Help us save South Stoke Plateau!

The South of Bath Alliance (SoBA) was formed to oppose the urban expansion of Bath into the Green Belt and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty adjacent to Odd Down, Bath.

UPDATE JANUARY 2025

The Public Inquiry that will determine the fate of the South Stoke plateau will start at 10am on Tuesday 28th January at the Guildhall, Bath.

Further funding urgently needed

The positive response to our fundraising appeal last year has been overwhelming. We much appreciate such a massive expression of support.

The funding received so far has enabled us to commission expert planning, traffic and legal advice to produce the evidence for the Planning Inspector which demonstrates that this application must be rejected.

With the draft timetable now published we estimate we need a further £3,000 to secure the best use of our barrister and experts at the Inquiry.

UPDATE - SEPTEMBER 2024

It is now over four months since the planning application to build 290 houses on the South Stoke plateau was rejected by B&NES. While this was a very welcome result, we always knew this would not be the end of the story.

As expected, the Hignett Family Trust will be making an appeal to the Planning Inspector to overturn this decision. They have submitted a formal notification to B&NES of this intention. The full appeal has to be submitted within 6 months of the Planning meeting decision. This means by 10th October but could be any time before then.

The appeal, which would be expected to last about 10 days, is most likely to be in the form of a public inquiry before a Planning Inspector. B&NES will defend the decision by the committee to reject the application which we will support.

We passionately believe that the arguments that won the day in April are still fully valid.

SOBA and the Parish Councils will continue to work together to maintain the case to protect the plateau from over development. We plan to participate in the Public Inquiry and put forward convincing evidence that the Planning Committee made the correct decision in April.

The generous financial support we received in the earlier phases of the campaign enabled us to get expert advice to defend the plateau and was crucial in achieving such a successful outcome.

We are likely to need further expert advice to defend our case at appeal, but recognise that this will come at significant cost. In conjunction with the Parish Councils we therefore plan to launch a fund-raising initiative in the next month or so to continue the campaign through this next phase.

We are a voluntary group and welcome new members and supporters. We much appreciate your support throughout this long battle and in the meantime if you are able to donate to our campaign at any affordable level it will be put to good use and hugely appreciated.