Blunsdon plan to keep village rural and distinct

The preservation of the rural nature of one of Swindon’s faster growing parishes, and stopping it sprawling into neighbouring areas is at the heart of the Blunsdon East Neighbourhood Plan.

The plan, put together by Blunsdon Parish Council has now been approved by a special committee of senior members of Swindon Borough Council and it can be used in helping the borough council make decisions on planning applications.

It is called the Blunsdon East plan because work on it started when Blunsdon parish crossed the A419 to include some of what is now Blunsdon St Andrew – this plan concerns itself with just the area to the east of the dual carriageway.

The newly-adopted plan says: “Blunsdon has always been separated from the urban area of Swindon and has always been a rural community. During the sixties, seventies and eighties it has grown organically around the core of the village through infill and new housing.”

It adds that the “massive growth” of north Swindon “led to a variety of local challenges including pressure on infrastructure, landscape and green space, heritage assets, core services, existing resources like health care and provision of school places.”

The says the neighbourhood plan gives local residents “greater influence over development so that Blunsdon enjoys, a well-designed and safe built environment, with accessible services and open spaces that reflect current and future needs and well-being.”

The priority will be to prevent further large-scale development of the village and to keep the rural nature of Blunsdon. The plan says it should: “maintain the village by managing development, to maintain areas of separation to protect the unique identity of Blunsdon and prevent coalescence with adjacent, existing and proposed urban areas.

“In practical terms this will be limited to small-scale low-density developments.”

It says in consultations residents consistently expressed opposition to more large developments with more than 90 per cent of responses to a questionnaire agreeing the village has enough houses and plans to add another 1650 houses will have an adverse effect.

The plan does allocate land in three areas for very small developments, one at Dinton in Broadbush for two houses and for nine houses each on a site south of Holdcroft and one opposite the Cold Harbour off Ermin Street.

It says the population of Blunsdon is ageing and says older people would be able to remain in the village if more housing such as bungalows was provided and adds there is a severe shortage of affordable housing in the area: “It is clear t the bulk of new housing doesn’t meet the need for affordable housing , due to pricing levels. T

The average house price in Broad Blunsdon over recent years has been £436,000. This is 159 per cent of the average house price across all areas of Swindon and more than double the average house price for first-time buyers for the area.

The borough council’s draft Local Plan allocates 1650 houses to Blunsdon parish south of the village as part of the Kingsdown urban expansion. The neighbourhood plan warns that further expansion over that would have a very serious effect: ““Existing infrastructure within the Blunsdon East area such as highways, school facilities, health-care provision and shopping amenity does not support further large-scale development. Further large-scale developments would significantly and adversely impact the amenity of existing residents.”

To persevere the separation of the village the plan sets out two areas as green buffers between further development elsewhere.

One is a swath of land south of the B4019 road designed to maintain distance between Broadbush and the land set out for development in the development plan as part of the Kingsdown extension area.

The other is a much smaller patch of land between Upper and Lower village formed by Ivy Lane, Front Lane, Back Lane and the wooded area south of Grove House.

The report says: “Open space between the built form of Lower Blunsdon and Broad Blunsdon separates the two settlements and maintains the individual identity of each.”

It quotes a government planning inspector saying: “The field plays a vital role in maintaining the separate identities of the two parts of Blunsdon.”