Portishead Independents

15/06/2026

Have your say - please respond directly, using the link provided, as Facebook comments won't be read or considered by NSC when making their decision.

📢 Have Your Say: Proposed changes to Portishead High Street by North Somerset Council

Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) are being proposed for the High Street, Portishead. These are part of the NSC Bus Service Improvement Programme (BSIP) and include road safety improvements plus changes to parking restrictions, pedestrian crossings and road safety improvements.

The scheme is still being finalised and may result in one or two fewer parking spaces overall, so your feedback is important.

🗓 Consultation closes: Friday 26 June 2026 at 5:00pm

👉 Take part here: www.portishead.gov.uk/consultations

Help shape the future of the High Street—share your views today.

07/06/2026

Come along to chat to your councillors about anything and everything Portishead at the Show Field after the Carnival.

Between 1pm & 6pm on Saturday 13th June.

04/06/2026

Tower Farm / Black Rock Proposed Developments – An Update

As some of you may be aware, North Somerset Council has now submitted the latest version of its draft Local Plan to the Government Planning Inspector for Examination. Disappointingly, the proposed Tower Farm and Black Rock developments remain in the Plan.

NSC has also failed to correct the numerous errors and questionable statements within their Plan and their supporting evidence that were pointed out by Portishead Town Council and many Portishead residents.

As part of the Examination process a series of public hearings days will be held. These will be meetings in public where various representatives will discuss matters with the Planning Inspector in a two-way dialogue. We have been told that these hearing days will not be before October. PTC has asked to be represented to ensure that the Planning Inspector is fully aware of the errors and inaccuracies in the Plan, and of the many reasons why the developments should not go ahead. We will find out the process for others wanting to be represented at a hearing day and will also publish more information when the timeline for the Examination becomes clear.

You may also have seen that the owner and would-be developer of Tower Farm, Parker Strategic Land, has set up a website: https://www.towerfarmportishead.co.uk/ . This states that they will be running a public consultation about their development plan. There’s a form on the website where you can sign up for updates, which will presumably ensure that you are contacted directly when their consultation begins, and an email address if you would like to (politely) provide them with your thoughts without waiting.

Finally, we are still awaiting NSC’s decision regarding whether an Environmental Impact Assessment is required for Tower Farm. We’ll update you when the decision has been made.

01/05/2026

The next Portishead Residents Bus Meeting is at 6pm on Thursday 7th May at the Folk Hall.

You can attend in person (no need to book) or watch online.

29/04/2026

North Somerset Council Local Plan – Current State of Play

North Somerset Council is currently finalising its Local Plan 2041, the document that will shape all development within North Somerset over the next 15 years. It is intending to submit the Plan to the Planning Inspectorate on 18th May.

The next stage is for the Planning Inspectorate to hold hearings to review the content of the Plan, which are expected to be in October/November. Portishead Town Council will be represented at the hearings to ensure that the case that it and many residents made against the Plan’s proposed Tower Farm and Black Rock developments is put as strongly as possible. (See https://www.portishead.gov.uk/local-plan for more information on PTC’s response.)

Following the conclusion of the hearings the Plan will then move to the final adoption stage. The timing of this is at present unknown, and depends on the outcome of the hearings and how much further work on it, if any, is required. It is unlikely to be before Spring next year however.

We will let you know when further updates are available.

25/04/2026

More Grants for Local Businesses

Further grants from the Portishead Economic Development Fund have been awarded to local businesses in the last couple of months. The latest recipients of grants are:

* King Tree Services – to upgrade facilities by installing a replacement shipping container for tool storage and a dedicated office container to improve staff welfare;
* Portishead Brewing Co. Ltd – to increase its production capacity by installing three additional beer fermentation vessels;
* Cafe Lido Ltd – to enhance the cafe's infrastructure and service capacity following a recent refurbishment of the Portishead Open Air Pool;
* Robert John Hairdressing Ltd – to refurbish a top-floor beauty room;
* Roltec Cycles Ltd – investing in specialised lifting equipment for e-bikes, improving workshop security with a roller shutter, and implementing a digital marketing strategy;
* Powell and Associates Financial Planning – towards hiring and training an apprentice to complete a Level 4 Diploma in Financial Services.

29 local businesses/entrepreneurs have now benefitted from grants ranging from £650 to £10,000. A couple more applications are still being considered, and if they are successful the full fund of just under £153,000 will have been allocated. Applications have therefore been paused but may reopen if those last couple of awards are not made or if existing projects are unable to proceed.

08/04/2026

🚨 Join the Lake Grounds Community Conversation!

Portishead Town Council is hosting a community conversation about the future of the Lake Grounds, and they'd love for you to be part of it.

Monday 20th April 2026
Somerset Hall
Tea & coffee from 18:00
Meeting from 18:30-20:00

Come along to hear updates from local Lake Grounds community groups and share your thoughts on priorities for the future as the Lake Grounds come under Town Council ownership.

This is your chance to get involved, ask questions, and help shape what comes next for one of Portishead's most loved spaces.

⚠️Please note: Somerset Hall has limited capacity, so we recommend promptly from 18:00 to guarantee a seat.

Let's shape the future of the Lake Grounds together! 🌳

06/04/2026

The next Resident drop-in session is taking place on Saturday 11 April from 9am - 12.30pm at Waitrose Piazza Farmer's Market.

Come along and chat with your local councillors about anything Portishead!

12/03/2026

Another £57k Awarded to Local Businesses

In January we posted about the first £50k of grants from the Portishead Economic Development Fund – a fund set up by a Section 106 developer agreement to support economic growth and development in Portishead and Portbury. A further £57k of grants have now been awarded to local businesses as follows:

• Flailsafe – to help with the purchase of chainsaw and chainsaw accredited training, helping to extend the services offered and drive more income to allow business to purchase more equipment;
• Racecourse Apiaries – enabling the business to purchase key equipment for processing of local honey, improving the efficiency and productivity of the business;
• Faith John – to help a start-up tack, clothing and horse feed shop business with new signage, banner and branded clothing to help raise awareness of the shop, which should also bring new footfall to the High Street;
• Ebb and Flo – to help to update the shop’s lighting, fixtures and fittings, improve flow of the store and enhance merchandising;
• The Sports Shop – to improve the signage and visibility of this shop on the High Street, assisting with footfall and sales;
• Stoked Foods – funding for the website, to help this small business launch a new plant-based food product range, diversifying the business, increasing sales and driving growth. Also for development and kitchen hire costs that directly enable the creation of the new products;
• Shane Dowley Consulting – funding to help the business provide specialist support to enable more individuals who are neurodivergent to stay in work or enter the labour market;
• Portisbar Ltd (The Settle Inn) – to develop a kitchen to introduce a light lunch trade, and to build a website to showcase the pub and Portishead High Street to attract M5 travellers and visitors from surrounding areas;
• We Love Bikes Ltd (Port Velo Cycle Works Ltd) – refurbishing an industrial unit in Portbury to create a professional bike retail and service hub. Key features include modular displays for spares, a food-safe refreshment point, and energy-efficiency upgrades to improve customer comfort;
• SoleLution Limited – a six-month digital growth programme designed to boost High Street footfall through targeted Meta advertising and SEO, also commissioning local digital content and acquiring in-house photography equipment to create consistent 360-degree product imagery for their ecommerce site;
• Tonic Hair and Beauty House Ltd – to expand the area's only laser clinic by converting an unused shower room into additional treatment space. The grant will fund Level 4 laser qualifications for employees, allowing the clinic to offer a broader range of professional services safely;
• Bertie's Pet Store Ltd – altering the shop floor and installing a new counter area to improve customer flow. The store also plans to extend its RAW feeding room, allowing them to expand their specialised food range and meet increasing local demand;
• BossCut Barbers Ltd – to enhance a functional sensory room for clients with additional needs. It also includes one-to-one barbering mentorship for new talent and upgraded salon lighting to improve staff precision and safety;
• Bristol TaxSavers Limited (Portishead TaxSavers) – CPD training to improve staff skills and gain qualifications;
• Muse (Amanda Johnston) – to improve safety for elderly and mobility-impaired customers, the owner will replace a steep tarmac ramp with a graduated slope and a new handrail;
• Together Portishead CIC – to provide marketing materials for a townwide Business Show and Awards evening to consolidate the Portishead business community's voice.

Some of the fund is still left and there’s still time to apply. For more information and details of how to apply, visit https://n-somerset.gov.uk/my-services/north-somerset-together/portishead-economic-development-fund .

10/03/2026

Tower Farm proposed development - Update

The owner and would-be developer of Tower Farm has submitted an application to North Somerset Council questioning whether an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) would be required for the site should it be removed from the Green Belt. According to the Government’s website “The aim of Environmental Impact Assessment is to protect the environment by ensuring that a local planning authority when deciding whether to grant planning permission for a project, which is likely to have significant effects on the environment, does so in the full knowledge of the likely significant effects, and takes this into account in the decision making process.”

We believe that an EIA must be required for this proposal.

Frustratingly, these applications are not subject to public consultation, with only a small number of statutory consultees approached for their views. This list does not include town councils, but Portishead Town Council has nevertheless responded to NSC to strongly urge them to require an EIA due to the considerable damage that developing Tower Farm would do to Weston Big Wood and pointing out a number of inaccuracies within the developer’s supporting evidence.

You can view PTC’s response on the NSC Planning Portal:

https://planning.n-somerset.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=TA8XSJLP00G00

Also available to view there is the response of Natural England, who have pointed out the proximity of the site to numerous Sites of Special Scientific Interest and other conservation sites/designated landscapes.

Finally, there is an objection from Exolum Pipeline System Ltd, who are concerned about the potential impact on their high-pressure oil pipeline that runs underneath the site. (The attached map shows the course of the pipeline.)

Hopefully these responses will together persuade the NSC Planning department to decide that an EIA is required. We will keep you informed when we have any more news.