PORTISHEAD

Access arrangements will be provided to ensure the safe entry and exit of vehicles and non-motorised users onto Clevedon Road, as well as appropriate space for emergency and servicing vehicles within the site. An assessment of the scheme will also consider the development’s impact on the local highway network, informing any local improvements, as appropriate. There will be an appropriate level of parking provided on site for both future residents and visitors in order to accommodate the parking demand within the site.

The site has been reviewed from a flood risk perspective, given the limited areas of elevated flood risk towards the southern boundary together with the theoretical higher levels associated with the Council’s future tidal flood mapping. All buildings have been directed away from the areas of greater risk, either now or in the future, ensuring that finished floor levels remain above even the projected future worst-case watermark, allowing for climate change.

Further mitigation and resilience measures are to be incorporated into the design of each dwelling and the wider site, ensuring that occupiers are safe in severe weather events and that effects are not worsened locally following development. A detailed flood risk assessment and drainage strategy is to support the planning application.

The emerging design of the development has taken into account the local context and the need to balance sympathetic design and scale with the desirability of making efficient use of land in this sustainable location. The result is a mixture of unit types and sizes that reflects the changeable character of the site to ensure it manages the transition between urban and rural settings.

The site is undergoing a detailed assessment in ecological and landscape terms to ensure the development provides suitable mitigation and enhancement, including a net gain for biodiversity, using additional land within the same control if needed. The appropriate ecological surveys are currently underway to support the future planning submission, as well as a detailed landscaping plan, given the sensitivity of the area.

Properties will be designed to respond to current climate change priorities, including achieving a high standard of energy efficiency, incorporating renewable and carbon-zero-ready technologies, providing on-plot EV charging points and incorporating water saving measures wherever possible.

We have sought pre-application advice from the Local Planning Authority, North Somerset Council, which has confirmed both the likely suitability of the site from a sustainability and ‘Grey Belt’ perspective and helped inform the emerging proposals and the information to accompany a planning application. We see positive engagement with the local community as a key component of this pre-submission stage, and therefore hope to obtain local views to reflect upon in a similar way.