A planning application is being prepared for a commercial development on the A4 Bath Road east of Keynsham which would generate an estimated 1,802 vehicle movements a day.
The 3.7-acre plot – known as Parcel 1991 – is next to the petrol station on one side and a horticultural nursery on the other. It stretches from the A4 back to World’s End Lane.
The site is owned by Places for People Strategic Land and is currently grassland grazed by horses, but it is allocated for employment uses in the Bath and North East Somerset Core Strategy and is not in the Green Belt.
The proposals will be for 5,500sq m floorspace of “flexible use commercial development” with access from Bath Road, but prior to any planning application being lodged, the council is being asked by Rapleys, who are the landowners’ agents, to decide whether the planned development meets the threshold for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to be carried out.
The purpose of an EIA is to ensure that the environmental effects of a proposed development are properly considered.
Rapleys say that an outline planning application is being prepared, with all matters except access reserved for future determination. The proposals will include cycle links to World’s End Lane to support active travel. Hedgerows on three sides of the site would be retained and the agents say that the development would not have any significant environmental impacts on biodiversity. Ecological investigations relating to the site have been taking place and air quality and noise assessments will be part of the application.
They add that the new vehicle movements “are not considered to be significant in the context of the site and the local area and would not give rise to significant impacts on the local or sub-regional highway network”.
Crest Nicholson’s Hygge Park – 250 homes and a primary school – is being built 500 metres to the west of Parcel 1991. Rapleys’ report says there may be some overlap of construction periods, but it would not cause any significant cumulative environmental effects.
The reference to search for on B&NES Council’s website to find out more is 20/01973/SCREEN.
As we reported in Issue 629 last month, developers M + M Homes Ltd have launched a public consultation about their plans to build up to 200 homes and community facilities on a 25-acre site next to Hygge Park.
Known as Withies Green, the land has been removed from the Green Belt and is safeguarded for future residential development in the B&NES Core Strategy.
The draft proposals can be seen at www.withiesgreendevelopment.co.uk until Friday 19th June. People are invited to give their feedback before a planning application is submitted to B&NES Council by M + M Homes later this year.
