Nailsea Town Council encourages residents to look at the Local Plan

North Somerset Council will be coming to Nailsea Tithe Barn on the 1st of April to discuss the Local Plan. Nailsea Town Council is raising awareness to ensure that its residents understand the implications of the local plan and the long-term effect this may have on the town.

The local plan looks at where development will be placed across the county based on housing targets given by central government. North Somerset Council has been allocated 20,085 dwellings over the plan period, of which the preferred options states they would aim to meet a target of 18,036. The plan sets out where development can and cannot take place and gives North Somerset Council control to avoid unplanned development which would be detrimental to the area.

At a glance, the local plan addresses the following:

– The decline of Nailsea and other town centres across North Somerset.

– Supporting walking, cycling and improvements to public transport.

– Creating attractive environments and supporting biodiversity.

– Making sure new developments are served by infrastructure.

– Appropriate tree planting/woodland creation is to be made to offset new developments.

– Supports the building of annexes to house family members.

Nailsea Town Council would like to see their residents give as much feedback as possible to North Somerset to minimise the risk of inappropriate development within the town and want to encourage residents to read through and comment on the local plan.

Nailsea will be allocated 1781 dwellings of which up to 20% will have four or more bedrooms.

The policy for Nailsea and Backwell affecting the immediate local area can be found on pages 24/25 of the document. These cover:

– The reduction of traffic to Station Road.

– Improvements to active travel routes.

– Improvements to public transport.

– Access improvements and possible future expansion and/or relocation of the train station.

– Improvements to sustainable travel opportunities.

– An extension of Festival Way to serve Backwell.

– Exploring the opportunity for North Somerset Nature Park.

– The provision of land for new employment for the area.

– The provision of new primary and secondary schools and special needs placement.

– An enhanced leisure provision.

– A proposed extension to the Green belt to the south of Nailsea.

The local plan can be found on the North Somerset Council website and the closing date for comments is 5pm on Friday 29 April.

There is also a drop in session with North Somerset Council at Nailsea Tithe Barn on the 1st April from 3pm – 7pm.