Development would destroy our village
Saltford's prized greenbelt has been protected from new development in the council's latest core strategy planning blueprint. But it wasn't always guaranteed to end up this way.
It was interesting to read Duncan Hounsell's take on the B&NES Core Strategy in your letters pages last week (Chronicle March 7) claiming that Liberal Democrat councillors have kept Saltford's green belt out of the council's housing plans.
In fact, it was our Liberal Democrat-run council which actually proposed that Saltford's green belt be considered for 5,000 new houses in the first place.
With B&NES desperately trying to find sites for new housing development, the threat of thousands more houses on the edge of Saltford was a genuine possibility. If it were not for the fact that Councillor Haeberling, our fellow Conservative councillors, Saltford Parish Council, and I put forward strong arguments to prevent this plan ever getting off the drawing board, we could now be facing this prospect.
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Such large-scale development would destroy the character of our village, not to mention the countryside surrounding it. It would also bring the A4, which is already at capacity, to a standstill.
In putting forward the case for Saltford to take so much development, B&NES tried to dangle the carrot that this number of houses could pay for a bypass of the village. We made it clear that whilst a majority of residents would like to have a bypass to ease traffic in the village, thousands of houses on our green belt was not a price that we, or local people, are willing to pay.
The fact that we have ultimately managed to secure protection for Saltford's green belt in the core strategy will also help bolster our arguments against the current planning application at Manor Road.
Councillor Mathew Blankley Cons, Saltford
6 Comments
by MBlankley
Wednesday, March 20 2013, 12:55PM
“@DaveF_Walcot - I am categorically against ANY possible threat to the sanctity of Saltford's Green Belt. However, when the majority of Saltford's residents want one I can only support their desire for a STUDY into one.
You're misinterpreting my letter - 5000 homes (suggested by LibDem-run B&NES as an option to be included in the Core Strategy) will bring the A4 to a standstill; the application for 72-99 homes further up Manor Road from my house will not help, but it wont be anywhere near as detrimental as the 5000 homes.”
by DaveF_Walcot
Wednesday, March 20 2013, 11:40AM
“So you're categorically against the bypass, then. Saltford is fully encompassed by the green belt - there is no way to build a road without passing through it.
You live opposite the only submitted housing plans that I'm aware of. You know, the one that will "bring the A4 to a standstill"”
by MBlankley
Monday, March 18 2013, 10:40AM
“@DaveF_Walcot - You're talking rubbish. I challenge you to find any statement where I have called for building in the Green Belt (by-pass included). As for Manor Road, I do not live near enough to the proposed site for it to affect my property.
Mathew.”
by DaveF_Walcot
Saturday, March 16 2013, 2:17AM
“So, lets get this straight - he believes it's OK for a bypass to tear through green-belt land, but not for homes in which people need to live. Brilliant.
I wonder if his stance is linked, in any way, to his address - Manor Road.”
by Respondent
Friday, March 15 2013, 8:18PM
“The trouble is, the letter makes no indication where all those thousands of houses should go. Some communities will be forced to see their adjacent green fields sacrificed.
Terms like "prized greenbelt" are used to put these areas into a sort of hierarchy, where one community's green space is considered so much more important than another's. In reality, there is not that much between them and people everywhere need to see some greenery.”
by MadAsHeck
Thursday, March 14 2013, 10:53AM
“It amazes me that a government that has no idea whatsoever as to how many people it allows into the UK expects us to house them. Keep them all in Westminster and force the government to house them in their second and third homes - of which there are plenty available.”