Council seeks views on draft plan for Cribbs/Patchway New Neighbourhood

Cribbs/Patchway New Neighbourhood Framework Diagram (November 2012).

South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) has extended the deadline for comments on its draft Development Framework Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) for the proposed Cribbs/Patchway New Neighbourhood, which could see 5,700 new dwellings built in the area by 2027.

The consultation was originally scheduled to finish last week but the Council has revised the deadline to 1st February after two further documents were released during December.

The area covered by the new neighbourhood includes Cribbs Causeway, Catbrain Hill, the Filton Airfield site, land south of the airfield at Wyck Beck Road and Fishpool Hill and land west of the A4018 (Haw Wood).

The initial draft of the Council’s Core Strategy planning blueprint document released in 2010 foresaw 1,750 dwellings being built in the area but this was later increased to 5,700 after BAE Systems announced it was closing the airfield and a planning inspector insisted on an increase in housing numbers across South Gloucestershire.

The new neighbourhood does not include Charlton Hayes, where 2,400 homes are currently being built, as these were agreed in the Council’s previous Local Plan covering the period up to 2011.

Hard copies of the plan and supporting documents are available  at Patchway Hub and Patchway Library.

Click on the thumbnail image above to view a PDF version of the ‘framework diagram’ for the proposed new neighbourhood (warning: large file, 1.6MB).

In the Development Framework SPD, the Council says the new neighbourhood will “deliver good urban design and high quality infrastructure at the right time and in the right location to best serve surrounding development”.

According to the draft document, sustainable development will be ensured through:

  • A strong new landscape and movement framework for the area
  • Good physical connections with the surrounding area
  • Lively and well integrated communities with their own sense of identity
  • Distinctive and high quality public realm
  • Local jobs, services and facilities
  • Recognition of the history of the area

At the public examination of the Council’s Core Strategy in July last year, some of the owners of potential sites within the new neighbourhood expressed a desire to proceed as quickly as possible with development but the Council says it believes sustainable development can only be achieved through a comprehensively planned approach. It is therefore proposing a ‘collaboration agreement’ (or equivalent) as the most effective mechanism for securing coordinated delivery of development and infrastructure across the area.

Selected features outlined in the Development Framework SPD include:

  • Prioritising  north-south movement across the new neighbourhood, with a public transport route between Charlton Road and the San Andreas Roundabout and strategic walking and cycling routes between Fishpool Hill and Patchway and along the Henbury Trym.
  • Extension of the bus priority route for rapid transit south along Highwood Road and east through the new neighbourhood to the A38 and beyond to Parkway railway station, possibly through the currently vacant Rolls-Royce East Works site.
  • Safeguarded sites for new railway stations on the Henbury Loop line at Filton North and Henbury (subject to funding from the Department of Transport).
  • Community infrastructure, including a secondary school and a primary school (possibly on a combined site), a nursery, children’s centre, a youth centre, a health centre, a community centre and a sports centre.
  • Green infrastructure, including recreational open space, natural and semi-natural open space, outdoor sports provision, children’s play areas and allotments.

Other land uses proposed include gypsy and traveller accommodation, bases for the air ambulance and police helicopter, a site for the proposed aerospace heritage museum and a new waste and recycling facility for the North fringe.

The independent inspector currently examining SGC’s Core Strategy last year insisted that the number of housing completions delivered across South Gloucestershire during the first five years of the plan (2012/13 – 2016/17) be significantly increased. The Council responded by raising the target number of completions in the Cribbs/Patchway New Neighbourhood over the period from 235 to 1,093.

In a recent letter, the inspector indicates that he is not entirely satisfied with the Council’s proposed amendments to the housing delivery schedule proposed in the Core Strategy and he has called a further public hearing session for 7th March.

21 comments

  1. It doesn’t matter what our views are, the council wll do what they want to do. If our views mattered they wouldn’t have closed Highwood Road.

  2. highwood lane closed is a fantastic decision,you have got to be a councellor in desguise,can you give me some facts to support your claim,directing traffic through a housing estate and shutting the byepass is definately a fantastic decision,i cant stop laughing as i write this,wonderfull.

  3. I didn’t say popular Hazel Deane, just fantastic!

    Callicroft, im no councillor, it makes the front of my house nice and quiet, sometimes I take Hayes Way, sometimes I drive through Patchway, neither is a problem, just get on with it and stop this constant moaning on here!

  4. it maybe makes your house nice and quiet but you are not the only person who lives in patchway,fortunately you are in the very small minority who are happy with the situation and thats good for you as for me put the road back as it was as soon as possible and then 90percent of patchway will be happy,its not moaning its frustration.

  5. Dear GRJ
    It makes my house in Sycamore Drive nice and quiet, but the closure of High wood is a nightmare for many residents of Patchway and as an elected councillor for Patchway I intend to continue to campaign to get this temporary closure reversed.

    Chris Mills
    Patchway Town Councillor for Coniston ward and Chairman of Patchway Town Council

  6. They only people they will listen to is firms like Bovis who has plenty of money to do deals with. I’m too poor to be important to them!

  7. GRJ,you probably will see us,but we will definately see you standing almost alone shouting keep the road open while around you peoples lives are made a misey with the new dual carriageway cutting through a housing estate,see you in 18 months.

  8. But Happy, you started this thread by saying sort out the roads, which kind of does include Highwood as it ‘was’ the main road in and around Patchway 😉

    One wonders how it can possibly remain closed with what is coming here, as you rightly point out, but now look what you’ve started LOL!

    GRJ has been baiting for quite a while, don’t feed the fish!

  9. Dave Tiley – I’m afraid it’s what I do, I can’t help but love a bit of drama on sites like this! It’s only because people bite so easily! 😉

  10. its not biting its called debate,you said something which is your opinion,if your just winding people up you must be a councellor in desguise,they have been winding us up since they shut highwood.

  11. It might be nice and quiet for the people living in charlton Hayes having no cars going in front of their houses, but for people who have lived in patchway for years its a pain having Highwood Road closed.
    But i do agree they deff need to sort out the roads around there before building more houses and even the schools.

  12. Nurse crippin, is it upsetting you, I live over on the new estate and its lovely having no cars passing by my house. Maybe you could move over here and we could be neighbours!

  13. It will be a shame if this site is just going to degenerate into a free for all for trolls, it will kill sensible debate in the end.

  14. harassed mum,being an incomer who allegedly lives in filton,i think it would be best if you left patchway matters to patchway people,i think filton has got a site for filton residents.

  15. I wholly object to the entire development as building over the airfield represents a really bad move long term. Filton airfield is a Jewel in the Crown, a valuable National asset which in future will emerge as an important element in the revival of aerospace manufacturing. Furthermore who wants to see another barren faceless housing estate?

    Rich Fisher – Independent

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