Three councils are forging ahead with their own blueprints for tens of thousands of homes and jobs over the next two decades following the collapse of the regional masterplan. South Gloucestershire Council has decided to join Bath & North East Somerset and Bristol city councils in pressing on with their Local Plans after metro mayor Dan Norris told the Government in May that agreement on a West of England spatial development strategy (SDS) spanning the three areas was not possible.
The failure of the SDS came amid a huge row over who was to blame and whether it was even possible to abandon it. Labour’s Mr Norris – who heads the West of England Combined Authority (Weca), which comprises the three councils – accused South Gloucestershire Council leader Conservative Cllr Toby Savage of “gambling with the greenbelt” having “walked out” of talks.
Cllr Savage claimed the metro mayor had failed to include him in the first place and had taken a “mushroom farming approach” to the housing strategy by working in secrecy while trying to impose 37,000 homes on the district. The council leader said this was almost 10,000 more than government calculations suggested were needed in South Gloucestershire.
