Note to readers: The Planning Inspectorate informed us shortly after this story was published on Friday afternoon that the hearing has now been postponed "due to ill health of one of the key participants", so will be rearranged to a later date.
A public inquiry begins on Monday (May 23) into controversial plans for nearly 600 homes on high-quality farmland on the edge of Thornbury. Developers have appealed to the Planning Inspectorate after South Gloucestershire Council failed to determine their application to build on fields west of Park Farm, Butt Lane, in time.
That took the decision out of the local authority’s hands but councillors on the strategic sites delivery committee decided in January that they would have rejected the proposals if they still had the power to do so. It means the council will contest the seven-day appeal, being held virtually, over the scheme, which would include a primary school, retail and community hub, parkland, allotments and new roads, while 35 per cent of the homes – 208 of the 595 properties – would be classed as affordable.
