A decision to overturn a “democratic vote” and give planning permission for 595 new homes near Thornbury has been criticised. A government planning inspector recently ruled that the hundreds of homes should be allowed, despite facing strong local opposition.
Barwood Development now has permission to build the 595 new homes on land west of Park Farm, Butt Lane, northwest of Thornbury. This follows a public inquiry when the developer appealed against South Gloucestershire Council’s decision to refuse permission.
The council decided in January last year to refuse permission, and then the inquiry was held in October. During a development management committee meeting on Thursday, February 16, councillors slammed the planning inspector’s decision.
Read more: Plans for nearly 600 homes north of Bristol granted permission on appeal
Councillor Colin Hunt, acting chair of the committee, said: “I am very, very disappointed because it was democratically decided. The vast majority of the people in Thornbury didn’t want it. And yet one individual woman comes along and changes everything that was voted on democratically. I dislike it, but I can do nothing about it.
“As for the appeal itself, I was annoyed that it appeared in the Bristol papers before even we were told about it, which again I think is very, very wrong.”
Plans for the development also include a primary school, shopping and community hub, a new bus link, and open spaces with parkland and allotments. But Thornbury and elsewhere in South Gloucestershire have faced a lot of new housing development in recent years, with some concerns that infrastructure is not being upgraded to match rising demand.
Cllr Ernie Brown said: “We treat each planning application in isolation, and by doing so we don’t think about how it affects the infrastructure for residents. We could get 300 houses here, 3,000 houses there, but we have to look at the bigger picture. Like in Stoke Gifford, we have something like 4,000 houses going in, but no extra school and no extra width to the roads.”
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