Highways experts have no objection to 99-home estate planned for Saltford

The highways department of Bath & North East Somerset Council has not raised any objections to controversial plans for a 99-home estate on green fields in Saltford.

More than 100 responses to the scheme at Manor Road have flooded in to the council, with concerns focusing on the loss of Green Belt land, traffic safety and the effect on local services.

But highways officer David Horne says there are would no objections from his department, providing that developers Crest Nicholson make contributions of £45,000 towards traffic management locally and £100,000 towards public transport improvements, plus a "strategic contribution" of around £268,000.

Traffic concerns feature highly among objectors with one resident from Witney Close said: "Every new household now has two or three cars: 100 households pouring into Manor Road opposite the rear, much-used school entrance is surely a real hazard."

And a Montague Road couple told the council: "It is estimated that the estate will bring an additional 200 vehicles into Saltford, plus those visiting or servicing the estate, creating hundreds of extra vehicle movements each day.

"Much of this extra traffic will use local roads such as Grange Road, Manor Road and Tyning Road to obtain access to and from the A4, thus adding to congestion at the main road junctions.

"The entrance to the estate is at a narrow section of Manor Road, and is close to the rear entrance of Saltford School and Tiddlers Pre-school. This part of Manor Road is heavily used for parking during the school runs and the extra vehicles from the estate will cause considerable additional traffic congestion and there are major concerns about road safety."

A public meeting hosted by the parish council is to be held at Saltford Hall at 5pm tomorrow (January 5), to give people the chance to talk about the scheme.