A Government minister has given the go-ahead to a plan to build an American company’s medi-tech office campus on the green belt around Bristol, despite the city council urging them to review the decision.
Multinational tech company Epic, which provides IT systems to many NHS trusts around the country, wants to build a giant office campus, complete with a separate 3,000-seat lecture theatre and auditorium, on green fields between the south-west edge of Bristol and the village of Long Ashton in North Somerset.
It was controversially given the go-ahead by North Somerset’s councillors last month, but the parish council and Bristol City Council – which also opposes the scheme – asked the Secretary of State Angela Rayner to ‘call-in’ the plans and review it, because it breached so many policies.
But in a letter, planning minister Matthew Pennycott MP decided it did not need to be ‘called in’, sparking fury in Long Ashton on Tuesday evening.
“The policy makes it clear that the power to call in a case will only be used very selectively,” the letter from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in Birmingham said. “This policy also gives examples of the types of issues which may lead her to conclude, in her opinion that the application should be called in. The Secretary of State has decided not to call in this application. She is content that it should be determined by the local planning authority,” it added.
The project will take 15 years to build but was vehemently opposed by villagers in Long Ashton, who said breaching the Green Belt there would set a precedent that will see their village swallowed up by Bristol’s housing developments.
But North Somerset’s planners said that, while it will breach the green belt and is against a ream of policies about developing wildlife-rich countryside, the boost to the economy was big enough to outweigh the loss to the environment and the precedent threat to Long Ashton.
“This means despite contravening a raft of national and local policies, the Planning Inspectorate won’t review the case,” said a spokesperson for the campaign group in Long Ashton. “Throughout the last two years, local communities have become disheartened by lack of regard for the local democratic process and, moving forwards, questions whether there’s any point in engaging with future consultations since our views, based on local and national policies, are simply ignored.
“We think this refusal to call it in is shocking because it certainly met all the criteria far less controversial smaller schemes have been called in previously. We no longer have any faith in the system. Previously the decision would have been made by senior planners/civil servants. Now a MP is allowed to make the call, yet he is just one individual with no planning experience, ignoring the concerns of Bristol City Council.
“If we were shocked before, we are beyond angry now since it’s obvious that Labour have no interest in anything bar a headlong rush to the chimera of economic growth,” she added.