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SEG Home > News List > 2024 News Archive
2024 News ArchiveThe latest stories are on our home page. As this is an archive some older links may no longer connect due to changes in web page URL addresses etc.
Important work for SEG in 2024 has been the defence of Saltford's Green Belt from development in the next B&NES Local Plan (2022-2042) - in particular the west and south of Saltford pictured here. Click on each story link or scroll down the page (most recent appears first):-January 2024Public statement from SEG on the Local Plan options totalling 1,300 houses in Saltford's Green Belt Shock at 1,300 houses on Saltford's Green Belt in Local Plan "options" Local Plan: SPC reaffirms its Saltford South landscape designation bid Big Garden Birdwatch 26 - 28 Jan News stories start here (most recent appears first):-Public statement from SEG on the Local Plan options totalling 1,300 houses in Saltford's Green BeltJanuary 2024
The following is a public statement by SEG responding to the inappropriate Local Plan options to build on Saltford's Green Belt. It is from the speech given by our Chair, Phil Harding, at the packed public meeting held in Saltford Hall on the evening of Friday 26th January. Most of us want the same from the new Local Plan: protection of green open spaces, protection of agricultural land and protection of natural habitats to assist recovery from the ecological emergency, and new affordable homes in the right places. The task of defending Saltford's Green Belt from the new Local Plan process seems daunting. However, in 2013 our community stopped Crest Nicholson's appeal to get planning permission to build 99 homes on our Green Belt south of Manor Road. In the run up to the 4-day appeal inquiry in August 2013, several people in the village told me we would never win, some said "why bother?". Well, we knew our case was right, and we won. The Secretary of State called in the Inquiry decision and in March 2014 dismissed the appeal by Crest Nicholson. I fully agree with the Secretary of State's reasoning for dismissing the appeal, he gave the same reasons SEG had submitted and represented as evidence to the Inquiry. The Secretary of State in reaching his decision said this would be "an unacceptable reduction of the Green Belt in that area" and gave national planning policy reasons for his decision. These included harm to the Green Belt's openness, and its purpose of preventing encroachment into the countryside for which he said the proposed development would represent considerable harm. There are no new exceptional circumstances to suggest the situation has changed. Usefully, legislative help in our favour has recently arrived on the scene. The Government's new Environmental Protection Policy Statement came into effect last November under the Environment Act 2021. It explicitly strengthens the policy case for protecting the natural environment from the effects of human activity and supports the maintenance, restoration or enhancement of the natural environment. This secondary legislation specifically covers "national policy statements, strategies and frameworks". Thus, it covers the National Planning Policy Framework, known as the NPPF, from which Local Planning Authorities like BANES are required to produce Local Plans. So, each new or revised Local Plan has to comply with the new Environmental Protection Policy Statement. Our Ward Councillors, the Parish Council and SEG are collectively determined to protect the Green Belt. I hope and I am sure most of Saltford's residents feel the same. If we as a community don't make a strong case to stop inappropriate development, piece by piece Saltford will become a town, lose its rural village status and will be consumed within a continuous urban sprawl from Bristol. The green open landscape of our precious Green Belt will be lost forever, and wildlife will lose important habitat that cannot be replaced in a short or medium timescale. Saltford South provides support for endangered wild bird species. That is 20 red-listed species including Merlin, Mistle Thrush, Redpoll, Skylark, Spotted Flycatcher, and Woodcock, and 26 amber-listed species including Kestrel, Reed Bunting, Sedge Warbler, Snipe, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Tawny Owl, Whitethroat, and Willow Warbler, as well as other spectacular bird species that may also become endangered if habitats continue to be lost. It is not Saltford's turn or duty to take even more houses. Saltford's population has grown by a significant 36% since 1961, and a massive 114% since 1951. The point where enough is enough has been met. There are other reasons why our Green Belt should be protected. Here are just three key reasons:- Firstly, 81% of BANES is farmland compared to a UK figure of 71%. So, BANES does and can make a useful contribution to the nation's food production at a time when the UK depends on importing a massive 40% of its net food requirements. We cannot rely on other countries to make such a high contribution to our food needs in the future against a background of a growing world population and climate change. To destroy our countryside is irresponsible. How will the generations that follow us be fed securely and affordably if the countryside is constantly depleted? Don't blight the land that feeds you. Secondly, Traffic congestion results in economic loss and lowers the quality of life for residents. The cumulative effect of new housing in Keynsham and South Gloucestershire etc. is already causing serious traffic congestion during morning and early evening peak times not just in Keynsham, but through Saltford. Our local roads can't take new housing developments. Thirdly, Building on open countryside in the Green Belt reduces the quality of life for rural and city dwellers alike. The countryside is important for our mental and physical well-being. We want to protect the Green Belt not just for ourselves and for wildlife, but for those who live in local towns and cities and appreciate being able to get out of town and into open countryside relatively quickly. To build new housing developments on Saltford's Green Belt would not be sustainable development by any stretch of the imagination and would be contrary to any rational interpretation of Government planning and environmental policies. After the Local Plan consultation is launched by BANES on 12th February, SEG aims to provide guidance to Saltford's residents on how to submit effective responses. So, keep a watch on SEG's website and if you are on Facebook, follow SEG's page there where we have over 1,000 followers and will post high profile news items on the consultation. SEG's Green Belt Campaign Team is ready to spring into action as necessary. Local landscapes belong to local communities - they are an intrinsic part of our heritage and the reason why we live where we do. To give longer term protection of our Green Belt, the Parish Council's formal request for a landscape designation for Saltford South in the draft Local Plan is important and strongly supported by SEG. To succeed, that request will need the support of residents too. Shock at 1,300 houses on Saltford's Green Belt in Local Plan "options"January 2024
The new BANES Local Plan for the area will include a new strategy and policies to guide and manage growth, development and change in the city, towns and villages over the next 18 years, i.e. for the period 2022-2042. On 1st February at a "Special Meeting", the BANES Cabinet will be asked to approve the public consultation in February/March for land parcel options for development. The papers for that meeting were published on 24th January and the consultation is planned to run from c.12th February. As can be seen from the maps above, two large areas of Saltford's Green Belt have been identified and proposed for consideration:-
Each option includes a new school. The Cabinet Meeting papers can be found on the BANES website from this link >> Public meeting in Saltford To provide more information about this important issue, there will be a public meeting in Saltford Hall on Friday 26th January at 7pm. This information sharing event has been organised by our Ward Councillors and will be independently chaired. Speakers will be: Cllr Jon Godfrey (Chair, Saltford Parish Council)
You are encouraged to attend the meeting - bring your neighbour too - to show your support to SEG and others in resisting the inappropriate development of Saltford's Green Belt. Unsurprisingly, SEG is strongly opposed to development of either of the two Saltford options. There are very good planning, environmental, transport, and other reasons to show they are totally inappropriate and would be highly damaging, not just for Saltford, but also the wider area. Our Ward Councillors, Cllr Duncan Hounsell and Cllr Alison Streatfield-James, have issued a joint statement about the proposals:- "We are opposed to the large-scale housing options proposed at Saltford. We will fulfil our election promise to work to protect the Green Belt at Saltford. These options are ones suggested by the planning department about where housing could go not should go. There are many planning reasons why the options at Saltford should not be used to meet the wider area's future housing needs. Saltford is a large rural village. These options would change the essential character of Saltford." WHAT NEXT?
To assist residents in making effective responses to the 12th February - 25th March 6-week consultation, SEG will provide advice and guidance on our website. The Secretary of State's reasons in 2014 for opposing 99 new houses on Saltford's Green Belt south of Manor Road apply equally, if not more so, today as they did ten years ago. So, watch this website & follow SEG on Facebook! Don't let this be the end of Saltford as a rural Somerset village. FURTHER INFORMATION Landscape Designation Request for Saltford South Local Plan BANES Local Plan timetable Local Plan: SPC reaffirms its Saltford South landscape designation bidJanuary 2024
At its monthly meeting on the evening of 9th January, Saltford Parish Council unanimously voted to submit a detailed paper to B&NES Council 'Landscape Designation for Saltford South: Reaffirmation of application with outcome options' and to share the paper in the public domain for wider awareness. The SPC announcement can be found on its website from this link >> The paper, prepared by SPC's Local Plan Working Group, asks B&NES Council to provide information that would enable SPC to understand why the Council allegedly does not accept the AGLV (Area of Great Landscape Value) landscape designation bid submitted by SPC in January 2023 and asks "to be provided with appropriate minutes of Council meetings to elucidate the process by which that decision was made as well as the ciriteria used to underpin that decision." The paper also states that "to fail to provide a landscape designation to Saltford South would be a contravention by the Local Planning Authority (i.e. B&NES Council) of the spirit and intent of national planning policies and the over-arching legislation (EA 2021 and the EPPS 2023)." The reaffirmation paper provides both an update on a new legal duty under the Environment Act 2021 and other policies that have emerged since the original bid in January 2023, and provides outcome options for the Saltford South landscape resolved by SPC at its 9th January 2024 meeting. It also provides the planning context, that has already been assessed by the Secretary of State, and compliance. SPC has provided B&NES Council with three options that would be acceptable to the Parish Council and these are detailed in the paper that can be downloaded here as a pdf:- To read the original case submitted by SPC a year ago in January 2023 and that is attached to the reaffirmation paper approved on 9th January 2024, click on the links below (pdf files open in new window) :- COPYRIGHT NOTE - Permission to reproduce or publish photographs in the case paper and/or its annex including requests for high resolution versions should be sought directly from Phil Harding via email (see SEG's Home page for email contact details). SEG fully supports this robust approach taken by SPC and the reaffirmation case made for securing Saltford's valuable landscape for nature and for existing and future generations. As SEG has said previously, local landscapes belong to local communities - they are an intrinsic part of our heritage and the reason why we live where we do. Local Planning Authorities have a duty to respond positively to the wishes of communities that value their local green spaces, especially at a time of heightened concerns about the ecological and climate emergencies. WHAT NEXT? The Local Plan 2022-2042 Options document is due to be considered by the B&NES Council Cabinet on 1st February for approval for public consultation during February/March. The options are likely to become known from 24th January when the papers for the 1st February Cabinet meeting are published online by B&NES Council. Saltford's Ward Councillors are to hold a public meeting 26th January, 7pm at Saltford Hall. SEG will keep members updated via our website, facebook page, and ad-hoc newsletters. SEG will provide information on how to respond to the public consultation so that we can make sure Saltford's voice is heard and our Green Belt protected. FURTHER INFORMATION The new Local Plan for the area will include a new strategy and policies to guide and manage growth, development and change in the city, towns and villages over the next 18 years, i.e. for the period 2022-2042. The main B&NES web page about the draft Local Plan is at this link >> The B&NES Local Plan timetable (subject to adjustment when/if slippage occurs) is at this link >> Big Garden Birdwatch 26 - 28 JanJanuary 2024
Big Garden Birdwatch is for everyone, whether you're a complete beginner or a birding expert. Simply count the birds you see in your garden, from your balcony or in your local park for one hour between 26 and 28 January 2023.
Taking part is easy and this is a great chance to sit back, relax and watch birds and other wildlife for an hour - and to encourage younger members of your family to develop an interest in the local wildlife. By taking part, you'll find out all about the fascinating wildlife that flutters, crawls and hops in your garden, balcony or local area. And with a simple hour of mindful watching, you could have an hour to yourself, too. Full details including resources and ideas with tips on making your garden an attractive place for birds to visit can be found on the RSPB website from this link:- RSPB Birdwatch. You can also find more information on social media using the hashtag #BigGardenBirdWatch. Don't forget that taking a wildlife-friendly gardening approach, including the provision of water, rather than putting out copious amounts of bird food, is much more beneficial to birds and other wildlife as it helps to re-introduce the natural features that are much reduced due to habitat loss and intensive farming methods. It can be a more helpful approach than disrupting or unbalancing different bird populations through heavy food provision that favours some species over others. Growing native species of plants in your garden, mowing your lawn less, and not removing dead leaves etc. from your flower beds in the autumn and winter that provide winter habitat and a food source for insects, can help sustain a healthier local birdlife.
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