Date published: 2025-09-26 | Category: Delivering for local residents, Planning, Preparing for the Future
A significant public consultation on growth plans, which could reshape Bath & North East Somerset over the next 20 years, focusing on new housing, transport, business space, infrastructure and public spaces, has been agreed by the council’s cabinet.
The council’s new Local Plan Options report will go out to extensive public consultation starting on October 3, running until 14 November.
The report responds to the government’s new housing targets and the growth agenda with detailed options that could shape better places and create more jobs for the future.
Having consulted last year on an earlier ambitious target of 14,000 new homes over twenty years the council has reset its Local Plan Options after the government doubled the target to 27,000 over eighteen years.
The consultation on these options will give residents a range of opportunities to share their views, for example at pop-up events in Bath, Keynsham, Midsomer Norton and rural areas. Targeted outreach to young people, renters and other underrepresented groups and community group briefings and conversations will also take place. Everyone can respond to the online consultation and find out about consultation events when it launches on October 3, at https://bathnesplaces.co.uk
The Local Plan Options report outlines how places might change over the next 20 years to provide more of the right homes in the right places and enable economic growth. The report sets out how growth could be planned for, to create sustainable communities, protect the district’s unique character and address the climate and ecological emergency.
Across B&NES, the average house price is around twelve times the average workplace earnings and in Bath it is nineteen. The housing affordability crisis not only affects people’s quality of life; it directly impacts the local economy.
Councillor Matt McCabe, Cabinet Member for Built Environment, Housing and Sustainable Development, said: “Responding to the doubling of our housing target presents a huge challenge for us. We all know there is an overwhelming need for more affordable housing locally. We also know we need to create sustainable communities, protect the district’s unique character and address the climate and ecological emergency. The options before us are a vital first step in reaching a strategic plan through the Local Plan process and we are seeking everyone’s view through this important consultation.
“We want to hear about the priorities of our local communities - especially where past developments have failed to deliver much-needed infrastructure. The decisions we take now will shape our communities for the next 20 years through our new Local Plan.”
When finally agreed, the statutory Local Plan will guide development and land use across Bath and North East Somerset until 2043, with adoption scheduled for summer 2027.
By having a Local Plan, the council can better facilitate planned high-quality development and infrastructure provision. It can protect what makes B&NES special, including its renowned built and natural environments, while guiding future sustainable growth. Without a Local Plan, speculative development will take place, in less sustainable areas and in an unplanned way, with inadequate infrastructure support.
Options include new homes and facilities in Keynsham and Saltford Village; growth in the Somer Valley supported by major transport improvements; mixed-use development in central Bath; reuse of brownfield and underused sites; and a more flexible approach to village growth where it supports services and sustainability.
The options put forward also raise the sensitive but important question of whether land to the west of Bath could be brought forward to deliver much-needed homes, support jobs and unlock investment. Any development here would need to demonstrate exceptional design quality, landscape sensitivity and clear public benefit. It would be subject to rigorous heritage and environmental assessment.
Councillor Kevin Guy, Council Leader, added: “The Local Plan is an opportunity for ambitious, transformational change, but we need to work with partners and residents to manage the process. One of those partners is the West of England Combined Authority which has just launched its ten-year Growth Plan which seizes on the amazing opportunities we have here in the West of England and sets out opportunities for economic growth in our region to deliver thousands of new jobs. I want to encourage everyone to take part in our consultation and have their say.”
Cabinet also approved a separate report seeking approval for the development of a Movement Strategy aimed at improving travel choices and a consultation on the strategy to run from Tuesday 14 October to Friday 28 November.
The reports to cabinet can be found on the website and the meeting on September 25 can be viewed on the council’s YouTube channel.
ENDS