Public Forum – July 2025

Public Forum – July 2025

Bloor Homes

The three representatives from Bloor Homes had previously delivered a consultation event at the Mercure Hotel outlining their proposal to build 200 houses at Abbots Well off Whitchurch Road. The land purchased for this development they believe meets the criteria for “grey belt” and as such 45% of the housing will be affordable. Bloor Homes are progressing an outline Planning Application which will be submitted to the Planning Authority this Summer. If the application is successful, it would then be subject to reserved matters including detailed proposals for access onto Whitchurch Road. This is a matter which they acknowledge has been a focus of a lot of attention at the consultation event.

Cllr Beckitt stated that as part of the Neighbourhood Plan a Housing Needs Survey was carried out and this only identified a need for 15 new homes to be built within the area and 95% of respondents confirmed that they did not want large housing developments and as such the PC must take this into account.

The key issue is the A41, accessing and exiting, particularly during peak times when traffic already queues, often as far as Waverton. The Air Quality has been measured as being above the WHO guidelines and the local infrastructure is already at capacity.

Questions were asked as to whether the developers had explored the introduction of none-car routes for children accessing Huntington Primary School.

Cllr Beckitt said he would be forwarding a copy of the Parish Priority Statement and would welcome the opportunity to meet with the developers prior to their submitting their outline planning application, to which they agreed, subject to availability.

Toll Bar Road

One member of the public, a resident of Toll Bar Road, raised the issue of cars from Vicars Cross and Caldy Valley using the road as a cut through to get to the High School. This has safety implications for pedestrians and cyclists, particularly young children on their way to the Primary School. Cllr Beckitt agreed to investigate further and took the resident’s contact details.