Last week the Gazette received a letter suggesting South Gloucestershire Councillor, Matthew Riddle, stood to gain from the new 630-home Barwood development in Thornbury. Both the original letter and Cllr Riddle's response are published below.

Suddenly, there’s a nasty stink down Butt Lane – and it’s nothing to do with the sewage works that will face the 630 new homes to be built there by Barwood.

Until recently, it seemed that the pillage of Thornbury was due to the combination of the Government’s incoherent housing strategy, second-rate councillors, greedy local landowners and fat-cat developers. But now it is alleged that Councillor Matthew Riddle, former Chair of South Gloucestershire Council, has a financial interest in land earmarked for the Barwood development.

How can this be? Riddle has been the front man for the Council’s housing programme at numerous public meetings. As such, he has had countless opportunities to tell us that the programme he was leading could slip a couple of million quid into his own pocket.

It's time for Riddle to come clean. Can he give us a categorical denial that he stands to make money, directly or indirectly, from the new housing developments that are wrecking Thornbury?

Professor Gareth Williams

Rockhampton

Having seen the recent correspondence questioning my alleged links to land included in the Barwood development proposals, I felt it was my duty to respond and offer some clarity to readers.

The land in question is one field of about ten or so fields in the north west part of Thornbury that are covered by the Barwood planning application. This field is not owned by myself, but is owned jointly by two members of my family.

During the Joint Spatial Plan [JSP] process, I attended various meetings with officers and other councillors, and if at any point the site was discussed, I declared an interest and removed myself from the meeting. Not only that but I, in fact, stayed out of meetings while all the various sites in Thornbury were discussed. This is recorded in the minutes.

I also declared an interest in the field during the “Policies, Sites and Places Plan” process, as an application had come in to make land in north west Thornbury into green open space, although no map was ever produced by the applicant to show exactly where this was. Again, I declared the interest and removed myself from the meetings.

The Joint Spatial Plan concluded that 500 new homes should be built in Thornbury up until the year 2036, these being located on the east side of the town (two sites have now been given planning permission for this number), and therefore the JSP did not identify potential sites for any homes in the north west area of the town where the land in question sits.

When the planning application from Barwood came in at the end of 2018 for the site, I declared an interest in it and will take no part in its determination. I have never had any contact with Barwood, and in fact the first I knew of the contents of their plans for the site, was when a flyer came through the door inviting me to attend the public exhibition.

Cllr Matthew Riddle