Wellbeck Exhibition prompts Comment in Gazette

The exhibition staged by Welbeck Strategic Land at Cossham Hall last week has prompted a thoughtful lead Article in this week's Gazette. (See below.)
Have a look on our Media page to browse the back history of media interest in this saga of development planning and so-called "consultation" in Thornbury.
In particular, this week's Gazette Comment makes very interesting reading, and raises important questions for local councillors who would seek re-election by you the local residents.

Date for your diary: Mon 13th December 2pm - South Glos Cabinet will be meeting (in Thornbury Council Offices) to decide any changes to the Core Strategy in the light of the Public Representations.
Please consider coming along to this meeting - it is open to the public, and our South Glos councillors need to know that the current plans are not acceptable to local residents.

ABBREVIATED CRITIQUE OF SUSTAINABILITY APPRAISAL

We have had very serious reservations about the use of the Sustainability Appraisal to justify the selection of Park Farm - our full critique of this document runs to 24 pages!
We have just produced a summary version of this critique, listing its most obvious inconsistencies, all inside 2 pages of A4. Click Here to read for yourself.

REVELATIONS FROM THE CORE STRATEGY CONSULTATION

The publishing of all submissions to the South Glos Core Strategy Consultation proves fascinating reading. LINK: www.southglos.gov.uk/corestrategyconsultation Quite possibly there are some gems hidden amongst this vast quantity of documentation, just waiting to be unearthed - please let us know if you personally come across any submission that you feel needs more of a profile.
A few early findings:

• thanks to all the hard work of local Thornbury/Oldbury residents, there are vastly more objections to the proposed inclusion of the Park Farm estate in the Core Strategy, than for any other development across South Gloucestershire.
• a concensus is emerging that it is not just residents in NW Thornbury who have been troubled by the inaccuracies, bias, unsustainability and injustice of the so-called "Sustainability Appraisal".
  
• an unexpected objector has emerged in the form of developers Welbeck Strategic Land. Their weighty submission to SGlos makes fascinating reading. It would appear that the strength of these objections has prompted them to set up a Public Exhibition at Cossham Hall next Thursday 18th November between 3-8pm which will "provide information on all six sites considered by South Gloucestershire Council." This week's Gazette has an article exploring further Welbeck Strategic Land's proposals.

For your information, South Glos have amended their timetable and intend to have their Full Cabinet vote on the Core Strategy on 13th December, with their decision taken to Full Council on 15th December. Whatever the outcomes of these votes, that is not the end of the story - in March/April 2011 the whole process must be independently and publicly examined and approved by the National Planning Inspector. Only at this point can the Core Strategy be adopted. We remain firmly convinced that the only route to approval of the Core Strategy must be by removing the proposals relating to Park Farm, and starting again with a new and fair, open, balanced, objective Sustainability Appraisal of all potential sites around Thornbury, that welcomes the voices and contributions of local residents and grass-roots communities.

Things to consider in the short term:

• Thornbury Town Councillors (Town Development committe 2-11-10) have expressed an interest in the Public Exhibition being held at Cossham Hall this coming Thursday 18th November (between 3-8pm). Why not join them and drop into the Exhibition for yourself. It would be good for a show of strength in voicing our concerns over the flawed South Glos Core Strategy, and our belief that it must not be allowed to stand in its current form.
• Read some of the Representations to the Core Strategy - We have no guarantee that Councillors will be reading them through, so write to them and let them know your findings. (see this blog on 22nd Sept for list of names and e-mail addresses)
  
• In May 2011 there will be elections to South Glos and Thornbury Town Councils. As a group of disillusioned electors we are determined to find and vote for councillors who will listen to the voices and concerns of local residents. We would urge you to strongly consider whether this is something that you might be able to do. Please let us know your thoughts.
  

THE DIGGERS ARRIVE

Local residents were somewhat shocked to see diggers at work in the lush green fields of Park Farm. One local resident sent me a panic-stricken e-mail asking if the builders had arrived!

Because of course OFFICIALLY South Glos are still considering all the representations made by you and me and all the other local residents (oh yes, and developers) who may have submitted views concerning the proposed 500+ housing development, earmarked for the fields behind Castle School, that back onto Thornbury Castle, the Medieval Fishponds, and much of Park Farm.
UNOFFICIALLY planners have already indicated to STGH that they are still proceeding with the current plans regardless of our representations. So much for "Consultation"!

Despite David Cameron's talk of The Big Society last week, where local people are urged to take on local responsibility, South Glos Planning Department seem to prefer the little society, where they can ride roughshod over the nuisance opinions of local people, prefering to listen to the financial arguments of the developers, and meeting their own self-imposed deadlines and targets.
Are we really too late to see some fair play in Thornbury? Currently these diggers are only here to carry out some archaealogical surveys. Next time, they could be here to dig the footings.

We urge you to write to your South Glos Cabinet Members (see names and addresses in previous post below 22-9-10) as soon as you possibly can.

Ask them if they have actually read the Sustainability Appraisal yet - and if they have, how they can possibly pursue the Park Farm development on the basis of such a flawed and inaccurate piece of non-appraisal!
Ask why local residents have NEVER been consulted on which one of the six identified sites (Sustainability Appraisal) would be the best option for housing development inThornbury?
Ask why the most recent Government Inspector to examine housing sites around Thornbury, having declared the Park Farm estate to be UNSUITABLE FOR DEVELOPMENT, is now being completely ignored.

Please don't put off writing. We must act together to make a difference NOW.

WHO TO BELIEVE???

Our Local Councillors (SGC and TTC) tell us that families are in decline and rolls are falling in local Primary Schools, and consequently we need to add vibrancy to our schools by building 500+ new houses on the edges of Thornbury, starting out with the beautiful and historic Park Farm Estate that edges onto Thornbury Castle.

National Newspapers tell a different story .....

(click mouse on newscutting to see it enlarged.)

Councillors have been very busy looking into the future in order to find justification for a housing project that has never received a mandate from the local residents of Thornbury - but the true fate of our Primary Schools may be very different if these projected national trends are to be believed. More housing for Thornbury could actually mean no spaces for local children in local schools as demand exceeds supply. (Remember - 500+ houses is the official line, but some reports have indicated 750, even 1,000 new houses to come)

And on the subject of schools, it's very difficult to get a straight answer as to how Councillors/Castle School is involved in the current wheeling and dealing with Barretts over building plans on those Park Farm fields behind the school that lead on to the Medieval Fishponds.
One thing we know for sure is that the Government, in the shape of Michael Gove, Education Secretary has absolutely pulled the plug on the "Building Schools for the Future" programme. Talk of a re-build for The Castle School, or a consolidation of the Sixth Form onto the main site at Park Road looks suddenly completely misplaced.
That may actually be a relief for local sixth-formers, many of whom cherish their sixth-form site, away from the main school, as one of its principle attractions. What would happen to "town vibrancy" too, if sixth-formers are located too far from the town centre to be able to "nip-in" for shopping and snacks?

So in the light of all this, any chance of our local councillors holding up their hands over the flawed justification of the Park Farm fields as a suitable site for housing development, and saying "Sorry, we got that one wrong....."??
We can but hope.
Please keep drawing your councillors' attentions to these injustices and inaccuracies that are being perpetrated by ELECTED representatives.
Local Elections in May 2011 might prove to be our only recourse.

CONSULTATION? WHAT CONSULTATION?

Dear STGH Supporter,

First of all, a big thank-you to everyone who took the opportunity to respond to South
Gloucestershire Council’s core strategy. You may well have picked up from the
media that the council had hundreds of responses indicating the depth of feeling that
exists concerning housing development in Thornbury.

Earlier this month, representatives of Save Thornbury’s Green Heritage went to the
council’s planning meeting with high hopes that all your responses would have made
councillors and official sit up and take notice. Disappointingly, it quickly became
clear that they very much want to ignore public opinion and press on with their plans.
Click HERE to read summary notes of meeting.

So what can we do now? Well, we believe that we have to keep on putting our views
forward and make it as difficult as possible for the council to ignore us. If we all write
to councillors and officials and remind them of just how many of us need to be heard,
we can show them that we won’t just go away.

Please write to the people below.....
Let’s have them each receiving hundreds of messages –

1 ) Asking them to become familiar with our critique of the Sustainability Appraisal (available to read on our website - which draws full attention to the SA's contradictions and inaccuracies), and not allow it to be used to justify the selection of Park Farm as the favoured option for development.

2) Asking them to be fully aware of, and not ignore the current Local Plan that says there is no need for any housing development in Thornbury.

3 ) Reminding them that the new coalition government’s policy is to engage with local communities - unlike SGC which has declared that there is to be no further engagement with the Community who live in Thornbury about how their town should be developed.

If the people who are supposed to represent us are made to listen to the views of many, they must surely begin to listen and act in our interests.

Please find a few minutes to write to them. The more we do together, the greater the power of our argument.

Many thanks.

People to write to -

Leader of South Glos Council:
Councillor John Calway - john.calway@southglos.gov.uk
Deputy Leader of South Glos Council:
Councillor Sheila Cook - sheila.cook@southglos.gov.uk,
South Glos Executive Cabinet Members:
Councillor Heather Goddard - heather.goddard@southglos.gov.uk,
Councillor Allan Higgs - allan.higgs@southglos.gov.uk,
Councillor Matthew Riddle - matthew.riddle@southglos.gov.uk,
Councillor Brian Allinson - brian.allinson@southglos.gov.uk,
Councillor John Godwin - john.godwin@southglos.gov.uk,

also worth copying in your MP:
Steve Webb - steve@stevewebb.org.uk

CONSULTATION NOW CLOSED

Hope you had a chance to make your own Representation to South Glos Core Strategy.
We have now submitted our own Representation on behalf of Save Thornbury's Green Heritage. It makes for fascinating reading - we have posted it onto this website - check out via the tab at the top of the page, then click on the link to any section that interests you.
Happy summer reading!

Service will resume on this blog in early September.