Fiercely fought Government plans to ‘overwhelm’ North
Somerset with housing developments have been dropped.
The decision has been welcomed following our vigorous campaign
against the strategy, which would have seen more than 25,000 homes
built in the district, including on green belt land.
Planning managers are now working quickly to make sure the
Government plans are replaced by new planning guidance that has
been developed locally to fully reflect what the area needs.
The Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) was a Government document
which included details about the number of housing developments
local authorities had to allow in their area by 2026.
For North Somerset this totalled 26,750 dwellings, including on
green belt land at south west Bristol, near Long Ashton, Barrow
Gurney and Dundry.
Believing the loss of green belt land to be unacceptable, and
that the overall housing numbers would leave too many homes with
not enough local businesses and jobs to support them, North
Somerset Council campaigned against the RSS.
Leader of the Council, Councillor Nigel Ashton, said: “We are
very pleased that the RSS has been abolished.
“If this strategy had been pushed through the number of houses
would have overwhelmed many of our communities.
“It is very important the needs of the area are taken into
account when designing planning guidance.
“We have been working on our local guidance, called the Core
Strategy, for more than a year, and it will now not have to include
the excessive number of houses imposed by the RSS. We can work to
ensure it fully reflects the needs of North Somerset.”
The Core Strategy is a high level planning policy document which
includes the overall housing numbers and locations of
developments.
The strategy went to consultation earlier this year, and is
likely to be fairly similar once it is adopted. However, now the
RSS has been abolished, the number of houses will be revised.
It is expected it will be lowered to around 14,000-16,000 new
dwellings to be built across North Somerset in the next 15
years.
It will also say there will be no developments on green belt and
no housing to be built at south west Bristol.
