Homes are needed but where should they go ?

As a business organisation, our members are obviously keen to see a successful local economy which allows them to continue to provide the jobs, goods, services and social activities which benefit the whole community, ensuring that our villages remain sustainable and vibrant.

One important element of that is having a sufficient housing supply and in the next few weeks Bath and North East Somerset Council will be considering its Local Plan, a vital document, which will set out where they think houses and employment space should go in the coming years.

Some of those homes will certainly be proposed for the Chew Valley and I suspect whichever sites are suggested, there will some vocal opposition. But I hope those people will first consider the bigger picture and take a long term view.

For example, young people, who have been brought up in the Valley and want to continue their lives here, desperately need affordable homes to live in, whilst some older people would like the option of moving out of houses that are now too big for them, enabling them to stay locally among their friends. That will in turn free up homes for families.

What this all means is there is a requirement for a very sensible scale of development in and around our villages, with suitable and well-designed housing, which will preserve the environment but also prepare us for the future so that the next generation can live and work locally, bringing up their own families and ensuring a successful local economy for years to come.