Development on the Field East of Inglestone Road, next to the school
This site is set up to fight Crest Nicholson’s (CN) proposed building of 150 houses on the field adjacent to Inglestone Road/ Alexander Hosea school. Crest Nicholson have sent flyers around to ‘affected households’, inviting feedback to their initial overview (AKA ‘screening opinion’). This feedback runs until the 22nd January, so please don’t hesitate to complete it. You can find the link and some ideas of how to object on the Quick Links page. It is vitally important that we submit feedback clearly stating we oppose this, and why.
Subsequent to this, they will apply for planning permission, which is when we can object officially via South Gloucestershire Council’s portal (or in writing)
You can view CN’s initial proposal here. This is not their housing plan, just a statement of intent, showing broadly what they intend to do. The covering letter is here
Please note- Crest Nicholson have not bought the land, this is not a done deal. According to the Land Registry, they have registered their interest in a ‘Charge’ and have first refusal on it.
We will be updating to this website regularly and have set up a Facebook group where we can have a discussion.
These are the high level reasons why we feel strongly about opposing this proposed development:
- Traffic
- Lack of viable public transport means 150 houses at average 2 cars each will be driving out up Inglestone and queuing to get onto Sodbury/Wickwar Rd. The road is already much busier with Bellway estate now mostly full and the extra traffic coming from Yate/CS and all the extra houses they have. The Linden estate is currently being built and will add another 80 houses worth of traffic.
- Additionally, Yate rail station is 5.6 miles away, needing to go through a very busy Yate/ Station Road or a very busy B4059 and/or Engine Common Industrial Estate. Huge increase in commuting by car.
- During the school run, this problem will be heavily exacerbated- both incoming to Wickwar, and outgoing to other schools (eg. KLB)
- Any building work will take years of heavy vehicles going up and down all day long.
- There are zero places to safely cross the High Street, and there are no plans to add a crossing
- The Buthay Pub traffic lights are already a bottleneck as it is, and the road pinches to a single car space at the turning to Buthay Lane (due to resident’s cars parked reasonably in front of their own houses)
- Lack of amenities
- There is simply no local amenities right now to support the current population as it is- shops, Doctors, pre-school, ATMs, cycle path, the list goes on- any of these need to be driven to, outside of Wickwar
- No employers in town, and Wickwar Brewery closed in December 2020, leading to even less employment.
- Overdevelopment
- Wickwar had ~550 houses before Belway (80 houses) and Linden (90 houses) were planned/built. So, we will definitely increase in size by ~31% with the house builders providing nothing to local facilities or infrastructure (outside of a small playground). If Crest Nicholson get their 150 houses, we’ll have increased by a staggering ~58%. Wickwar has already done it’s fair share for the current housing crisis
- Belway and Linden at least disperse their cars directly onto Wickwar Road, Crest Nicholson’s plan will not have the same benefit.
- Wickwar is losing it’s village feel- many people chose to live in a village for that very reason
- Noise Pollution
- Not to be underestimated, the affect on the houses neighbouring the access road and the site itself will be affected heavily by this
- Alexander Hosea School itself will be impacted by the building works. It’s a village school with a rural outlook that will end up surrounded by houses, curtailing any outside nature work they currently do.
- 100 houses generates 4 pupils per year for a school. So, this means 6 pupils extra per year, which is 42 extra pupils over all the yeats. Can AHS cope with this?
There are more ideas on the Quick Links page, please do be creative and add your own in your objection.
If you would like to contact us, please email: wickwardev@wickwardevelopment.com
Thankyou
Wickwar Residents Action Group