Approval given for 213 homes following 4-year row
A SCHEME for more than 200 new homes in North East Somerset has been approved following a four-year planning row.
Developers Mctaggart and Mickel applied for outline planning permission off Bath Road in Keynsham in April 2018.
They wanted to build “approximately 200 dwellings” and “a replacement sports pitch” to allow for the expansion of Two Rivers Primary School. Access routes, cycleways and other upgrades to infrastructure were also proposed.
But there was a fierce local backlash to the scheme, called Withies Green, which is the second stage of the developer’s masterplan.
The first part – for 250 homes and the primary school – was approved in October 2017.
Before that, the land had been undeveloped, but in 2017 it was removed from the green belt.
This led Mctaggart and Mickel to argue that its masterplan was the “only realistic option” to meet the area’s housing needs.
But while the first part was approved by Bath and North East Somerset Council, permission for the second stage was refused in December 2018 following more than 330 objections.
The council said the application “failed to demonstrate that the required education infrastructure [could] be delivered in a timely fashion” and added that “the application site is safeguarded land and is not allocated for development at the current time”. It added that the current road network would not be able to accommodate the increase in traffic.
Mctaggart and Mickel appealed to the Planning Inspectorate in July 2019, requesting an appeal by inquiry.
However, eventually, that appeal was withdrawn and a new planning application was submitted.
This proposal was put forward in July 2020 and came after a three-month consultation with locals on what they wanted from the new development.
Now it will include a community hub, expanded sports pitches, wetlands and orchards, electric vehicle charging points, green roofs, bird and bat boxes, community gardens and allotments.
Outline planning permission for 213 new homes and an expanded sports pitch was granted by B&NES’ planning committee earlier this month as it would offer a significant contribution towards maintaining a five-year land supply in the district and the provision of 30 per cent affordable housing.