Hicks Gate: Emerging Vision, Priorities and Strategy

The priorities for the Hicks Gate Area are set out below and these will inform a vision for the area should it be allocated for development in the Draft Local Plan. Many of the priorities can be addressed by new development, and the site options have been selected in response to the key issues, priorities and objectives. However, there are some priorities that won’t be addressed through new development but will be addressed through other policies in the local plan or initiatives undertaken by the council or by other stakeholders.

• Maximise the delivery of housing that is affordable in response to social and economic needs, and local demographics.
• Deliver zero-carbon homes and a built environment that seeks to meet the challenge of climate change by delivering a development that is both resilient and enduring.
• Consider the opportunities to deliver a greater proportion of employment led development within the Bath and North East Somerset area.
• The development will be compact, with an efficient use of the available land predicated on a well-balanced housing density, and a mix of house sizes, typologies and tenures. It will be important to seek to optimise the density of development proposed in this area.
• Development at Hicks Gate will seek to complement existing provision of services and amenities providing for the needs of both new and existing communities.
• The land use mixes across the site should be flexible, balanced and complementary with residential, community and leisure facilities, local services, retail, employment, offices and studios, all woven together to create a place that is truly designed for a healthy work-life balance.
• Reduce the need to travel, particularly by retaining and providing jobs, services and community facilities at suitable locations close to residential areas.
• Safeguard existing habitats and seek opportunities to deliver significant biodiversity net gain with a strong network of hedgerows and flower rich verges throughout.
• Promote strategic green infrastructure and compensatory improvements in the remaining Green Belt gap between Bristol and Keynsham.
• Provide a range of sports, recreational facilities, parks and open spaces incorporating existing landscape assets to enable new residents to have easy access to nature and promote active modes of travel.
• Provide tree-lined streets and public spaces to promote a sense of well-being as well as providing shading and cooling in the summer months and contributing towards the development’s climate change resilience capabilities.
• Integrate natural water management solutions to achieve resilient places to respond to the challenge of water stress by integrating sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS), rain gardens, permeable pavers and rooftop gardens.

The diagram below represents these conceptual themes

Some of the key issues in the Hicks Gate area relate to transport and highways and a number of opportunities and potential interventions have been identified. These interventions will need more detailed consideration whilst working up the Draft Local Plan, including mechanisms for funding them:

As part of the City Regional Sustainable Transport Settlement, the Bristol to Bath Strategic Corridor (BBSC) project is being led by WECA and delivered in partnership with B&NES Council and Bristol City Council. It aims to improve travel between Bath and Bristol through better bus services and enabling more cycling and walking, through the delivery of a Mass Transit corridor which will pass along the A4 through Hicks Gate. The current scope of the project includes bus priority measures, road space reallocation, enhancement to bus stops, improved walking and cycling facilities and improvements to the public realm. The project intends to improve sustainable movement along the corridor. 

The Hicks Gate Interchange (HGI) is proposed to be provided in the south west corner of the Hicks Gate roundabout and this will replace the existing Park and Ride facility at Brislington. The new Interchange will expand the existing functionality of the P&R to incorporate interchange for other modes of transport, including but not limited to walking/wheeling, cycling, micromobility options (such as public hire e-scooters and e-bikes), electric vehicle charging infrastructure, car club pick-up points, in addition to the potential co-location of community and leisure facilities.

The Interchange provides an excellent and realistic opportunity to intercept vehicle trips and transfer these to sustainable modes of transport as well as serving the new residential-led, mixed-use neighbourhood. It is well situated to support connectivity by sustainable modes on the Bristol to Bath corridor, as well as linking communities such as Keynsham (including the railway station), Stockwood, Brislington and Bristol’s East and North Fringe. The HGI is therefore an important link in providing a joined-up strategy towards achieving high uptake of sustainable transport within B&NES and the wider region. It is therefore essential that the HGI will need to be well integrated with and connected via high quality and attractive sustainable transport links to both the existing A4 and A4174 transport corridor and proposed improvement schemes including via the Bristol to Bath Strategic Corridor (BBSC) project.

The new community will integrate with existing communities via a network of sustainable, accessible and green movement corridors, allowing people to access amenities and services in the Hicks Gate area and across the wider Keynsham and southeast Bristol area. Hicks Gate will be a low-car settlement, promoting limited through routes within the development and focusing on walking and cycling, and accessible and competitive public transport opportunities.

• Improving public spaces and routes, including crossing facilities on the A4 to encourage people to use public transport and active modes of travel. E
• xisting pedestrian and cycle connections can be enhanced and integrated with new proposals across the area to ensure wider commuter routes north-south and east-west. It can connect the Hicks Gate area to Bristol, Stockwood, and Keynsham.
• Extension of short-term e-scooter and e-Bike rental within the Hicks Gate area.
• Additional bus routes to link with a greater range of places such as Keynsham, Whitchurch Village and Bristol’s East Fringe.
• WEST Link Demand Responsive Travel (DRT) zones in Bath and North East Somerset and Bristol shows zones are currently located immediately to the east and west of the Hicks Gate study area. DRT could be used to connect an Interchange Hub at Hicks Gate, where passengers can gain access to a connecting bus service to complete their journey.
• Work with bus operators and other key stakeholders to decarbonise the bus fleet in the Hicks Gate area.
• Introduce more Electric Vehicle charging points in the Hicks Gate area.

The emerging strategy set out below relates to the wider Bristol to Bath corridor, incorporating the Hicks Gate area and other places. The strategy has been set out for this wider area because of the close functional and physical relationships between different places, that is they do not sit in isolation from nearby places.

The strategy for the Bristol to Bath Corridor seeks to deliver sustainable growth that capitalises on the strategic location between Bath and Bristol to take advantage of existing, and significantly enhanced improvements to, sustainable transport links in the area.

Development at Hicks Gate will be exemplary and will redefine this key entrance into Bristol. It will be zero carbon and residential development will meet the needs of existing and future residents, including the delivery of affordable housing, which will be facilitated by the ‘golden rules’ as this is on land intended to be released from the Green Belt.

There is a significant opportunity for employment led regeneration within the existing and adjacent areas of Bristol, or the potential for a proportion of employment land to be provided within the B&NES area of Hicks Gate.

The proposed development area seeks to avoid the coalescence of Keynsham with Bristol and integrates new development with strategic green infrastructure corridors that improve access to nature and enhance biodiversity.

The Department for Transport has developed a Connectivity Tool that integrates transport and land use data to produce a national measure of connectivity for any location in England and Wales. This tool allows users to filter connectivity scores by local authority, assigning each location a grade from A to J, where A indicates the highest level of connectivity within its local authority area.

Each site option has been evaluated with the Connectivity Tool, and an average grade reflecting its connectivity relative to the Bath and North East Somerset area has been assigned. It's important to note that this assessment is based on the current transport network and existing land uses such as schools and shops, and does not take into account planned or future developments