AN ACTION group in Thornbury has blasted plans for further housing in the town following plans for a new 400-home development.

The proposed 400-home development by Bovis Homes would be situated on 2.6ha of land next to the under-construction Thornbury Fields development on Gloucester Road.

Thornbury already potentially faces 1,500 new homes with the Cleve Park and Land West of Gloucester Road developments awaiting a final decision, as well as the controversial proposals for a 3,000-home garden village on the borders of the town in Buckover.

Frustrated with the attitudes of developers in the town, Roger Hall from the residents’ action group Thornbury Residents Against Poorly Planned Developments (TRAPP’D) said: “They are blatantly showing they think South Gloucestershire Council will roll over and let them do as they please because they are afraid of being taken to court.

“We are calling on the council to start doing their job and protecting Thornbury from attack. These developments will kill Thornbury eventually and something needs to be done.

“The council need to provide an infrastructure plan for Thornbury, what they will do it improve our town ahead of thousands of new people moving into the area, and most importantly, who will be paying for it.

“We are also asking Thornbury and South Gloucestershire residents to put pen to paper and write to South Gloucestershire Council. It is all well and good turning up and agreeing with us at our meetings, but voices need to be heard.”

Having contacted Thornbury Town Council at the end of last week, Bovis will be presenting their plans for the development at a meeting of the town development committee on Tuesday, January 24.

The committee’s chairman, Cllr Maggie Tyrrell said: “The letter they have sent to the town council really is presenting it as another wonderful opportunity for Thornbury – it is of course the exact opposite.

“The development itself is so far from the town centre, pushing our developed boundary well past where it should be.

“It is totally unrealistic for the town to absorb more houses, there is nowhere for it to go in terms of facilities.

“Thornbury is wonderful town, it truly is, but it won’t be that way for long if these developers continue to churn up our countryside simply because they see Thornbury as a quick profit.”

A Bovis Homes spokesman said: “This site to the north of Morton Way has been promoted through the local development plan process as suitable for the provision of up to 400 new homes.

“We have held pre-application discussions with officers at South Gloucestershire Council and technical surveys of the site are taking place.

“We will be delivering a presentation to Thornbury Town Council regarding our, where members and residents will be able to ask questions about the plans.”

The developer also said that they will be holding a public consultation event next month, with members of the public invited to offer feedback on the proposals.

A South Gloucestershire Council spokesman said: “We are currently working alongside the other West of England authorities to prepare the Joint Spatial Plan (JSP), which will cover all four authority areas and provide a new strategic planning context for South Gloucestershire until 2036.

“Officers decided it was not appropriate to handle a pre-application request for this proposal because of its conflict with the emerging proposals of the JSP in relation to Thornbury. Instead we advised the developer that this should be dealt with through representations made to the West of England Joint Spatial Plan and South Gloucestershire new Local Plan.”