Welbeck Land have announced they want to build at least 350 houses on the fields along Morton Way and the planning authority, Tory led South Gloucestershire Council, are likely to give permission thanks to the Government’s planning policy. We know the country needs more homes but Thornbury is a target for developers because they can sell at high prices, not because they are meeting a local need. New rules on what makes a home “affordable” (80% of the average house price) still prices most local people out of the Thornbury housing market, so even the few that are built on each development doesn’t help them.

Developers are not building where they already have permission and banking the land, so the Government’s housing target for South Gloucestershire hasn’t been met. South Glos Council says it must give permission to any proposal unless there are exceptional circumstances. How can this make sense?

Overloading Thornbury doesn’t seem to be a good enough reason to refuse any planning permission. Lib Dem Councillors will keep fighting to maintain Thornbury’s special character in the face of this onslaught, which threatens to swamp it in the rush to develop. Welbeck have only given a few days’ notice of their consultation event in the Armstrong Hall on Sat 6th Feb but we hope people will go along to and have their say – We’ve posted the developer’s leaflet for more info.

View the developers' leaflet here

Tories in South Glos have backtracked on their key manifesto pledge for free green bin collections.

The Tory manifesto contained a page of pledges. The second on the list was to phase out green bin charges in South Glos. At the council’s Policy & Resources committee today, Liberal Democrat Cllr Claire Young (Westerleigh) asked what the level of the fee would be next year. The answer came back: “£36”, no reduction on this year.

Claire Young said: “The Tories have been wriggling for months and have finally confirmed what we knew all along. The council can’t afford to scrap this charge. The Tories have known it for as long as we have, but they chose to tell residents it was possible. They pretended that it would be low cost, affordable, and their priority. Either they were misleading themselves or misleading residents for the election.”

“Local Tory MP Luke Hall has deleted the page on his website calling for the charge to be scrapped – not only have they broken their promise, they’re trying to pretend they never made it in the first place. Local people will not be fooled. The Tories need to come clean. Why did they pretend they were going to be able to do something they knew simply wasn’t going to happen?”

Thornbury Citizens Advice Bureau has re-opened again after its refit. Their suite of rooms at the back of the Town Hall has been rearranged. By reducing the size of their waiting room, space has made to create an entirely separate Police Office. The police themselves are expected move in by Christmas.

Thornbury Mayor and Lib Dem Town Councillor Guy Rawlinson cut the ribbon for the CAB on 1st December. “I am delighted that the CAB will continue its excellent work here,” he said. “And I’m also extremely pleased that the Town Hall will now be home to a permanent Police Office, and so retain a permanent police presence in Thornbury.”

Over one hundred local people from across the Thornbury and Yate area met in Thornbury to celebrate a big influx of new members to the local Liberal Democrats.

A big thank you to everyone for their generous comments on Facebook and Twitter, and especially to the 18,400 local people who wanted me as their local MP - unfortunately not quite enough. It has been a privilege to serve our area for the last 18 years in Parliament.

Steve.