phase?
14. How will the impact of the construction phase – additional construction traffic and noise – be mitigated for residents living along the Inglestone Road access route, residents living adjacent to the construction site, and the neighbouring primary school?
15. What is the proposed housing mix- 2/3/4/5 bedroom homes?
16. What proportion of the 150 homes will be affordable? What will the affordable options be, and how will affordability be assessed?
17. What contribution will the new development make towards the primary school to enable it to accommodate additional pupils?
18. Also, there is the need for pupils to travel to secondary schools. What contribution will the development make to these ongoing costs?
19. The proposed development is adjacent to Lower Woods Nature Reserve which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Can the impact be minimised? If so, how will the impact of the development be minimised?
I agree with all the above questions, and would add another that has not been mentioned. Bearing in mind, medium term, about cleaning up our greenhouse gasses and air pollution, the air quality in the High Street cannot be the healthiest with the amount of traffic both now and into the years ahead. What traffic reduction measures could be incorporated?
Thank you for your comment. Please make sure that you submit your question to the email address mentioned above.
It is pretty obvious that secondary schooling will be an issue in the not too distant future. Families in wickwar can no longer expect children to be admitted to klb as in the past. The massive housing developments in yate / CS mean that schools there will also have no room. Wickwar will need its own 11-18 schooling provision .
Thank you for your comment. Please make sure that you submit your question to the email address mentioned above.
Hi.
Please may I request the session to be recorded, so those who are unable to access at the time can see what was discussed.
This recording ought to then be ‘postable’.
Regards,
Keith
Thank you for your comment. The Parish Council can make the request, but the meeting is being hosted by Crest Nicholson so it is ultimately up to them. Please also put your question to Callum Warren at the email address mentioned above.
Dear Keith,
I have received a response from TFA regarding recording the meeting and they are aiming to provide a recording and/ or a transcript of the meeting.