Late last year, councillors agreed to formally adopt the blueprint - which includes 28,355 new homes and runs until 2027 – which will help deliver the new jobs, homes and infrastructure South Gloucestershire will need in the future.
And at the same time, vast swathes of Green Belt land will also be protected, including down the eastern side of Kingswood/A4174 ring road which had been threatened with a new ‘urban extension’ under plans set out in the previous Labour Government’s controversial ‘Regional Spatial Strategy’.
Campaigners fighting to protect the Green Belt had been concerned that one or more developers might seek to legally challenge the Core Strategy because it didn’t include their favoured development sites. But the deadline has now passed and no challenges have been lodged.
Boyd Valley Conservative Councillors Steve Reade and Ben Stokes have welcomed the news, saying:
"For those of us who have been campaigning over many years to protect villages like Pucklechurch, Shortwood and Wick from damaging urban sprawl, the passing of this deadline without a legal challenge being lodged by one or more developers is very encouraging.
We have been fighting the risk of inappropriate development along the eastern fringe of the Bristol-South Gloucestershire built-up area for several years before we got elected and we will continue to fight to safeguard the local community.”
Thornbury area councillor, Matthew Riddle (Con, Severn), who has campaigned to protect the Green Belt villages in the Severn Vale added:
“It's important that we can provide the new homes and jobs that our residents need, but in a way that doesn't concrete over our precious local Green Belt countryside, which needs to be preserved for future generations.
Some small scale development is necessary to keep some villages viable and sustainable, but this can be done by working with local people and without swamping them."
The strategy also includes the creation of 3 new Enterprise Areas focused on Filton, Severnside and Emersons Green, which will deliver thousands of new jobs.