Open Letter to Newspapers:Dear Sir
I am the councillor for Bathavon South ward, covering South Stoke - where I happen to live, and five other parishes to the south of Bath. I am writing to comment on the Core Strategy document and the proposal to build an urban extension, whether at South Stoke or Newton St Loe.
Exactly 40 years ago, I joined the then Institute of Personnel Management - now the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. I remember well attending an IPM event held at Bristol University a year later where we were told of the remarkable surge in membership that was then taking place. I further recall calculating that if the surge continued at its present rate, almost the entire country would be employed in personnel management by the year 2010! This was of course absurd, and after a while the rate of increase duly tailed off.
I mention this because it seems to me that we are in danger of getting caught up with similar false arguments, involving extrapolation of trends, where housing numbers are concerned.
Yes, it is clear that we do need some new housing. No-one would deny that. But of course the key questions are - how much, and where should it go?
There are currently some 8,000 on the housing waiting list in Bath & North East Somerset, well short of the 15,500 being planned for - never mind the 21,300 the Government is trying to impose upon us.
Let us say we made provision for the entire housing waiting list. We have the three MoD sites to work with; there is Bath Western Riverside; there are the almost 700 empty properties; and there are a number of areas around B&NES where more housing would be warmly welcomed. Further to that, the two universities could be asked to accommodate all first and final year students on campus, releasing large numbers of homes in the Oldfield Park area for normal family use. Ie: it should not be difficult to make up the total required.
Incidentally, I asked recently whether B&NES still had the power to initiate housebuilding itself, if private developers wouldn't get on with it in brownfield areas. The answer was 'yes, indeed they could!'. Food for thought there...
I believe that either proposed extension would cause immense traffic and other problems, and ruin the setting of Bath in terms of its status as a World Heritage Site. Moreover, I strongly disapprove of coalescence between either Bath and South Stoke or Bath and Newton St Loe - which would ruin the character of either village.
As you may recall, I and Gail Coleshill (Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for North East Somerset) presented our own petition from South Stoke to the Government of the South West in October 2008 (pictured above).
Also, I was happy to make the point by voting against the whole Core Strategy document at the special full council meeting on 1st October, and intend to continue in the same vein. Independent campaigners such as Jenny John (South Stoke) and the Newton St Loe Conservation Group therefore have my full support. All power to their elbows.
Yours sincerely
Neil Butters
(Lib Dem, Bathavon South)
I am the councillor for Bathavon South ward, covering South Stoke - where I happen to live, and five other parishes to the south of Bath. I am writing to comment on the Core Strategy document and the proposal to build an urban extension, whether at South Stoke or Newton St Loe.
Exactly 40 years ago, I joined the then Institute of Personnel Management - now the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. I remember well attending an IPM event held at Bristol University a year later where we were told of the remarkable surge in membership that was then taking place. I further recall calculating that if the surge continued at its present rate, almost the entire country would be employed in personnel management by the year 2010! This was of course absurd, and after a while the rate of increase duly tailed off.
I mention this because it seems to me that we are in danger of getting caught up with similar false arguments, involving extrapolation of trends, where housing numbers are concerned.
Yes, it is clear that we do need some new housing. No-one would deny that. But of course the key questions are - how much, and where should it go?
There are currently some 8,000 on the housing waiting list in Bath & North East Somerset, well short of the 15,500 being planned for - never mind the 21,300 the Government is trying to impose upon us.
Let us say we made provision for the entire housing waiting list. We have the three MoD sites to work with; there is Bath Western Riverside; there are the almost 700 empty properties; and there are a number of areas around B&NES where more housing would be warmly welcomed. Further to that, the two universities could be asked to accommodate all first and final year students on campus, releasing large numbers of homes in the Oldfield Park area for normal family use. Ie: it should not be difficult to make up the total required.
Incidentally, I asked recently whether B&NES still had the power to initiate housebuilding itself, if private developers wouldn't get on with it in brownfield areas. The answer was 'yes, indeed they could!'. Food for thought there...
I believe that either proposed extension would cause immense traffic and other problems, and ruin the setting of Bath in terms of its status as a World Heritage Site. Moreover, I strongly disapprove of coalescence between either Bath and South Stoke or Bath and Newton St Loe - which would ruin the character of either village.
As you may recall, I and Gail Coleshill (Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for North East Somerset) presented our own petition from South Stoke to the Government of the South West in October 2008 (pictured above).
Also, I was happy to make the point by voting against the whole Core Strategy document at the special full council meeting on 1st October, and intend to continue in the same vein. Independent campaigners such as Jenny John (South Stoke) and the Newton St Loe Conservation Group therefore have my full support. All power to their elbows.
Yours sincerely
Neil Butters
(Lib Dem, Bathavon South)
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