RADIO BRISTOL for Cllr. HUDSON

On Thursday 30th August, our very own NorthWest Thornbury Councillor Rob Hudson was interviewed on Radio Bristol.  "Breakfast with Steve Le Fevre" carried a particular focus on the state of the Core Strategy  in respect of Thornbury, and invited a number of guests to speak - only Rob accepted the invite. For those who missed the interview, it was repeated later in the day as part of a news round-up.
For those of you, like me still in holiday mode who may have missed both versions, click on the player below to listen to the podcast. Rob makes some interesting and important contributions to the ongoing debate about the future of housing for Thornbury.

  

Also of interest to some may be the e-mailed  response to the interview from veteran Green Spaces campaigner Ron Morton - I have taken the liberty to print his comments here too.

Dear BBC Radio Bristol,

........

I was out about this afternoon and caught the 4.00pm Radio Bristol News on the car radio, specifically the item with the interview with Cllr. Rob Hudson in respect of building in Thornbury at Park Farm. Somebody in authority is trying to pull a fast one over the BBC!

Mr Hudson said it would be wrong to build on this heritage-rich land, the authority figure said no decision has yet been made. This is simply not the case.

Whilst it is true that the Barretts planning application has been submitted but not decided & that the Core Strategy has yet to be approved by Mr Chryssell the Planning Inspector, South Gloucestershire Council is 100% committed to building up to 500 dwellings at Park Farm. Barretts & South Glos. Council have already held the public Master Planning Workshop for the site.

This incident is simply the latest in a long, long line of council lies, manipulations, breaches of planning protocols, failures to declare interests and general skulduggery by Thornbury Town Council, South Gloucestershire Council and Lib Dem Councillors. The Core Strategy Group led by Patrick Conroy within the Planning Department are determined that these heritage rich fields (Grade 2 listed & thus supposedly protected by the national Garden Society) be concreted over, for whatever reason. The reasons they actually give about the nature of Thornbury are spurious and unsupported by evidence. The Sustainability Appraisal for the development was written after the decision to build had been made. There is a great deal more.

The whole thing is a can of worms that the BBC would do well to investigate.

etc. etc.

Ron Morton

Save Our Green Spaces.