Bath Site Options

The council propose to allocate larger or significant development sites and that other opportunities for smaller scale or organic redevelopment and change (e.g. garage courts, change in local centres, etc) will be supported by a positive and enabling policy framework.

To help diversify housing supply by encouraging smaller scale developers and self-builders, it is important for the Local Plan to embrace incremental change rather than expecting comprehensive development at a larger scale.  This is often difficult to achieve and may never come forward due to complexities of land ownership. The policy framework will be supportive of incremental change and seek to simplify design and development requirements through design codes and guidance. Where appropriate, such as in the wider public interest, incremental changes will need to accord with the wider spatial framework. 

In addition, there could be opportunities to explore potential for improvements to some of the existing housing areas in Foxhill and Twerton in Bath. Working with Curo, who manage much of the social housing stock in these areas, we will explore improving existing housing, including making it more energy efficient (providing carbon emission benefits in line with the climate emergency), more affordable to run and providing more comfortable and better living conditions. This could also offer the opportunity to improve the quality of place and potentially to increase the number of homes, thereby providing additional affordable housing (including social rented housing) which is needed. The overall number of homes also needs to be increased to be able to access Homes England funding.

Following consultation on these site options, a detailed assessment of the transport impact of each site will be undertaken, to inform selection of sites to be included in the Draft Plan. The cumulative impact of all sites included in the Draft Plan will also be assessed. Any site allocations in the Draft Plan will define the site specific interventions that are required.

A key purpose of this site allocations element of the Local Plan is to demonstrate how different land uses can be delivered, reflecting evidence and the priorities of the council. Many of the sites/areas within the city set out in the following pages  are already allocated in the adopted Core Strategy/Placemaking Plan. This Local Plan will review these allocations and set out our proposed approach.  Please note that hyperlinks are embedded into the headings of each site allocation in the Bath section. Please click on these to see the existing site allocation policies for reference. 

The site allocations will also contain key development requirements and design principles to ensure that the development outputs contribute towards the creation of great places, that they seek to optimise the use of land, are properly integrated into and respond appropriately to their sensitive contexts, that they address the climate and ecological emergencies, and improve health and wellbeing.

In accordance with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) ‘the creation of high quality, beautiful and sustainable buildings and places is fundamental to what the planning and development process should achieve’. This contextual approach reflects the existing planning policy framework in Bath, where a set of ‘Design Values’ has been established and which provide the context for considering the design of new buildings and as a means of creating authentic and locally distinctive and enduring places. These ‘Design Values’ continue to remain relevant in the consideration of new development proposals and in managing the potential tension between optimising the use of land and ensuring that development makes a positive contribution to local character and distinctiveness.

For all of the site allocations, it is proposed, where relevant, to update the range of development requirements to include references to the need for a transformational approach to the protection and enhancement of biodiversity. This aims to deliver outcomes that genuinely contribute to nature recovery, whilst enabling new development, improving the relationship to the river, the integration of green infrastructure and the need for lighting in this location to safeguard the dark corridor for bats.

The new site options towards the end of this section have been evaluated using the Department for Transport’s Connectivity Tool, which integrates transport and land use data to produce a national measure of connectivity for any location in England and Wales. This tool assigns each location a grade from A to J, where A indicates the highest level of connectivity within Bath and North East Somerset, and J the lowest. The assessment is based on the current sustainable transport network and existing land uses such as schools and shops, and does not take into account planned or future improvements. The grading from A to J is not an overall ranking of site options and in deciding which sites are allocated in the Draft Local Plan other sustainability criteria and deliverability factors will also be considered.

There are a range of potential site allocations that are included in the Local Plan Options Document, as follows:

• Existing site allocations are proposed to be refreshed and refined to reflect updated priorities and to address the climate and nature emergencies.
• In the Options consultation that was undertaken in the spring of 2024, reference was made to the need to undertake a more fundamental review of the Newbridge Riverside policy area. This has now been undertaken as an important part of the evidence base to inform the future of this area. Called the Production Quarter Masterplan it seeks to continue to protect and enhance its important employment role, whilst optimising the potential development capacity of the area. This will entail protecting existing floorspace and enabling its evolution as an employment area to focus on industrial, advanced engineering, R&D businesses and the Locksbrook Creative Industry Hub. No residential or PBSA would be permitted.
• Other sites on the edge of or close to Bath:
• A new site is proposed for employment purposes to the south west of the Odd Down Park and Ride, on the southern side of the A367.
• Land to the West of Bath is also considered as a potential location for helping to meet the development needs of the city, and a range of options are proposed, including a new option that maximises the development potential of this area. Evidence shows that development here would cause substantial harm to the World Heritage Sites. It is included within this Local Plan Options Document to help ascertain whether substantial public benefits from strategic scale development can be identified that might outweigh this substantial harm and to facilitate continued engagement with government on growing the city.
• The council has assessed the potential of other smaller, non-strategic opportunities on the edge of the city and has identified the Bath Equestrian Centre at Weston as a potential development site. It is included in this document to test whether the need for and benefits of providing housing now outweigh the acknowledged harm to National Landscape (formerly AONB), the WHSs or the conservation area. Other potential opportunities assessed are not identified as options in this document because the significant degree of harm, primarily to the WHS or Cotswolds National Landscape, is considered to outweigh the limited public benefits of development.
• Sulis Club – this site is owned by the University of Bath. An option to consider removing the site from the Green Belt, subject to demonstration of exceptional circumstances, to facilitate development for PBSA and other university related uses is presented.
• A potential development location south of Burnett on the A39 was included in the previous consultation  for further exploration and to establish whether this has potential as a longer term location for growth. This concept generated a significant response from the public consultation and this has helped to inform a review of the process for identifying new settlements. New settlements will not form part of this Local Plan as it cannot be demonstrated that they will deliver housing and other development to meet needs during this plan period. However, one or more new settlements may form part of a longer-term strategy for development.  The council is therefore consulting on a ‘New Settlement Methodology’ to assist in identifying areas for future growth and it is within this context that areas such as ‘south of Burnett’ may be reconsidered in the future.