People are to be asked to have their say on where thousands of new housing developments should be built across Bath and North East Somerset.
The Guildhall in Bath
Bath & North East Somerset Council is trying to find space to put the more than 27,000 houses which the government has said need to be built in the area by 2043.
The council has launched a public consultation on which sites to designate for new housing in its new local plan.
The local plan is a major document lasting until 2043, which will set out the policies that all planning decisions will be based on and which will say where new developments should go.
Without a local plan in place, the council has far less power to refuse developments in unwanted areas.
The consultation is an early step in the process of setting a new local plan, and sets out the options of which sites could be allocated for development in the plan.
The council carried out a previous consultation on where to put half as many houses in spring 2024 — but that summer Labour was elected to government and doubled the council’s housing target. Now it has to run the consultation again to decide on more sites.
Speaking at a council cabinet meeting on 25th September when councillors agreed to put it their local plan options document out to consultation, the council’s cabinet member for built environment, housing, and sustainable development Matt McCabe said: “Most of these are sites put forward by developers but with four large sites being brought forwards by the council.
“All these sites now need to be tested against local knowledge and that is the local evidence from our residents and that’s what we need.”
He told the meeting: “At the very outset of this reset we made the decision that scattering 27,000 houses across Bath and North East Somerset was not an option.
“If we are to fulfill our aim to create a fairer, more prosperous and sustainable economy and maximise delivery of housing that is affordable, then we need to plan around these large sites.”
The four large sites identified by the council for development are Hicks Gate, Keynsham North, West of Bath, and Somer Valley above Midsomer Norton. The sizes of allocations of these sites ranges from potentially as little as 900 homes on the West of Bath site to possibly as many as 2,400 at the Keynsham North site, a location which would mean having to relocate the Avon Valley Country Park to an area next door.
Councillor McCabe said: “These sites are not without their challenges but the West of England’s emerging growth strategy is focusing on the A4 corridor between Bristol and Bath and on the Somer Valley.
“And that means the infrastructure investment planned for these regionally important sites can also unlock housing for our residents.”
Meanwhile other large sites in the plan put forward by developers could see around a thousand or more homes built at sites referred to as West/South West Keynsham, East Whitchurch (Horseworld and Woollard Lane), South East Whitchurch, North Radstock, and Writhlington. Smaller sites are also proposed in many of the villages around the district.
The consultation on the planned options is set to run until 14th November. All comments people submitted to the council’s first consultation on the local plan options in 2024 will still be taken into account.
In a message shared online with the consultation, council leader Kevin Guy said: “As your local council, we are not NIMBYs. We know there’s a housing affordability crisis in our area — but we also know that development has to come with the right services, infrastructure, and employment opportunities to create sustainable communities.
“We want to see the right homes in the right places and we believe growth should be focussed on strategic sites, not scattered randomly across the district.”
The council will run another consultation when it has picked the sites and written up its draft local plan in spring/summer 2026.
The plan will then need to go to the government for examination before it can be approved by the council, with the council expected to finally be able to approve the plan and bring it into effect in the summer of 2027.
You can respond to the consultation at: https://bathnesplaces.co.uk/localplan/
John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter
