The Bradley Stoke Journal

Plans for an MS therapy centre and an associated respite care centre on land between Wheatfield Drive and Bradley Stoke Way have attracted more than twenty consultation replies from individuals and organisations concerned about the proposed vehicular access arrangements for the two facilities.

An earlier planning application for the MS therapy centre stated that access would be off Bradley Stoke Way but when a second application for a respite care centre on the same site was registered in February, it was proposed that the two facilities be accessed instead from Wheatfield Drive.

In the latest application, the Moonstone Appeal says that the presence of an oil pipeline running along the north-eastern boundary of the site  makes it too expensive to construct a new access road off Bradley Stoke Way.

The new plans show both facilities being accessed from the end of a cul-de-sac in Wheatfield Drive, which has angered local residents, who say that the road is unsuited for extra traffic, particularly during the opening and closing times of Wheatfield Primary School.

A total of 23 residents and Councillors have lodged replies to the planning consultation. The Governors and Travel Plan Committee of Wheatfield Primary School have also submitted comments. All these responses call on the District Council to reject the latest application, predominantly on the grounds of traffic issues.

Bradley Stoke Town Council has also objected to the plans, saying:

The proposed access to the site via Wheatfield Road will lead to an unacceptable increase in traffic movement through this, already congested residential area, which will be detrimental to highway safety, and have a negative impact on surrounding residents.

South Gloucestershire Council has set a target date of 21st April for making a decision on the plans, although this might be delayed should the matter be “called in” by Councillors.

A charity looking to build an MS Therapy Centre on land off Bradley Stoke Way has made a U-turn over the proposed arrangements for vehicular access into the site.

In plans approved last year, the Moonstone Appeal said it would construct a new ‘left in, left out’ access road into the site from Bradley Stoke Way. This arrangement was consistent with conditions imposed on an earlier planning application following opposition from local Councillors and residents over proposals for the site to be accessed from Wheatfield Drive.

In a new planning application for a ‘respite care  centre for MS sufferers and their carers’ that would sit alongside the MS Therapy Centre, the charity says it has had to revise access arrangements for the site:

Unfortunately due to the presence of an underground [oil] pipeline along the northern boundary of the site, between the site and the carriageway of Bradley Stoke Way, it is not viable to develop an access into the site in the location proposed in the previously consented applications.

The move is likely to spark renewed opposition from residents, Councillors and the Governors of the nearby Wheatfield Primary School, all of whom have previously raised objections to any proposals that involve accessing the site from Wheatfield Drive.

There may also be some disappointment over the proposed use of the second building on the site as Wheatfield Primary School and local residents had expressed the wish that a pre-school nursery might be provided.

Complications caused by the presence of the underground oil pipeline were anticipated in a resident’s consultation response to the previous planning application, in which it was claimed that to divert it would cost between £150k and £200k. Planning officers at South Gloucestershire Council acknowledged the comment but said that it was a matter between the applicant and the owner of the pipeline (Esso) and could not influence the granting of permission.

The charity has previously said that it needs to begin work on construction of the MS Therapy Centre by Spring 2010 in order to satisfy conditions imposed on it by already-agreed funding sources.

Consultation on the latest planning application runs until Monday 29th March.

Bradley Stoke’s Deputy Mayor Ben Walker has expressed concern over obstruction of the pavement around the recently-erected works compound at Bradley Stoke Surgery on Brook Way.

He raised the matter at last Wednesday’s Planning Committee meeting, asking if ISG Pearce – the contractor working on the surgery extension project, had permission to obstruct the highway in this way.

He also pointed out that access gates installed within the compound’s boundary fencing are likely to completely obstruct the remaining pavement when opened.

Cllr Walker said it was not clear which of the two planning applications made by the surgery was actually being implemented at the Brook Way site, but he did not recall either application mentioning that the Brook Way pavement would be obstructed during the construction phase.

Town Clerk Sharon Petela was instructed to contact the Highways Department of South Gloucestershire Council to verify if the appropriate authorisation had been obtained.

The fact that the matter was raised at all seems curious, since two members of the senior management team at the Brook Way surgery (Dr Elizabeth Todd and Julian Barge) are members of the Town Council, although neither of them sits on the Planning Committee.

The Planning Committee of Bradley Stoke Town Council has lodged a strongly-worded objection to a change of usage application for the site of the Bristol Motorcycle Training Centre in the south-east corner of the town.

The centre, located within the Vantage Office Park on Old Gloucester Road, was established in 1979 and claims to have been the country’s first purpose built motorcycle training facility.

Located at the highest point of the business park [map], the centre lies close to houses in The Worthys and Elan Hay Road, but is not visible from those roads due to the presence of trees and hedgerows.

Access to the site is from the business park’s main entrance, opposite the Amcor factory in Old Gloucester Road.

Councillors (or, more likely, the Town Clerk) recalled that they had twice before (in 1997 and 1998) objected to similar plans and repeated that they believe the proposed development would result in “unacceptable additional traffic”, leading to “more noise and pollution”.

The Planning Committee was also critical of the local planning authority for, it believes, failing to define an overall policy for development at the Vantage Office Park site:

The status of numerous planning applications for this area has been confused to say the least – distribution units, dwellings, care homes, motor cycle training facilities, etc. A policy for the whole site should be determined before allowing any development at all.

It is not known if the applicants have any connection with the business presently operating at the site. A source at the training centre claimed to be unaware of the latest planning application.

Bowsland Green Primary School has submitted a planning application to create eleven additional parking places within the school grounds despite having to withdraw a similar plan earlier this year because planning officials considered it “contentious”.

South Gloucestershire Council’s Local Plan suggests a cap of one parking space for every two members of staff, but with 15 spaces already available for the 30 staff (twelve of whom are part-time), the school agreed to drop the request from its earlier application in April.

Other aspects of that earlier plan, including the creation of a new school hall, were approved by the council in July.

Supporting documentation accompanying the latest application details the number of visitors to the school and the extent of community activities that take place there. The school’s agents say that these extra demands justify relaxing the cap:

As you will see, the school is very active and takes a pride in making itself an active hub for community activities. Clearly these activities bring to the school a large number of vehicles that are not reflected or catered for within the T8 guidance of spaces per members of staff.

The result of this is the inevitable large number of cars over-spilling from the school and parking in adjacent residential areas. Clearly this causes friction between the school and the local residents, which the Head Mistress, Clare Whitaker, constantly battles to address and placate.

One neighbour of the school has already pledged support for the proposal. The consultation period runs until Friday 27th November.