Planners at South Gloucestershire Council are proposing that an extra 3,950 homes be built in the Patchway/Cribbs Causeway area over the next 15 years, on top of existing commitments to build 2,200 homes at Charlton Hayes and 1,750 at Cribbs Causeway and on land south of Filton Airfeld.
The plans for additional homes were revealed in a revised version of the Council’s Core Strategy document, the planning blueprint for the district for the period 2012-2027, issued last week.
The new plan, produced at the insistence of a Government inspector, accepts the closure of Filton Airfield, freeing up land for housing in a new neighbourhood tentatively called “New Charlton” – on the western half of the airstrip.
Further land for housing has also been designated west of the A4018, which is combined with land on the east side of the main road to form a new “Haw Wood” neighbourhood.
Whereas the old plan foresaw 1,750 dwellings in the Cribbs Causeway and ‘south of airfield’ zones, the new plan sees 3,700 in New Charlton and 1.000 in each of Haws Wood and Cribbs Causeway – giving a net increase of 3,950.
The eastern half of the airstrip, extending to the A38 near the Royal Mail centre, will be given over to industrial use in a zone called the ‘Filton Aerospace Cluster’.
The new Core Strategy also includes the possible re-opening of the Henbury Loop railway line, which runs along the southern boundary of the airfield site, to passenger traffic. Safeguarded sites for passenger stations at Filton, west of the A38 opposite Filton College, and Henbury are also identified in the plan.
More info: See how the plans have changed (Patchway Journal)
Local Labour Councillors are arguing that BAE Systems’ decision to close Filton Airfield by the end of 2012 is being used by the South Gloucestershire Council’s planning department as a short-term windfall to plug the gap in housing supply.
Labour Group Leader Cllr Andy Perkins said:
“We know that the Government inspector wants more new homes in addition to the 21,500 initially planned, despite high-profile Conservative and Liberal Democrat election campaigns against growth above this figure.”
“The council is in danger of responding with no long-term vision for the district. The Council is proposing that the airfield should be redeveloped without sufficient work being done on possible alternatives. There is no Plan B if the airfield site is not developed. The neighbouring sites around Cribbs Causeway and the airfield in particular have been singled out as a convenient dumping ground for nearly all of these additional homes.”
Concern has also been expressed about the effect the new housing would have on road congestion and quality of life in the North Bristol area.
Local Cllr Ian Scott (Labour, Filton) said:
“The North Fringe already suffers from terrible congestion and the addition of 5,700 new homes is an awful prospect. Development on this scale would seriously damage the quality of life not only in the immediate areas of Filton and Patchway but in neighbouring districts including Stoke Gifford, Bradley Stoke and Almondsbury.”
“I can foresee the Ring Road, the A38 and the local motorway network gridlocked if this many new homes are built here. We have no assurance that measures to overcome congestion, such as the rapid transit scheme or new passenger rail services, will ever materialise.”
Related links: Filton Airfield (South Glos Post)
“Planners at South Gloucestershire Council are proposing that an extra 3,950 homes be built in the Patchway/Cribbs Causeway area over the next 15 years, on top of existing commitments to build 2,200 homes at Charlton Hayes and 1,750 at Cribbs Causeway and on land south of Filton Airfeld.”
3950 + 1750 + 2200 = 7900
How about also adding in the 2000 at Harry Stoke too?
Just short of 10,000 homes. Nice.
South Gloucestershire looks to be replacing jobs at Filton Airfield for houses on a one for one swap:
Air Livery have now moved to Manchester. 50 jobs.
Aeros have abandoned their plan for a commercial flight training organisation. 15 jobs.
A350 wings moved from Filton to Broughton. 650 jobs.
A320 wings moved from Filton to South Korea. 800 jobs.
Airfield Closing. 20 jobs.
Total: 1535 jobs gone already.
Also, studies have shown that for every single aerospace job, 1.6 further jobs rely on it. So 1535 * 1.6 = 2455 jobs.
So that’s a total of just under 4000 jobs lost already.
There will be more.
So 10,000 more homes coming, 4000 jobs gone and more to go.
Good luck with that one folks.
If this does happen to the Airfield, what is missing, desperately, is a road from Charlton Road to Cribbs Causeway, which would be a very handy short cut for us, otherwise having to travel an unnecessary 3.5 miles.
Paul Lee states 10,00 new homes could possibly be built (I can go with that, ignoring the 21000 the Government want!) ! Now how many cars per household? 2, 3, 4? We can go middle for diddle and say 3 cars per household x 10,000 or 30,000 (60,000+ if the Government get their way!) new cars on the existing A38 and surrounding roads + family, friends & visitors (such as midwives, doctors, sales reps etc) and you could probably stick a couple of thousand cars, busses, vans, trucks a week on top of that again (excluding anyone short cutting to the Mall). So Chris wont be worried about the extra 3.5miles he/she has to travel, but the extra hour or so stuck in traffic!
Look at Kemble Airfield, Gloucester. Wrote off as financially unworkable (same as Filton) and yet it pays for it self with the Steam Festival, private flights and using the open space for custom car shows/displays/festivals/fairgrounds/circus/etc/etc. It brings money and jobs into the area without the constant traffic chaos!
Long Live the airfield, as it is, an airfield!
The new housing proposals no matter how many there are will be good news for local businesses and some of this good news will “rub of” in the guise of new jobs.
However the new jobs will in no way match the number of jobs to be lost. The threat of Airbus moving their major assembly business out of Filton because of logistical problems has to be a real possibility given that once the airfield is shut there is no going back.
30,000 more cars (ray1) is a lot of cars and will bring huge pressure on the A38 and the roads surrounding Cribbs Causeway. So why have the local council approved the closing of the Highwood Road dual carriageway and would it not be in the interest of all the residents living in & around Patchway and Cribbs Causway to see this ridiculous plan reversed. As I understand it the road is being closed for purely aesthetic reasons so that the new residents of Charlton Hayes can have a pretty view instead of a road to look at. Well good for them but chaos for the rest of us.
We can hardly move around the area now, the traffic is so bad. What on earth will it be like with that many extra vehicles. Who ever made the decisions to bring that many houses and close existing roads, clearly does not live or work in this area. We all realise that people need housing to rent or buy, but surely building roads that can cope now and in the future is equally important.