CONGRESBURY Formatted: Width: 29.7 cm, Height: 21 cm Population of Settlement (Estimate Jan 2017) (Based on the average household size from 2011 census X number of properties paying council tax) Households within Settlement (Jan 2017) (Number of properties paying council tax Jan 2017) Settlement Intensification (within settlement boundary) Sites completed or under construction in the last 10 years (net figure) Sites with planning permission (not implemented) Settlement Expansion (adjacent settlement boundary) Sites completed or under construction in the last 10 years (net figure) Sites with planning permission (not implemented) 3,007 1,253 68 2 27 88 Settlement Description: Congresbury is a medium sized village located on the A370 approximately 7km east of Junction 21 of the M5, 12km east of Weston-super-Mare and 26km south of Bristol city centre. The Congresbury Yeo River flows through the village and Cadbury Hill Fort is a prominent feature within the local landscape. Services and facilities Congresbury is a relatively well served village with a variety of services and facilities and is designated as a Service Village in the Core Strategy. The built up area of the village is in two parts with the main bulk of the village starting on the A370 and extending south along the B31338. The other built up area which is mainly residential covers an area south of the A370 Bristol Road. There is open countryside between these two areas some of which is functional floodplain. In terms of educational facilities it contains a St Andrew s C of E Primary School (approx. 315 pupils), thea Community Ppre-school and a playgroup as well as the Yeo Valley and Rural Ooutreach Cchildren s Ccentre. The main secondary school that serves children in Congresbury is Churchill School in Churchill which is 4km away. A school bus provides transport for children to the secondary school. The nearest hospital is Weston General in Weston-super-Mare 14km away. Mendip ValeYeo Valley Medical Practice is located on Station Road and Day Lewis Pharmacy is located on Broad Street and other medical facilities include the Somerset Podiatry Clinic and AMS Physiotherapy clinic. There are numerous community meeting places including the Old School Rooms, Memorial Hall, Recreation Club and the, Methodist Hall. Church,Congresbury Youth Partnership provides activities for young people predominantly in the age range 8-14 in the village and has its base at the Youth Club. There is a the Scout Hut which provides a venue for scout and guide activities as well as an alternatibve meeting venue.and the youth club. Sporting clubs In addition to this there are tennis, football, cricket, snooker, skittles and the bowls clubs. There are also an outside ball court at Riverside, the Mendip Spring Golf Club and the Club and Spa at Cadbury House which is a members club only., the Riverside Ball Court and 1 Formatted: Font: (Default) +Body (Calibri), 11 pt
Cadbury House Hotel, located just outside the village, where some activities such as swimming lessons are held. Congresbury also has clubs and societies including the Senior Citizens Lunch Club, Yatton, Congresbury Claverham and Cleeve Archaeological Group, Congresbury Singers, Yatton and Congresbury Wildlife Action Group, Congresbury History Group, Women s Institute and various art and craft groups. The village has two local centre designations in the North Somerset Development Management Plan. One around tthe Cross extending along Broad Street and west along the A370. The other is the area known as the Precinct on Brinsea Road in the south of the village which is a purpose built shopping precinct which contains a convenience store, bakers, butchers, post office, fish and chip shop and kitchen shop., caterers, Ticknells Country Stores is adjacent to the precinct. and Somerset Podiatry Clinic. Shops and service providers in the local centre around Broad Street include hairdressers (x3), a take aways, an estate agent, carpet shop, windows and conservatories provider, pharmacy, art gallery, outdoorclothes shop, a charity shop and restaurant and take away. There are also a three pubs in Congresbury; The Old Inn, The Plough and The Ship and Castle. Further retail is located outside the local centres, including. This includes Tesco Express on the A370 and several unitsshops on Smallway including a pet shop, a conservatory outlet, paving supplier, garden centre and reuse project and Cadbury Garden Centre which, although originally a garden centre, has expanded to include a number of concessionary outlets. a large out of town retail destination. There are also pubs/restaurants in Congresbury; the Old Inn, the Plough, the White Hart, the Star, Mezze at the Ship and Castle and Heather s Coffee Shop. Formatted: Font: (Default) +Body (Calibri) Formatted: Font: (Default) +Body (Calibri), 11 pt In summary, manyost day to day facilities are provided in Congresbury, however the village does not have a dentist, bank, veterinary practice, supermarket and the opening hours of the doctors surgery are very limited. These and for any services andor facilities unavailable in Congresbury are available in Yatton, Yatton which is just a few kilometres away., However, Yatton now does not have a bank, the closest being at Worle or Clevedon. away caters for these. The main secondary school that serves children in Congresbury is Churchill School in Churchill which is 4km away. A school bus provides transport for children to the secondary school. The nearest hospital is Weston General in Weston-super-Mare 14km away. Employment Cadbury House Hotel (large 4 star DoubleTree Hilton Hotel located between Congresbury and Yatton) and Cadbury Garden Centre on Smallway are two largemajor employers in near to Congresbury. There are very limited employment opportunities elsewhere within the service sector within in the village and self-containment 1 for Congresbury parish is measured at 36% with 9.9% of people working from home. The majority of residents commute to Bristol for work. The majority of the village has superfast Broadband connection although some areas on the periphery along the A370 and B3133 are not covered. Mobile phone coverage can also be varied throughout the parish. Connectivity The nearest railway station is Yatton Station located approximately 2.7km from Congresbury Cross. Yatton Station is on the Bristol to Exeter line and has trains provided by First Great Western. connect to Bristol, Weston-super-Mare and beyond. Congresbury is well served by buses with numerous bus stops located around the village. The following services run from Congresbury: 88A - Nailsea - Portishead - Clevedon - Nailsea 1 Self containment is a measure of how many people live and work (including working from home) in the same geographical area based on 2011 census data. 2
88C - Nailsea - Yatton - Clevedon - Portishead - Portbury - Nailsea 128 - Bishop Sutton - Clevedon 135 - West Harptree - Weston-supre-Mare A3 - Weston-super-Mare - Congresbury - Bristol Airport X1 - Weston-super-Mare - Bristol X1A - Weston-super-Mare - Congresbury - Bristol X2 - Weston-super-Mare - Congresbury - Bristol X7 - Bristol - Nailsea - Yatton - Weston-super-Mare The Weston-super-Mare to Bristol routes are well se serviced ands include frequent services running Monday to Friday running before 9am and after 5pm so suitable for commuting to Bristol and Weston-super-Mare, plus frequent services on Saturday and Sundays. Other routes are infrequent and some only providing one service a week and therefore the village is only well connected to the main towns of Weston and Bristol city. In terms of cycling there are no dedicated cycle lanes on the roads around the village but there is access to the Strawberry line from the A370 and from several agricultural tracks. Silver Street via a narrow country lane. This provides access to Yatton Station to the north and down to Sandford, Winscombe and onto Axbridge and Cheddar in the south. There is no off road cycle lane to get to the village school or the secondary school in Churchill. There are pavements on most of the roads around the village, although there are is no pavements on the north western side of the High Street for a small section between the War Memorial Hall and Yeo Meads Cottage, along the bottom section of Venus Street, areas of Smallway, Wrington Lane and Wrington Road. There are other smaller residential roads around the village where sections of the road have limited or no pavement on one side. Most roads have some pavement on at least one side, although at times these are narrow and unsuitable for wheelchair users or pushchairs especially along areas of the B3133 where there is heavy traffic and large vehicles.. The traffic around Congresbury is heavy, on the A370 and transecting B3133particularly on the A370. Congresbury Cross is at capacity at peak periods. The main Brinsea Road/A370 junction is at peak capacity at peak periods and is a congestion area. The linked and the Smallway junction is an accident hotspot. The traffic becomes a particular problem when there is an accident or incident on the motorway and the village becomes very quickly clogged. Environmental constraints 3
The Congresbury Conservation Area stretches along Station Road and the High Street and the area around the Congresbury Cross. There are 25 Grade II listed buildings and 2 Grade I listed buildings in the village. including St Andrew s Church, the Refectory, Court House, the Old Rectory, the Birches and the Ship and Castle Mezze pub. The village (market) cross at the junction of Broad Street and High Street is a village landmark and is a designated Scheduled Ancient Monument. Parts of the village are located in Flood Zones and there have been historical incidents of fluvial and surface water flooding. The village is listed as one of the top 15 communities most vulnerable to flooding in the North Somerset Local Flood Risk Management Strategy. King's Wood and Urchin Wood is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) renowned for its botanical interest and the woodland that supports a particularly high diversity of vascular plants. Cadbury Hill is a nationally important site for archaeology (the hill fort is a Scheduled Monument) and it is also a Local Nature Reserve. Congresbury lies in the North Somerset levels and Moors, an area known locally as the Northmarsh. It is a unique region of countryside north of the Mendip Hills which forms part of the wider Somerset Levels and Moors, being predominately low lying marsh and moorland. Congresbury Moor has six fields 10 Acre, New Croft, Meaker, Phippens, Nortons and Footmead, which are now part of Biddle Street Site of Special Scientific Interest which was designated by English Nature in 1994. The Ball Wood and Corporation Woods Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI) also lies to the north west of the village. The north west of the village is bounded by Green Belt. Change since 2007: Housing Congresbury has experienced a relatively high level of growth in terms of housing numbers over the last 10 years. 95 new dwellings having been built or are currently under construction either within the settlement boundary or adjacent to it. There are also existing planning permissions for a further 90 dwellings which have not yet been implemented. Services and Facilities Some key facilities in the village including the pre-school and recreational facilities require major investment to ensure that the facilities are fit for the future. Proposals for a new village hall/community centre for Congresbury, to be built on part of the area of the King George V Playing fields in the village, were prepared by the Congresbury Village Hall Development Trust through a Community Right to Build Order in November 2015. The proposals are for a large multi-use hall and multi-use areas and community café with the main access off Stonewell Drive. A referendum was held on 15 September 2016 and residents voted in favour of the village hall proposals with almost 70% of votes cast being a "yes" vote. This means that the Community Right to Build Order now has the same status as an outline planning consent. Education St Andrew s primary school admits up to 45 pupils per year group. Demand for the village will often exceed the provision of a 210-place school, but is not sufficient to fill a 315-place establishment. The Future School s Service is working with the school to secure sustainability during the changes in pupil demand. The design of the site allows for further expansion to a 420-place school should demand require this in the longer-term. This change would need to be subject to full consultation. In the meantime the numbers of pupils attending St Andrew s C of E Primary School are to be kept under regular review. 4
Retail In 2010 The Bell Inn pub on the A370 was demolished and Tesco Express was built on the site. Cadbury Garden Centre on the Smallway between Congresbury and Yatton has also expanded significantly over the last ten years and now includes, as well as gardening products, a large restaurant, a homewares section, clothes and shoe shops, a soft play area for children, an adventure golf course, a butchers and a farmshopfood retail area. Despite the expansion of Cadbury Garden Centre and the new Tesco the shops in Congresbury are thriving Tand the total number of retail and business units within the defined local centres increased from 37 to 42 between 2008 and 2015, with only a 2% vacancy rate in 2016. Relationship with other settlements: Congresbury is 1.5km south of Yatton and there are strong links between the two settlements in terms of use of services and facilities. Although they have a similar level of service provision Yatton has a larger food store (The Co-op), Doctors Surgery which opens all day and some evenings, a dentist, veterinary practices and offers further choice in terms of shops, food outlets, pubs, clubs and play areas. Neither settlements now have a bank. The main road between the two settlements is busy and does not have a pavement at some points;, however the Strawberry line cycle path also connects the two settlements which provides a traffic free walking and cycling route, although this might not be used so much during the darker winter months. The Strawberry Line at Congresbury does not have an easy connection from the village, currently access is by small drove roads that are not maintained, the line can also be accessed along the A370 which is a very busy road that is not conducive for many cyclists and therefore these difficulties reduces considerable the numbers that are potentially using the Strawberry Line for recreational and commuting use. Bus services to the north side of the village from Congresbury is limited. Congresbury also has a functional relationship with Churchill which provides particular services, such as Secondary School and a large leisure centre, for residents of Congresbury. Churchill is about 3.5km south of Congresbury and is mainly accessible by car. 5
Schedule of Facilities: Facility Group Number of facilities If none, distance from centre of village (BS49 5JA) Name of Facilities Community Facilities The Oold sschools Rrooms, Memorial Hhall, Methodist 5 Hall, Church, Scout Huthut & Yyouth Cclub, Recreation Community Meeting Place Club. Library 1 Congresbury Community Library, Station Road Post Office 1 Post Office, Brinsea Road Plough Inn, Old Inn and the Mezze at The Ship & Castle, 3 Public House White Hart, Star Place of Worship 2 Methodist Church, Anglican Church of St Andrew Bank 0 72.5km Lloyds in YattonClevedon or Worle ATM 1 Tesco Express, Kent Road Leisure/Sports Facilities Leisure Centre Playing Pitches/Sports Clubs/Recreations Grounds Park/public open space/children s play areas Health Facilities 0 4.5km GP Surgery/Health Facility 1 Pharmacy 1 Day Lewis Education Facilities Pre-school/Nursery 6 3 2 Churchill School, Club and Spa at Cadbury House Football/ Ccricket/ Ttennis/ Bbowls clubs, Riverside Ball Court, Cadbury house club Millennium Ggreen, King George V Playing fields, Cadbury Square Yeo Vale Mendip Vale Medical Practice (limited opening times) St Andrews toddler drop in centre, Congresbury Community Pre-School Primary School 1 St Andrews C of E Secondary School 0 4km Churchill Retail Facilities Supermarket 0 2.5km Co-op, Yatton Convenience store 3 Tesco Express/ Premier/ Nisa Designated town/district/local centre 2 Broad Street and Brinsea Road Precinct Restaurants/cafes/takeaways 4 Oldfields fish & chips, Kismet, Congresbury kebabs and 6
pizza, Costa cafe in Cadbury garden centre, Heathers coffee shop Rowntrees Access to Employment Safeguarded employment sites 0 2.9km Yatton Major employers (100+) 2 0.6km and 1.4km Cadbury Garden Centre and Cadbury House Hotel Sustainable Travel Railway Station 0 2.7km Yatton Station Frequent weekday bus service (2 buses every hour from X1/X2 Weston-super-Mare to Bristol Service. 1 7am until 7pm) Hourly weekend bus service between 9am-5pm. 1 X1/X2 Weston-super-Mare to Bristol Service. Bus stops within 400m of central point (The Cross) There are numerous accessible bus stops around 5 Congresbury. Broadband Access to superfast (24 +Mbps) Broadband (All of village = G, part of village = A, none of village = R) The whole Most of the settlement has the ability to access superfast broadband. 7
Facilities Map: Tescos is not a supermarket but a food retailer 8
Environmental Constraints Map: 9
Transport Map: Bus stop at Venus street, Kent Road and in Rowntrees? Are these for the school, if so need to be removed. 10
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Isochrone Map of Walking: 12
Isochrone Map of Cycling and Driving Distance 5km: 13