No new houses for Wraxall, thousands for Nailsea and Long Ashton

Residents of Wraxall have been rightly worried about the potential for significant development on their doorstep.  As previously reported, North Somerset Council is being forced by central government to accommodate over 20,000 new dwellings, that's a 20% increase, equivalent to building two new Clevedons.

In a leaflet I distributed last summer I set out the two main sites in Wraxall where developers and landowners had proposed development. These are marked as A and B on the map below.

Although both sites are within the green belt I was particularly concerned about site B as it includes a Site of Nature Conservation as well as a Scheduled monument.

A report published by North Somerset Council today sets out its preferred options for where the 20,000 new homes are to be located. The Wraxall sites above have not been included. Sites proposed in and around Failand have also been excluded.

Nailsea and Backwell developments

Although Wraxall seems to have avoided any meaningful development surrounding areas have not been so fortunate. A new strategic site near Long Ashton is proposed for 2,500 new homes in the existing green belt.

In addition there are a number of new sites proposed in Nailsea and Backwell:

• 600 dwellings south of Nailsea / Youngwood Lane. This new site is adjacent to, and east of, an existing site that was granted planning permission for 450 homes on appeal. It involves development of part of current strategic gap between Nailsea and Backwell, though the Council propose to extend the current green belt to give the remaining strategic gap better protection.
• Grove Farm, Backwell, 600 homes. West of Backwell and not presently in the green belt.
• East Backwell green belt, 500 homes plus employment land. The report notes that this development, should it go ahead, will 'enable a road link in the form of a bridge over the railway linking to Station Road, improving access for buses and reducing congestion at Backwell crossroads. A road link to the west of Backwell is also being investigated'.

So, even though there is no development in the immediate vicinity the 'preferred options' document identifies sites for another 1,700 dwellings in Nailsea and Backwell alone. This is a significant addition to the local community and although potential improvements to the road network between Nailsea and Backwell are welcome it is disappointing no mention is made of the resulting pressure on the road through Wraxall.



Development could still happen in Wraxall

If you are a resident of Wraxall now is not the time to be jubilant. Quite apart from the potential impact on services and traffic of the sites proposed above, it's important to remember that this is just the current stage of an ongoing process. In particular there are two things to remember:

1. North Somerset has been told by government it needs to accommodate 20,085 dwellings, the report published identifies sites for 18,046 homes. The difference of 2,039 will need to be allocated, that allocation could be in Wraxall.
2. There will be a consultation during March and April after which amendments will undoubtedly be made to the report. It is easy to imagine that other communities in North Somerset, unhappy with a provisional allocation of housing, will be lobbying to have development reallocated to other areas.

Nonetheless the exclusion of the sites above from the 'proposed options' is positive news, let's just not get carried away. 

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