Nailsea Town Council calling a public meeting to kick plans into long grass

Nailsea Town Council chairman Mike Bird said: “The proposed development will be at the end of a giant cul-de-sac, hemmed in on three sides by the railway, Morgan’s Hill and Netherton Grange, there will be no cohesion between this isolated development and Backwell and Nailsea.

“From what residents have made clear in the past, this proposal goes against what the people of Nailsea want.”

And chairman of the planning committee Rod Lees said: “Town councillors want to ensure this planning application does not go under the radar and wants to ensure members of the local community are fully aware of the proposals and have an opportunity to comment before any applications are considered by North Somerset Council’s planning committee.”Nailsea Town Council will be calling an extra-ordinary meeting to formulate a response to this application during July, the date of which is still to be confirmed.

London auction houses selling play area + road

A dream country cottage on the edge of Backwell Common is being marketed for a cool £1.4 million by High Street estate agents Hensons.

Although named Rivida Cottage the grand 5-bed, 3-bath, 18th century property is more of a county estate as it comes complete with small lake, garden rooms, narrow gauge railway and paddock all set in the stunning North Somerset Green Belt.

This is country living close to the amenities of Nailsea and some neighbours.

It comes with all mods cons without losing the character of a bygone age and the bonus of the ‘big boy toy’ train track.

Click top to see lots of images in a slideshow.

To download brochure lick HERE and to learn more or book a viewing call 01275 810030

Country living

St Modwen Homes want to build 200 homes on land between Netherton Wood Lane and Engine Lane. on the outskirts of Nailsea.

This abuts building by Barratt Homes and Taylor Wimpey of hundreds of new homes and is another attempt to turn the area into a suburban landscape.

At Nailsea Town Council planning committee meeting at the Tithe Barn on Wednesday, July 5, a representative from St Modwen Homes, acting for its client, Planning Prospects Ltd., gave the council an overview of its intentions for some 8.2 hectares of land south of the Parish Brook estate currently being developed by Barratt Homes, and west of Netherton Grange estate currently being developed by Taylor Wimpey.

Outline planning permission will be requested for 190-200 dwellings of mainly smaller family homes, 30 per cent of which will be affordable.

The site will include the area currently occupied by Battens Farm - the farmhouse went on the market last October - and equestrian centre and will link with Netherton Wood Lane for access.

The new development will include spaces for play and recreation, good ecology management, sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) with retained hedgerow boundaries and buffer spaces, yielding a 10 per cent increase in biodiversity gain as required by regulation, the meeting heard.

The proposal is being promoted through the developing draft North Somerset Local Plan which is delayed pending central government decisions on planning, but, as North Somerset Council have failed the test for the provision of a five year supply of land for housing, the proposal is believed to be eminently viable.

St Modwen’s acknowledge that their plan, as with others in the locality, is speculative, but believe it is of higher quality than these others.

This is an outline plan so official consultation with statutory bodies with regard to such matters as ecology, archaeology, water and drainage is to come.

A website will be launched next week, there will be a leaflet drop to Nailsea residents most likely to be affected by the development, and St Modwen’s will have a stall at the July farmers’ market.

Nailsea Action Group vice-chairman Antony Evens who compiled this report said there were comments and questions from the councillors and from the 16 people sitting in the public gallery.

Responding to chairman Rod Lee’s call for for a public meeting in the Tithe Barn prior to planning application, the St Modwen representative, said he would take this request away, but they believed that a broader approach such as that outlined above was more effective.

Responding to a question about the incline of the site, those present were told that the company would be working with the levels and the landform appropriately.

A resident commented that the site was not supported in the draft for the Local Plan for reasons of sustainability such as being too far from the town centre.

The response was that the Local Plan is an emerging plan and not fixed or absolute: it is a comparison process, weighing up the pros and cons.

This site is better located here than in the Green Belt and is no further away from the centre of Nailsea as other proposed developments, they were told.

Fighting development on all fronts

Tickenham Road Action Group has already lodged an objection to the Gleeson application.

TRAG believe without full traffic assessment this development will just add to the traffic flowing through the village without any mitigations.

TRAG has submitted this response saying the application must be subject to the completion and approval of the North Somerset Council Local Plan 2023-38 for the following reasons:

1) Transport infrastructure serving Nailsea and the local area is woefully inadequate for the current population let alone any additional housing. The Local Plan must address housing growth in this area - 2,900 new homes proposed in the draft Local Plan - and examine transport infrastructure needs that is roads, public transport, cycle and pedestrian paths in totality;

2) This planning application only addresses local transport impacts and not those of the key access routes to serve Nailsea including the M5 access via Tickenham. The addition of 400 more houses will significantly increase vehicle traffic flow including HGVs through Tickenham which is already excessive for the size of the road it carries especially at existing bottle necks including Stone Edge Batch/Jacklands and The Causeway; and

3) The Local Plan may identify additional access routes to Nailsea that includes roadways through this development, potentially linking the A370 with Nailsea.

failed to sell at july auction

When we revealed plans to add another story to Broad Street Hair in the High Street it reached nearly 35,000 people making it one of the most read articles posted on Nailsea People Facebook page in July.
We told how an outline application has gone to North Somerset Council to knock down Broad Street Hair and replace the building with a new mixed-use development to contain seven flats on top of a commercial unit facing the High Street. 
Gibson Architecture say in its planning statement: "The existing building is thermally inefficient, and the works required to bring the fabric in line with current building regulations are likely unfeasible. 
"The existing floor plan is difficult to work with due to years of poorly considered additions and historic thick wall constructions.
"The height of the proposed development will be in-keeping with the existing buildings along High Street." 
The former bookshop and doctor's surgery is one of few old buildings left in the High Street.
But boss Wayne Hill said: "We have had our salon in Nailsea for over 25 years and been part of the fantastic community.
" I’d like to explain before others think up what might be happening.
"We will be keeping our salon and fantastic team in Nailsea...the Nailsea people have supported us and we love being here.
"However, we do have a very large building that only part is being used due the fact that the government have made it impossible to run our independent hair academy.
"We have been looking at all option to utilize the wasted space.
"I’m sure people will also notice that we have a large area at the back of our building which is unused currently.
"The outline planning we have in is to build over the area out to the boundary the same as the buildings either side of us and to incorporate the upstairs of our building. 
"The Nailsea area along with others do not have enough flats or affordable properties for local young people to be able to afford to stay in their home towns so we hope if we do get planning that this will help our local community that have supported us for so so many year.
"Broad St Hair has been in Nailsea and will be staying in Nailsea for many years to come.
Reader Bryn James Thomas said: "We should not just look at the efficiency in use, but also the impact of reconstruction.
"Likelihood will also be that the new building will not be of the quality of the existing and will need further rebuilding with further impact in a shorter time period.
"I’d love to see the study into why this buildings energy performance cannot be improved,"

You can  view the planning application here https://planning.n-somerset.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=RUHW8ALPMQH00&activeTab=summary

Situated on the corner of Silver Street and Stockway South/North this beautifully presented Edwardian home boasts four reception room and two and a half bathrooms.

Built in 1904 opposite the old Four Oaks school part of it was originally the village bakery and confectionary shop.

Renovated to the highest standards the seamless fusion of old and new elements has created a 3-4 double bedroom home.

The local stone façade with high gables and a slate-tiled roof makesfor an impressive looking home.

For sale former village bakery and sweet shop

Room for 2 bungalows here

In a unanimous vote Nailsea Town Council supported by Backwell Parish Council and Backwell Residents Association decided it will fight the planning application to build 400 new homes twixt the two communities.

If allowed this would breach the sacrosanct strategic gap, there to maintain the separate identities of Nailsea and Backwell. 

Currently developers have targeted five sites in Nailsea which if all got planning permission could see our population grow by a further 11,000, according to one audience member!

Many at the meeting chaired by councillor Mike Bird on Wednesday, July 25, at the Tithe Barn, shared the view ‘it is all about the money’.

Apportioning blame for this situation is shared between North Somerset Council for not identifying sufficient land for building which opened the floodgates (literally) and central government blamed for imposing unrealistic housing targets.

Retired Golden Valley Primary School headteacher Alan Shaw said: “North Somerset Council failed to identify a five-year supply of land available for housing.”

But both Nailsea Town Council and North Somerset Council are culpable for allowing green fields they owned to be built on, namely The Uplands and Engine Lane.

It was standing room only at Tithe Barn on Tuesday, July 26, to discuss the way forward.

The Gleeson outline application is for up to 400 homes to the south of Nailsea with one new access road with its junction on Station Road just yards from the single carriageway under the Nailsea & Backwell railway bridge.

Traffic consultant James Chequer, of Peter Evans and Partnership (PEP), has been commissioned by the town council to do a technical analysis of Gleeson proposals.

He said: “There is no other proposed access to this site, emergency vehicle access is proposed through Youngwood Lane and a cycle path along the bridlepath linking with Sedgemoor Close.

“Some parts of the site are beyond recommended walking distances to the railway station and there is no connection with bus routes.”

Sharing the narrow country lane with 999 vehicles and tweaking the timing of the Backwell crossroads traffic lights had the audience in howls of laughter.

One resident commented: "The proposal to have all traffic exit and enter via a new access onto Station Road near the railway station is dangerous and impractical.

"An additional 400 to 600 plus vehicles using Station Road right before the single lane traffic light-controlled section under the railway bridge is impractical.

"Traffic will be stuck along the Backwell section of Station Road, vehicles coming out of the car park will be hindered, all of Station Road is narrow and used by many children going to and from school.

"At the top of Station Road at the junctions to Trendlewood Way and Queens Road there are also pinch points where there will be static traffic."

Former town councillor David Gray thought the traffic figures quoted in the Gleeson application were not ‘credible’.

He said: “The computer models used in the transport assessment indicate that, currently, the queues at Backwell traffic lights always clear during the rush hour.

“That’s so unlike my experience of those lights that I went to observe the queues for two morning rush hours.”

He predicted traffic queues and bottlenecks at Backwell crossroads and Station Road currently the main commuter route to Bristol out of Nailsea.

Tickenham Road Action Group chairman Bob Beale echoed his concern saying the B3130 is the main road to the M5 from Nailsea via The Causeway or through the hamlet of West End and Nailsea Wall.

He said: “No thought is given to the wider picture with this application.”

New town councillor and ecologist Sam Rogers talked about the effect on fauna and flora of the area.

For commuters and protected bat species the transport corridors are totally inadequate, the meeting heard.

A map predicted the large area nearest the railway station would be in a floodplain by 2038.

Station Close resident John Dicks said widescale flooding would turn the water meadows into large ponds and make any new access road impassable.  

He said: “Covering the hillside with houses and tarmac is only going to make matters worse.”

North Somerset Council flood risk management team backs Mr Dicks assumptions. It said: "the proposed development increases flood depths by 100mm (approximately four inches) and flood depths in Backwell Lake would also increase due to the proposals, this is likely to have an impact on the wider surface water drainage system that is connected to Backwell Lake. The LLFA (Lead Local Flood Authority) disagrees with the statement that the assessed fluvial flood risk is 'very low’."

And the Somerset Drainage Boards Consortium who are responsible for maintenance of the river Kenn which passes through the proposed site has said it objects to the proposed development because it needs more information about the surface water drainage system to assess the flood risk resulting from the development.

Goliath planning battle 
sees Nailsea v Gleeson