A Bristol MP and Government minister has again called for the Government’s housing agency to drop controversial plans to build hundreds of homes on a green field site in South Bristol, but admitted it is unlikely that the development can be stopped.
Kerry McCarthy, the Labour MP for Bristol East and Climate Minister, told Bristol Live that, while she still thinks the proposed development at Brislington Meadows should not go ahead at all, the campaign to scrap it is unlikely to succeed so efforts should go into persuading the Government’s housing agency Homes England to scale back their plans.
Bristol Live revealed last week that Homes England were still pressing ahead with its plan to build 260 new homes on Brislington Meadows, an area of green fields left undeveloped by the expansion of South Bristol’s Broomhill council estate and a nearby industrial estate.
Homes England said marketing of the site is ongoing, as the Government agency seeks a housebuilding company to build the homes, and a detailed planning application would be submitted this summer. The agency also told Bristol Live that it was continuing to make representations to Bristol City Council to make sure the site continues to be earmarked for housing in its draft Local Plan.
Kerry McCarthy said she had been trying to persuade Homes England to drop the plans altogether, but they were unlikely to budge, so the aim now was to lessen the impact on the environment in the area. “I met with Homes England in November to discuss their plans and, as I understand it, they are hoping to announce their development partner shortly,” she told Bristol Live.
“They then aim to work with them and the local community to develop a more detailed planning application over the Spring and hope to submit this in the summer. During our meeting I pushed Homes England to either cancel the development or reduce its footprint; either by densifying it, or reducing the number of homes,” she said.
Homes England was controversially awarded planning permission for the 260 new homes in 2023, on appeal after the plan was rejected by Bristol City Council. The plan is controversial because Bristol City Council earmarked the land for housing in 2014, and former Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees encouraged Homes England in 2019 to buy it, spending £15 million of taxpayers money, to speed up the building of homes there.
But, within a year, back in 2021, Marvin Rees announced a U-turn and said he would prevent homes being built there, in an election campaign announcement on the Meadows, in which he was flanked by Kerry McCarthy – something that, ultimately he was unable to do, after a Government Planning Inspector ruled Homes England’s plans should get the green light.
“I am still of the view that the development should not go ahead,” added Ms McCarthy, whose Bristol East constituency includes the meadows site. “Brislington Meadows is a key green, protected space in the city and should remain undeveloped. I am entirely supportive of the Government’s aim to build thousands of homes in and around Bristol to address the housing crisis here, and across the country, but as we develop more homes locally it will become even more vital to protect key urban green spaces like the Meadows or the Nightingale Valley,” she explained.
The MP said the calls to stop the development were not going to work, so the efforts now should be on reducing its impact. “It is now almost two years since the planning inspector overturned the council’s decision about the site, and since I petitioned Michael Gove to overturn that decision.
“The Government refused to do so on the basis that this power should only be used in exceptional circumstances, and that this did not apply here. Given the passage of time and the lack of any change in the situation I do not believe that a further appeal to the new Secretary of State would be appropriate or fruitful as they would receive the same advice. I have not been asked by the city council to make such an appeal.
“As such the attention now turns to the restricted planning application and the Council. I have heard worrying rumours that the site might now be reclassified for development in the emerging Local Plan – which does not presently include enough housing allocations – by either the council or the Planning Inspector.
“I have written to the council to emphasise that it should not be included and to ask about their position on any reserved matters application. They have assured me there are no present plans to include the Meadows in the next Local Plan, but I will keep an eye on this and would oppose it being included,” she added.
The draft Local Plan for 2024 – which will eventually succeed the 2014 map that does include Brislington Meadows as a housing site – contains something of an anomaly. It has the Meadows site as a green space that shouldn’t be built on, while at the same time the map acknowledges that there is the 2023 planning permission to build houses on it.
“I will continue to look for effective avenues to stop the development, but my personal view is that it is now unlikely we will be able to prevent it,” acknowledged Ms McCarthy. “I believe this is the view of the council too. Over the coming months we therefore need to look at how to mitigate its impact, for example by reducing its footprint as far as possible and by ensuring the biodiversity net gain is as extensive, local and monitored as possible.
“I will be sending a very clear message about what I want to see from any restricted planning application: a small, green development with a small surface area that has a local, positive and measurable impact on biodiversity. I will be working to emphasise this as far as possible and hope the Council and wider community will support me in doing so,” she added.
TIMELINE – The Saga of Brislington Meadows
2014 – Under George Ferguson’s Bristol City Council administration, Brislington Meadows was added to the Local Plan – and voted through by all parties at City Hall. A campaign to ‘save’ Brislington Meadows began, run by local residents.
2016 – New Mayor Marvin Rees and a new Labour administration took over at City Hall. The then housing chief Paul Smith began working on a deal with the owner of most of the land at Brislington Meadows, London-based development company Olympia & Hammersmith, to get new homes built.
2019 – Bristol City Council owned some of the land at Brislington Meadows, including key access points, and persuaded Homes England to step in and buy the land required from Olympia & Hammersmith so the land could be built on.
Feb 2020 – Bristol City Council declared an ecological emergency
Mar 2020 – Homes England bought all of Brislington Meadows, spending a total of £15m buying the land from O&H, the council itself, and local business owner Johnny Palmer.
Autumn 2020 – Plans were revealed by Homes England for 300 homes to be built there, including 90 council houses
Jan 2021 – Homes England announced the start of a consultation process on its plans for 300 homes, but then said that will be delayed so it doesn’t happen during the election campaign.
April 2021 – Just 20 days before polling day, mayor Marvin Rees, local MP Kerry McCarthy and Labour’s two candidates for Brislington East announced that Brislington Meadows won’t be built on, because the Avon Wildlife Trust had said the land there was too ecologically important to be destroyed by development. Homes England cancelled its planned consultations.
May 2021 – Both Labour candidates, Tim Rippington and Katja Hornchen, were elected in Brislington East, as was mayor Marvin Rees.
Summer 2021 – Avon Wildlife Trust said other greenfield sites in South Bristol, including the Western Slopes in Knowle West and Yew Tree Farm on Bedminster Down, should not be built on either – both have developers with plans for hundreds of new homes. Mayor Marvin Rees said Yew Tree Farm should not be developed. A Tory and Green Party motion calling for all green field sites in Bristol to be protected from new housing was passed by the council, with Labour councillors abstaining.
Oct 2021 – Homes England announced it still wants to develop Brislington Meadows, with consultation on its plans starting at the end of November.
Nov 2021 – Homes England unveiled its plans for 260 new homes, including 78 affordable, and announced a consultation in early December.
Apr 2022 – Homes England submitted an outline planning application
June 2022 – Residents hold a protest march through Brislington Meadows to highlight the strength of opposition to the plans for housing.
Oct 2022 – After realising it would eventually be refused, Homes England appealed to the Government Planning Inspectorate for non-determination, as soon as it was six months since they submitted the application, and it hadn’t been decided.
Nov 2022 – Bristol City Council begins drawing up its Local Plan for 2024, mapping where homes can be built, and promises to take Brislington Meadows back out of the list.
Jan 2023 – The Government Planning Inspector held a public inquiry into whether the land should be developed.
April 2023 – The planning inspector ruled that, because it is in the 2014 Local Plan as housing land, Homes England should get planning permission for their plan.
June 2023 – Residents and Kerry McCarthy MP urge Communities minister Michael Gove to look again at the plan, and tell Homes England to drop the development. He thinks about it, but declines.
Summer 2024 – Homes England say they will submit a ‘reserved matters’ planning application, confirming the details for the housing development by the end of 2024.
Jan 2025 – There is a delay to the detailed planning application. Homes England still has not confirmed which housebuilder it will partner with. The agency say it ‘intends’ to submit a reserved matters application in the summer of 2025.