Keep your hands off Long Ashton
VILLAGERS have issued a hands-off warning to property developers besieging their community.
The Hands Off Long Ashton (Hola) campaign has been launched to protect the green belt around the village.
Group spokesman Bill Roberts said: "Hola is an evolution of the Long Ashton group opposing the South Bristol Ring Road, and is the voice of the community wanting to retain the green belt and preserve our identity as a village separate from Bristol and surrounding villages."
The group believes the village faces a number of threats from developers eyeing up numerous parcels of land on all sides of the village.
The newly-formed group has arranged a protest meeting in Bristol on Saturday and also a meeting for more people to join on Tuesday, March 17, at Long Ashton Village Hall, at 7.30pm.
It has also launched a website, www.handsofflongashton.org.uk.
The biggest threat it sees is from plans for up to 10,000 homes proposed to be built at Ashton Vale.
But it also has concerns about the expansion of Bristol International Airport, Bristol City's proposed new stadium on the outskirts of the village and the outside possibility of 500 homes being built between Failand and Long Ashton.
Landtrust Development announced with great fanfare last week its proposals for development at Ashton Vale, a move described by North Somerset Council as premature, as the Regional Spatial Strategy has yet to be finalised.
The South West Regional Development Agency has also this week said it is at risk of being 'Bradley Stoke Mark Two'.
Landtrust's agent Baker Associates is currently exhibiting the plans at the Architecture Centre, Narrow Quay, Bristol.
And this is where Hola will be protesting on Saturday, from 1.30pm.
It will be joined by other groups opposed to development.
Landtrust's outline proposals can be viewed on its website www.ashton-park.co.uk.
Landtrust is a subsidiary of London merchant bank Close Brothers.
According to Companies House records, it was incorporated as Close Spare in March 2007 and changed its name only last June.
The Mercury revealed last year that Close Brothers had bought the freehold land occupied by Woodspring Golf Club, where the majority of development is planned, for more than £35 million.
According to Land Registry documents its lender is the troubled bank HBOS.
It also has options on farmland in the Ashton Vale area should development ever be given the go-ahead.
Its proposals include 10,000 homes, employment for 7,000 people and six new schools.
But according to diagrams on its website only a small portion of the land, little bigger than that allocated to a primary school, is being given over to employment uses, with the vast majority reserved for housing.
4 Comments
by Sandra Green, Bristol
Sunday, March 08 2009, 7:57PM
“Oh Mendip Man, how twee you are. I twalk and then use the train to get to work, only occasionally travelling by car. We don't need a bigger airport, or another stadium in Bristol. What we need are jobs, affordable housing and decent transport, all could be achieved without encroaching on green belt land. I imagine you are surrounded by green belt out their in them Mendips, pot and kettle spring to mind.....”
by MendipMan, Wurzel Country
Saturday, March 07 2009, 9:52PM
“Bristol needs a bigger airport and the city needs a proper football stadium.
Long Ashton residents may think they are not part of Bristol, which municipally they aren't, but for all practical purposes they are.
I bet a lot of them work in Bristol, shop in Bristol, visit the city for leisure and for hospital purposes.
They cannot expect to live in isolation in a large village when the whole city region is in need of expansion. It's nimbyism at its most typical.”
by Ashton Vale Heritage Group, Ashton Vale, Bristol
Friday, March 06 2009, 10:19PM
“Its was not long ago that Gordon Brown pledged that the Green Belt was safe in his hands. So why then is this government dictating to local councils where they provide new housing. This constant interference in local government policy undermines local councils and their ability to manage their own affairs. Long Ashton is being crippled by the current developments in this once beautiful village. With a total lack of resources to cope with the additional housing stock. Ashton Vale, a small residential community on the edge of Bristol is about to be swamped with further development, including a £42 million pound transport mistake and a monstrous planning application for a new 40,000 seat stadium. These plans destroy the last bit of green belt in South west Bristol. Handing protected Green Belt Land on a plate to developers. With a natural green corridor and site of Nature Conservation interest this area is a haven for protected wildlife. The proposed developments will be located in an area which is prone to serious flooding. When will they ever learn. We must all join together to protect our green space and say NO to this ill thought out development.”
by Meeki, Nottingham
Thursday, March 05 2009, 12:59PM
“Nottingham residents are fighting the same greenbelt issues as you.
If the land has been used by locals for 20 years without force, sleath or permission for sport or leisure activities then submit a village green application.
Details can be found on the Open Spaces Society's website.”