House builder Crest Nicholson has been granted planning permission to build a total of 327 new homes, along with a primary school and a nursery, on steeply sloping agricultural land immediately east of Great Stoke Way and the new Stoke Gifford Transport Link (SGTL).

The 22-hectare development, which lies north of the main railway line that runs through Bristol Parkway, will form part of the East of Harry Stoke New Neighbourhood, an area earmarked for 2,000 new homes in South Gloucestershire Council’s Core Strategy.

Full permission was granted for 150 of the homes and a site-wide earthworks strategy, with outline permission for the remaining 177 homes, the primary school and the nursery.

The approval comes follows the granting of outline planning permission, in November 2018, for 1,290 new homes on Crest’s related site to the south of the railway.

A number of smaller sites in other ownerships are expected to contribute the remainder of the new neighbourhood’s overall housing quota.

Access to the ‘Crest north’ site will be from a new arm off Parkway North Roundabout in the west, and via a new junction on Old Gloucester Road, 90m south of its junction with Winterbourne Road in the east. A pinch point will be introduced on the main spine road through the development to discourage through traffic.

Extensive earthworks are required to create a level plateau to enable development. These earthworks comprise levelling the site at its highest point and infilling areas on the lower slopes, with no intention to take material off site. This will involve the excavation and relocation of 250,000sqm of material, resulting in embankments with gradients as steep as 1:2 around the perimeter of the site.

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Local councillors concerned about the impact of a two-year programme of work to replace the railway bridge on Gipsy Patch Lane have called for a residents’ liaison group to be set up as soon as January 2019, despite Network Rail having yet to appoint a contractor for the project.

A packed public meeting held in Little Stoke Community Hall on 19th November, attended by around 100 local residents, heard two officers from South Gloucestershire Council present an overview of the planned work, which they said would require an anticipated eight-month full closure of the road in the vicinity the bridge during 2020.

Wider works east and west of the bridge, to create new bus lanes for the Cribbs Patchway MetroBus Extension scheme (CPME), will require road closures in one direction only, or the use temporary traffic lights.

To minimise disruption, a site compound will be created on a parcel of land within the Horizon 38 development (former Rolls-Royce East Works site).

The replacement bridge will be pre-cast here and manoeuvred into position during a 12-day closure of the railway currently planned for Easter 2020. The bridge replacement and directly associated highway work is being undertaken by Network Rail (NR). The procurement process for a contractor is ongoing by Network Rail, with a contractor expected to be confirmed in early 2019. The other (highway) works, away from the bridge, will be done in-house by SGC’s Streetcare division, with possible sub-contracting of small elements.

Officers stated that while there is likely to be traffic disruption during 2019, the greatest disruption for road users is likely to be in 2020 and 2021. Vehicle diversion routes will be planned in advance and well signed and advertised. This will include “diverting as much through traffic as possible away from the area”.

It is anticipated that a shuttle bus will be provided to mitigate the impact on non-motorised users and it was stated that the possibility of providing a pedestrian and cycle link via the railway bridge linking Little Stoke Park with the Rolls-Royce site is being investigated.

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An incident in early November in which the roof of a double decker bus was sheared off as it passed under the Hatchet Road railway bridge near Parkway Station has brought renewed calls for a pedestrian subway to be created alongside the bridge.

The bus involved in the collision is understood to have been hired by GWR to transport passengers between Parkway and Temple Meads during a planned three-week railway closure.

There were no passengers on board the bus at the time, and the driver was reported to be “unhurt but shocked”. Fortunately, there were also no pedestrians passing along the narrow footways under the bridge; if there had been, the outcome might have been much more serious (see Cllr Brian Allinson’s column on page 20 of our December magazine).

In 2013, South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) agreed to commission Network Rail to investigate options for improving pedestrian safety at the bridge, since which time there have been no further announcements.

In response to an enquiry from the Journal, an SGC spokesperson said:

“We recognise the need to improve the environment for pedestrians and cyclists at Bristol Parkway’s western access and therefore a subway for pedestrians and cyclists through the embankment to the east of the railway bridge is a strongly held aspiration.”

“The work agreed by a council committee in September 2013 has been undertaken by Network Rail. This has involved the completion of feasibility and outline designs for a subway, and we also subsequently provided additional funding for ground investigations to be carried out on and near the railway embankment to help provide more certainty for future stages of work.”

“The work undertaken has shown us that the construction of the subway would be a very complex scheme due to the close proximity of the railway above. We are considering a number of potential funding mechanisms for the subway delivery and as this is ongoing we are not yet able to comment on possible delivery timescales.”

Related link:

• Report to the PTSE Major Schemes Sub-Committee (2013) [PDF]

This article originally appeared in the December 2018 issue of the Stoke Gifford Journal news magazine (on page 3). The magazine is delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to over 5,000 homes in Stoke Gifford, Little Stoke and Harry Stoke. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.

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House builder Crest Nicholson has been granted outline planning permission to build nearly 1,300 new homes on farm land between Stoke Gifford and the M32. The decision, which follows seven years of preparation and negotiation, was reached by South Gloucestershire Council’s (SGC’s) Development Control (West) Committee on Thursday 4th October, following a site inspection on 21st September.

The land to which the planning permission relates forms part of the East of Harry Stoke (EoHS) New Neighbourhood, specifically the area in Crest’s ownership or influence (shown with a red outline in the plan, right) south of the railway line.

The development will be accessed from two new junctions on the recently opened Stoke Gifford Transport Link (a.k.a. Stoke Gifford By-Pass). One will be a signalised junction approximately 130m north of the existing Oxleigh Way junction. The second will be a signalised crossroads a short distance south of the existing Hambrook Lane crossroads. There will also be access from Old Gloucester Road, at a point 80m north of the bridge over the M32.

The Hambrook Lane junction with the SGTL will be modified to be ‘left-in and left-out only’ on the west side. There will be no access for motor vehicles to or from the east side.

Andrew Dobson from Crest Nicholson commented:

“We are pleased that councillors supported our application to deliver 1,290 new homes in South Gloucestershire, helping the council to meet its five-year housing land supply on a site allocated for residential development.”

“This development will also deliver numerous benefits to the local community including providing opportunities for local shops, a community building as well as landscaping and open spaces for play areas and allotments.”

“The committee’s decision follows an extensive process of public consultation prior to the submission of the application and post-submission engagement with planning officers and statutory consultees.”

“We will continue to work closely with the local community on these proposals.”

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