Hicks Common MP 'concerned' at housing proposals

Residents have been battling plans to build homes on Hicks Common in Winterbourne, South Gloucestershire

- Tristan CORK

A LOCAL MP has said she is 'concerned' about a controversial housing development on land near Bristol - but developers say it fits the Labour Government's criteria of building on 'grey belt' sites.

Claire Hazelgrove, pictured inset, the Labour MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke, said she had been contacted by many local residents in the village of Winterbourne in South Gloucestershire, where developers want to build 124 new homes on ancient common land called Hicks Common.

The developers say they should get planning permission because, even though the land at Hicks Common is still in the green belt, they claim it fits the Labour Government's new description of 'grey belt' land - land which is in the green belt but isn't valuable green land.

The land Waddeton Park want to develop on the eastern edge of Winterbourne is paddocks and fields for a livery yard, but locals say it is a beautiful spot to walk, with views to the River Frome vale and a picturesque railway viaduct.