IRATE councillors have launched a petition against further housing developments in Thornbury, with an appeal for residents to voice their opinions.

The town council have launched the petition after they feel both their voice, and those of hundreds of residents have not been heard on the issue of housing, with large speculative developments continuing to appear outside the agreed development boundary.

The petition can be viewed on the council’s website and is available to sign at the Town Hall and Armstrong Hall.

Thornbury mayor Cllr Helen Harrison presented a letter addressed to Cllr Matthew Riddle, the leader of South Gloucestershire Council stating the town council’s position during their meeting last week, with an additional letter being sent to Thornbury and Yate MP Luke Hall.

In the letter, it highlighted that the 1,200 new homes currently being built in and around Thornbury are as much as the town can take.

She asked, on behalf of the town council, to refuse permission for the major developments that are in the pipeline, and work with the Town Council to put together a plan that works for the town rather than allowing developers to dictate what happens.

Cllr. Maggie Tyrrell, chairman of the Town Development Committee said “Councillors know that there is a national housing shortage and want to play our part but we think the town has accepted as many new homes as it can at the moment.

“The town needs time to absorb these new residents into the community and for the facilities to be improved to help the process.

“We’ve lost employment in the town with a number of offices being turned into flats and houses, so all the people moving into the town will have to commute to work.

“That will put pressure on the road network, there won’t be room to park when people do want to use the town and we all know it already takes weeks to get an appointment with a GP.

“The very reason that people want to move here, the safe, strong community, is under threat by this rush to develop.”

Having received the letter from Thornbury Town Council, Cllr Colin Hunt, vice-chairman of the Environment and Community Services Committee, said on behalf of South Gloucestershire Council: “We wrote to Planning Minister Brandon Lewis earlier in the year to raise our concerns about our five-year land supply.

“Landowners and developers have been slow to deliver on the housing sites we identified in the Core Strategy and because of this we are facing speculative planning applications which we don’t agree with, but often struggle to fight precisely because developers aren’t building fast enough.

“After an intervention from local MP Luke Hall, the minister will be visiting South Gloucestershire in the near future so that we can discuss this with him in person.”

Mr Hall said: “As a local man, I share concerns about the level of development around Thornbury.

“I am delighted that Mr Lewis has accepted and I look forward to discussing house building in Thornbury with him personally when he comes to Thornbury to see our concerns about development first-hand.

“I have also been campaigning in Parliament for local people to have more power over planning applications that affect our area, for instance by calling for a community right of appeal over planning applications. I have raised this personally with the minister responsible.”

To view the petition, visit www.thornburytowncouncil.gov.uk or for more information, call the Town Hall on 01454 412103.