Another 300 new homes could be built on the edge of Bath after a neighbouring scheme was approved “with utmost reluctance”.
The consultation is for the third and fourth phases (marked in red) for Sulis Down | Image © Hignett Family Trust
Residents are being asked for their feedback as the Hignett Family Trust draws up plans for the third and fourth phases of its Sulis Down development in Odd Down.
The proposals include up to 120 affordable homes and associated infrastructure with a new access road through the grounds of Sulis Manor linking to the spine road approved in phase one, where 171 homes are being built.
That scheme was reluctantly approved in 2018 after planning chiefs criticised the “piecemeal” approach and lack of a comprehensive master plan for the wider site, which has space for 450 homes.
The Hignett Family Trust anticipates submitting a planning application this spring.
A planned primary school has been removed because there is capacity at St Martin’s Garden Primary School, the website says.
The first phase of the development is to the east of Sulis Manor and the third and fourth to the west.
The 1930s manor house and its grounds are the second phase of the Sulis Down development but “will be brought forward in due course” by “others”.
Group West Ltd’s controversial plans to demolish the building were withdrawn in 2017 after council planners said there was insufficient information about how the site will be restored and it would destroy bat roosts.
No other proposals have yet come forward for the building, a “centre for the promotion of English studies” that in 2019 charged international students €7,630 for four months learning the language.
The whole site sits within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Bath’s World Heritage Site.
It is next to the Odd Down park and ride, where Bath and North East Somerset Council expects to build a reuse and recycling centre to replace Bath’s dilapidated facility at Midland Road.
An online consultation on the housing proposals will run until Friday 25th February, with the option to respond for free by post.
Visit this website for more information.
Stephen Sumner, Local Democracy Reporter
