See us on Facebook or Instagram

Latest on the Green Belt paddocks
Objections to the planning application from Crest Nicholson on Saltford's Green Belt, on Manor Road Green Belt paddocks, were well over 500. The community says NO (again). We await news on when the BaNES Council Planning Committee will meet to resolve the Council's response to this controversial speculative planning application.

'Save Our Green Belt' posters
You can choose and download our poster images as a pdf (A4 size) to print off yourself and display in your front window. These can be found on our Green Belt page (near the top).

(Click on these news links or scroll down the page)
 

River Avon Charter endorsed by BaNES Council

Big Butterfly Count (17 Jul - 9 Aug)

WECA exploring the possibility of a new railway station in Saltford

BaNES Council consults on new Climate and Nature Strategy

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEKEND

SPC & over 500 say "NO" to 90 houses on local Green Belt

More news in our news archive >>

River Avon Charter endorsed by BaNES Council

July 2026

At its full Council meeting on 16th July, BaNES Council unanimously gave its support to the River Avon Charter and agreed some actions the Council would take as a result of that endorsement, e.g. the Leader of the Council to write to Wessex Water to call for regular meetings and greater accountability measures to reduce the frequency and volume of overflow discharge of untreated or partially treated sewage and ensure improved health of the river and its riparian ecosystem.

The charter has been drawn up by an organisation called "We Are Avon" and states the following:-

Charter of Rights for the Bristol Avon and Bioregion

1. Right to exist, thrive, and evolve naturally
To maintain and support ecological function of the river at all stages along its life course from source to sea

2. Right to flow sustainably
Through naturally functioning patterns that support the resilience of the river's ecosystem where reasonably practical

3. Right not to be polluted
To achieve good ecological health, free from detrimental levels of known and emerging pollutants

4. Right to biodiversity integrity
To promote good biological health through the existence and flourishing of diverse species and unique habitats

5. Right to regeneration and restoration
To recover ecological function and be resilient to the ecological threats caused by human-derived climate instability

6. Right to cultural and community connection
To recognise the value and interconnectedness of all living entities, including human, with the river and the bioregion

7. Right to representation and advocacy
To have active and influential voices to speak on behalf of the river

The River Avon through Saltford is the reason why Saltford exists where it is and is an important wildlife habitat as well as being a place of calm, reflection and recreation for local people and visitors alike. SEG therefore hopes the River Avon Charter with its endorsement from BaNES Council can help enable our community's wish for the river to be cleaner and safer for users, visitors and wildlife.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Information about "We Are Avon", a place-based organisation and bioregional movement of river guardians and land stewards, working to regenerate the Avon catchment together, can be found on its website weareavon.com.

Return to top of page

Big Butterfly Count (17 Jul - 9 Aug)

July 2026

Red Admiral. Copyright Elizabeth Cooksey.

The Big Butterfly Count is a UK-wide citizen survey aimed at helping us assess the health of our environment simply by counting the amount and type of butterflies (and some day-flying moths) we see.

Sir David Attenborough is President of the charity Butterfly Conservation that runs this important annual count, and Chris Packham and Nick Baker are joint Vice Presidents.

This year's big butterfly count is from 17 July to 9 August and could be something to also get younger members of the family engaged in over the summer holidays. Participants choose a place to spot butterflies and moths. Watch for 15 minutes. Then record which species they see. You can do as many counts as you want and will be able to submit records throughout July and August.

There's even a free smartphone app for the big butterfly count (and/or a handy butterfly ID chart to download) so that you can carry out and submit your count all in one go while out and about watching butterflies. Details at this link >>

SEG's wildlife page has photographs of all 25 butterflies that occur and have been observed in Saltford in recent years - see wildlife page - butterflies.

Thank you for taking part in the Big Butterfly Count.

Return to top of page

WECA exploring the possibility of a new railway station in Saltford

July 2026

According to the WECA (West of England Combined Authority) 'Have Your Say West' website WECA is "exploring the possibility of a new railway station in Saltford. A feasibility study for reopening Saltford railway station has been completed, with report publication expected by the end of this year [2025] or early next year [2026]." Clearly there has been slippage on this but SEG will publish news on the report's publication when that becomes known.

In the meantime, other proposals from WECA concerning travel on the A4 Bristol to Bath affecting Keynsham are due to be published on WECA's 'Have Your Say West' web page later in July for a summer public consultation (28 July to 22 September - dates TBC).

FURTHER INFORMATION

Saltford Parish Council's news story "Update from WECA on 'A4 Bath to Bristol' corridor transport proposals - July 2026" can be found on SPC's website from this link >>

Return to top of page

BaNES Council consults on new Climate and Nature Strategy

June 2026

BaNES Council is developing a new Climate and Nature Strategy, and wants to hear from residents. Climate change and nature loss are already affecting our area, and these impacts are expected to increase in the coming years.

The survey asks for your views on what matters most when it comes to tackling climate change and restoring nature. It builds on earlier feedback from community conversations and a residents' survey. BaNES says your responses will help test whether it has the right priorities and will shape the strategy, which it is planning to publish in autumn 2026.

The survey is open from 3rd June until 5pm on Friday 24 July. Completing the survey should take around 15 to 20 minutes (according to BaNES) and can be found from this link BaNES Climate and Nature Strategy survey >>

Return to top of page

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEKEND

June 2026

Posted by SEG on Facebook, Saturday 6th June after the deadline had passed for submitting comments on the Manor Road Green Belt paddocks planning application:-

The only housing shortage is for affordable homes & these should be built where the jobs are, on city/town brownfield sites. Building on green field sites in the Green Belt is short-sighted economic madness.

Return to top of page

SPC & over 500 say "NO" to 90 houses on local Green Belt

June 2026 - last updated 22nd June

At its meeting on 2nd June, Saltford Parish Council discussed and resolved a robust and detailed evidence based objection response to the outline planning application 26/01700/OUT from Crest Nicholson Operations Ltd and the landowner(s) to build up to 90 houses on Saltford's precious Green Belt, on the fields/paddocks south of Manor Road.

SPC said it strongly objects to the planning application and reminded BaNES Council that in March 2014 the Secretary of State had concluded that the (similar) proposals from Crest Nicholson were inappropriate development in the Green Belt. The proposed development was in the Secretary of State's opinion harmful to the Green Belt's openness and harmful to the Green Belt's purpose of preventing encroachment into the countryside that, represented considerable harm, to which he attributed substantial weight.

Due to the fact that this parcel of land was NOT included in the Options Menu from BaNES Council for the draft Local Plan 2025-2043, SPC said BaNES Council should take into account its own landscape value and protection reasons for the exclusion of the land from the Options Menu.

The SPC set out the reasoning for its strong objection response under 5 subject headings:-

• Green Belt & the correct use & interpretation of the grey belt policy definition

• Protecting the landscape setting & wildlife (& Environmental Impact Assessment request)

• Housing need & Saltford's historic growth

• Transport including safety, access & traffic congestion

• Other matters including flood risk management & sensitive archaeology

As supporting evidence, SPC also included with its response two key papers:-

• "The Saltford Area of Great Landscape Value - Planning Policy and Character Appraisal by Saltford Parish Council (March 2024) + Annex (Photographic Record)", and

• "Landscape and Heritage Sensitivity Assessment of Saltford South of the A4" (June 2024).

SEG fully supports the detailed and strong case presented by SPC. You can find the full text and content of SPC's response on the SPC website by clicking on this link >>

Local MP for NE Somerset and Hanham, Dan Norris MP, informed SEG on 5th June that he had sent his own objection response to BaNES and its receipt had been acknowledged. The BaNES Council deadline for responding to the planning application was Friday 5th June 2026.

Over 500 objections were submitted to BaNES Council to this planning application (519 objections + 12 from couples = 531 as on 19 June)*.

*Note: There has been a delay in responses appearing on the BaNES website as they need to be validated to ensure there are no breaches of Data Protection nor any unacceptable language before posting online and there was a high volume of objection responses. Some responses are not added sequentially.

Return to top of page

Worried about your home heating and energy costs?
Check out our Energy page for energy saving tips, sources of advice, grants and more.
 

For previous news stories from SEG visit our

Find us on facebook >>

Current areas of local volunteer assistance sought by SEG

Whilst our partner organisations such as Saltford Wombles (for tackling litter), Saltford4Nature (for making for Saltford's green public spaces more pollinator friendly) and the Fairtrade Group always welcome volunteer assistance, SEG sometimes has specific roles or posts that need filling. Here are the current vacancies:-

Updated January 2025

Executive Committee: Want to help steer SEG?

SEG is seeking new Executive Committee members to help steer and develop SEG's role in the community as we address the environmental concerns of our local community. If you think you might like to get involved and join our Executive Committee (enthusiasm and a "can do" attitude is more important than expertise!), please contact our Chairman, Phil Harding, for an informal non-committal chat.

The Executive Committee only meets 4 times a year and its working method is more about sharing ideas and getting things done in a friendly and productive atmosphere than being bogged down with time-consuming administration.

Website skills wanted!

Our website is a popular resource for our local community which means that in addition to keeping it relevant we want to make sure it continues to function as it should.

If you live in or near Saltford, care about your local environment and have current knowledge of website design and might be interested in using your IT skills for a bit of IT volunteering to help us behind the scenes please get in touch with our Chairman by email to philharding27@gmail.com for a no-obligation chat on possible volunteer help.

Return to top of page

Contact Us

All general & urgent (e.g. Press) enquiries by email to our Chairman please from whom SEG's postal address, if required, can be obtained on authenticated* request *(to avoid junk mailing etc.).

CONTACTS:

Chairman: Phil Harding
philharding27@gmail.com

Website Editor is Phil Harding but see website editorial/contact info. below BEFORE contacting SEG about this website

Secretary: Vacant post

Treasurer: Andrew Stainer
andrew.stainer@outlook.com

SEG Green Belt Campaign: Contact our Chairman (contact details above)

Saltford Station Campaign: Chris Warren
cherokee1883@live.com

Saltford Fairtrade Group:
saltfordfairtrade@hotmail.co.uk

History of Saltford
Project Curators: Phil Harding & Andrew Stainer (contact details above).

Saltford Wombles is independent of SEG but contact details can be found on our Less Waste page.

Saltford4Nature community gardening group is a sub-group of SEG; contact details can be found on our Gardening page.

Cookies and Privacy Policy Statement

SEG respects the privacy of visitors to our website. We do not use cookies to collect personal or other data about visitors to our website; the only data we collect via our ISP's hosting service, and without the use of cookies, is the number of visits to each of our web pages but not who the individual visitors are.

*EDITORIAL POLICY including SEO, web design and marketing for www.saltfordenvironmentgroup.org.uk

As a general rule our editorial content is sourced locally in Saltford and NE Somerset or from reputable non-commercial organisations based in the UK.

Will Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), website design, "content providers" and other similar companies please note that this website has all the SEO ranking, social media links, and smartphone compatibility that it requires to meet its specific objectives and enquiry emails on this topic including link requests will not receive a reply to save your time and ours.

SEG is not a commercial enterprise therefore companies that produce bespoke marketing materials or sponsored editorial content should also note that marketing emails or requests for placing links to other websites* will not receive a reply as it is our policy not to reply to marketing emails of this nature unless they are from a Saltford-based organisation seeking to assist SEG.

*SEG is not in a position to authenticate the accuracy and legitimacy of third party websites and/or third party editorial content.

Do you care about the village of Saltford, its environment, wildlife and future as a thriving, more sustainable community? Then follow us on Facebook, look out for our news items in Saltford Association Community News (SCAN) and regularly visit our website. Sometimes we have vacancies on our Executive Committee, so if you are interested in joining the committee, contact our Chairman for advice.

Find & follow us on Facebook >>

Find & follow us on Instagram >>

SUPPORT FROM BUSINESS:
We welcome support from local businesses to help cover our costs. If your local business would like to support SEG (e.g. a logo + link on this page is very inexpensive), please contact our Chairman (see above for contact details).