Proposals to build on common upset

There’s strong feeling the development would further erode the green belt

- TRISTAN CORK

A overview of Hicks Common, Winterbourne, where developers plan to build homes

(Waddeton Park Ltd)

PEOPLE living in a village north of Bristol are organising themselves to try to stop a developer building on what they say is the last area of green open space in their community.

Hundreds of people are expected to turn out to a parish council meeting on Monday, to call for formal opposition to the plan to build on a greenbelt site in South Gloucestershire.

Developers Waddeton Park Ltd say that, while the land at Hicks Common is green belt, it meets the Government definition of something they describe as 'grey belt' and their plan to build 124 new homes alongside a new community allotment and community orchard should be given the go-ahead.

But residents in the village of Winterbourne say the land at Hicks Common is precious to them, and they are gearing up to try to stop Waddeton Park’s plans before they are approved by council planners.

A 'Save Hicks Common' campaign has been launched, with posters in windows across Winterbourne and more than 600 people joining a Facebook group in just a matter of days.

The land in question may well have been a common once, but it’s now small fields and used by a livery yard business.

But local residents say it’s an important asset to the village, with people walking the fields and hedgerows and enjoying views from the village duckpond across the common down to the 11-arched Huckford Viaduct and the Cotswolds scarp beyond.

Waddeton Park have published their plans on a website promoting the idea. They say that of the land they could build on they only want to put 124 new homes there - which would cover just 32 per cent of the total area.

The other 68 per cent would be left to become a 'biodiverse meadow grassland/common,’ a 'recreational green space and play space’ or become community allotments and community orchards.