We need more time to study housing plans

Campaigners are calling for the consultation period over plans for major housing development to be extended after a delay in the sending out of documents to local councils.

Hard copies of the proposed changes to the draft Regional Spatial Strategy – which will lead to thousands of new homes being built in the Bristol area – should have been sent to local authorities.

But Chris Skidmore, the prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate for Kingswood, said South Gloucestershire Council had not received its copies, nearly two weeks after the consultation officially started.

Mr Skidmore said anyone wanting to read the document had to scroll through online versions of 10 volumes of information in what he said was a time consuming process.

He said: "The way the documents have been posted online means it's incredibly hard for local residents to see what the changes mean for them and their neighbourhood."

He added: " It's only right that ministers extend the consultation period beyond the October 17 date to make up for all this lost time."

The consultation is over proposals that will see 11,000 more homes than expected being built in the West over the next 18 years.

Instead of the 106,350 new homes the four councils in the former county of Avon had expected to find room for by 2026, ministers now want them to find space for 117,350 houses.

The updated figures include 38,500 homes for Bristol, 32,800 for South Gloucestershire and 19,300 for Bath and North East Somerset. The housing figure for North Somerset will remain at 26,750.

Last month South Gloucestershire councillors put aside their political differences to back a No Way to 33K campaign against the proposals affecting their area.

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