The Bradley Stoke Journal

Construction of a new Multiple Sclerosis Therapy centre on land off Bradley Stoke Way could start before the end of the month according to a planning document published by SouthGloucestershire Council (SGC).

Planning officials recommended that the project be given the go-ahead earlier this month and their decision has now been confirmed after Council members chose not to “call in” the application before the deadline of 17th September.

A letter published on the SGC website reveals that the applicant, the Moonstone Appeal, wants to commence development of the site “before the end of October”, in order to secure grant aid funding.

Planners have insisted that construction traffic access the site from Bradley Stoke Way rather than Wheatfield Drive. This restriction is said to be “to minimise disturbance to occupiers of nearby dwellings” and follows concerns expressed by local residents during the consultation phase.

Permanent access to the site will also be from Bradley Stoke Way, and will be “left turn only”. The Council has imposed a condition that the applicant enter a Section 106 agreement to pay for the necessary highway works.

Information on the Moonstone Appeal’s website says the charity needs to raise £1.282m to fund the new centre, which will be built in two phases. The first phase will provide for the treatment of 450 people p.a. by 2011, rising to 600 people p.a. once the second phase is completed by 2015.

Officials at South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) have recommended that plans for the construction of a new Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre on land off Bradley Stoke Way be given the green light.

The Moonstone Appeal wants to build the centre as a replacement for the existing West of England MS Therapy Centre in Nailsea, which it claims is poorly located and has become insufficient and sub-standard with no scope for expansion.

Planning approval for an earlier application was granted in June 2007 but “planning and funding difficulties” since then meant that the project as originally conceived never came to fruition.

A new planning application was lodged in June 2009, in which the charity said that it had managed to reduce the costs of developing the centre by allowing a “compatible charity or similar function” to operate from surplus land on the site.

The latest plans say that construction of the centre will take place in two phases, with phase one needing to start by Spring 2010, in order to satisfy the conditions of already-secured funding.

SGC originally set a deadline of 30th July for public consultation on the plans, but this has now been extended to 17th September, presumably because the applicants have submitted additional information since the original deadline.

The Governors of Wheatfield Primary School and three residents of Wheatfield Drive registered concerns over the plans before the original July deadline.

Residents were worried about the loss of a protected hedge, light and noise pollution, vandalism and traffic congestion, while Governors listed eight “observations and requests for further clarification” and said that they could not support the application [at the current time].

One resident claimed that the diversion of an underground oil pipeline, said to be necessary in order to construct a new access road off Bradley Stoke Way, would cost between £150k and £200k and doubted whether the applicants had taken this aspect into consideration.

After analysing the objections and concerns of residents and Governors, planning officials have decided that they do not constitute sufficient grounds for refusing the application. They say that only a “thin strip” of hedgerow will be removed and that “there would not be an unacceptable amount of light affecting the adjacent dwellings”.

Officials add that any necessary diversion of the oil pipeline is a matter between the applicant and Esso (the pipeline owners). This issue of whether this might make the development unviable is “for the applicant to consider” and should not influence the granting of planning permission.

Conditions attached to the recommended decision require all construction access to take place from Bradley Stoke Way rather than Wheatfield Drive.

SGC Councillors have been given until 17th September to decide if they would like to “call in” the application for discussion at a meeting of the Planning Committee.

The Governors of Wheatfield Primary School and a number of residents of Wheatfield Drive have registered concerns over the proposed construction of a new MS Therapy Centre on land off Bradley Stoke Way.

An organisation known as The Moonstone Appeal submitted plans for the new centre to South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) in June.

Those plans showed access to the site being from a new “left turn-only” access road off Bradley Stoke Way, supplemented by pedestrian-only access from Wheatfield Drive.

The applicants have told SGC that they need to commence building on the site by Spring 2010 in order to retain funding that has been secured for the project. They have also asked that some conditions agreed in an earlier planning application be waived or relaxed so that construction can commence without delay.

In a six-page response, the Chair of Governors of Wheatfield Primary School lists eight “observations and requests for further clarification” and says that the Board of Governors “has chosen not to pledge its support for the proposed planning application at this time”.

Three residents of Wheatfield Drive have also registered concerns, which include the loss of a protected hedge, light and noise pollution, vandalism and traffic congestion.

One resident claims that the diversion of an underground oil pipeline, said to be necessary in order to construct the new access road off Bradley Stoke Way, would cost between £150k and £200k.

Both Governors and residents air a suspicion that construction traffic will have to access the site from Wheatfield Drive whilst the centre is being built, which they say will create a safety hazard for residents and school children.

The Council’s own Highways Department has also been critical of some aspects of the plans, describing the submitted design for the new access road off Bradley Stoke Way as “sub-standard”.

SGC has set a target date of 14th August for a decision on the planning application.

The organisation behind a new Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Therapy Centre proposed for land off Bradley Stoke is facing a race against time to get planning approval and commence building before a funding source is lost.

The West of England MS Therapy Centre is currently based in Nailsea but the charity behind the centre (The Bristol and West Multiple Sclerosis Society) has long had plans to construct a new centre in Bradley Stoke.

Several years ago, South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) allocated a parcel of land alongside Bradley Stoke Way (near Wheatfield Primary School) for the project and a planning application was lodged by the charity in September 2001.

That initial planning application proposed that access to the centre would be from Wheatfield Drive but this was successfully opposed by local residents in favour of a new access road off Bradley Stoke Way.

Planning approval was finally granted in June 2007 but “planning and funding difficulties” since then have meant that the project as originally conceived never came to fruition.

A statement submitted with the latest planning application explains that a new chairman was appointed to the charity appeal behind the project in 2008 leading to it being re-branded The Moonstone Appeal.

The Moonstone Appeal has in turn appointed Perpetual Legacy, a charity which has considerable experience in supporting and developing charitable projects of this type.

The applicants say that by allowing a “compatible charity or similar function” to operate from surplus land on the site, the costs of developing the MS Therapy Centre have been significantly reduced.

Construction of the centre in two phases, with phase one starting by Spring 2010, will allow the conditions of already-secured funding to be satisfied.

Whereas the original scheme required £2.45 million to be raised by March 2010, The Journal understands that a much reduced sum of £800k now needs to be raised before the construction of phase one can begin.

A learning disability centre designed to accommodate up to six people and their carers was originally suggested as a suitable use for the remainder of the site but the applicants say that local people have indicated a preference for a pre-school nursery.

In its application, the charity asks for a number of conditions imposed in the original planning approval to be relaxed or waived. For example, the restriction of hours of opening to 9am – 7:30pm is questioned, with the charity stating that a significant number of patients might wish to use the facilities outside of normal working hours.

The issue of access from Wheatfield Drive remains controversial and the plans still envisage pedestrian access from that direction. Feedback from residents is said to have shown almost unanimous opposition to this aspect of the plans.

Vehicular access to the site will be from west carriageway of Bradley Stoke Way, a few hundred metres south of Primrose Footbridge.

Difficulties acknowledged in the plans include the difference in levels between the site and the roadway and a buried oil pipleine (believed to be part of the Esso Fawley to Avonmouth route) that needs to be crossed by the new access road.

South Gloucestershire Council has opened public consultation on the new planning application. Comments must be received by Thursday 30th July.

More Information:

• Multiple Sclerosis (Wikipedia)
• Planning Application for MS Therapy Centre (SGC)
• Site Plan on Google Maps (The Journal)