People living in a row of bungalows backing on to one of South Bristol’s biggest development sites have complained that the new three-storey homes will overlook them, are being built too close, and work to cut back the hedgerow between them sent debris and pieces of metal flying into their gardens.
The residents of a short stretch of the Wells Road in Hengrove have been involved in a long-running row with the city council-owned housing company Goram Homes for 18 months. At one stage things got so heated that the police became involved.
The residents claim they have been misled by Goram Homes – a claim the company denies – and, as it stands, work is set to begin on building the homes in the coming weeks, with no resolution in the dispute.
Goram Homes was given planning permission in December 2022 to build 190 new homes on the site of the former New Fosseway School in Hengrove. People living in the area had submitted objections to the plans, saying they feared that people moving into the three-storey homes when they were built would overlook their gardens and homes.
The 2022 planning permission was just an outline one establishing the principle of development of the old school grounds. Since then, Goram Homes has submitted 11 different applications to confirm the detailed plans for the designs and sizes of the homes.
Goram is now building 130 new homes at New Fosseway Road, of which half will be affordable homes, for social rent and shared ownership. A 70-home extra care facility, which is the second phase, is also planned to be affordable. This is being brought forward by care home developer Anchor, which will submit a planning application later this year.
For the past 18 months, a group of residents have been trying to persuade bosses at Goram Homes to reduce the size of around six or seven of the homes nearest their back gardens from three storeys to two – or two with loft conversions facing away from their homes – and to make sure the homes are far enough away from their back gardens.
They told Bristol Live they feel that Goram Homes has misled them, initially telling them the homes would be reduced in size and be 30 metres from their back windows, but now the plans are for only two of the proposed homes to be reduced in size, and the development will be 21m away.
To make matters worse, when Vistry, the construction firm contracted by Goram to build the homes, arrived to start work preparing the ground, they cut back a wide hedge that acts as a buffer, and sent large pieces of hedgerow and even a piece of metal flying into the back gardens.
One of the residents, Fran, is a full-time carer under a Bristol City Council project called Shared Lives, and is the only person in the city with three vulnerable adults with learning difficulties living with her through the scheme.
“The work is already an issue. One of the people who live with me is already afraid to go out into the back garden,” she said. “At the other end of the site is a respite centre for children with special needs, and the thing that frustrates me is that Goram has planned this development so that it is a long way from that centre so it won’t disturb them – rightly so – but they are building homes right up against where I am. Why is the respite centre so different? I’ve got vulnerable adults living here all the time, not just once or twice a week or a month.
“The new homes will be three-storeys high and overlooking right into our gardens,” she added. Fran said her council support team wrote to the planners and Goram Homes to ask for the plans to be amended, to no avail.
Another of the residents, Joe Brown, said everyone living on this stretch of Wells Road felt they had been badly treated by Goram Homes. “We accept that this city badly needs new homes, and all we’re asking for is for only a handful of them to be scaled back a bit,” he said.
“I don’t mind the houses going there, I just don’t want them to be so tall so close to where I am,” he explained.
To make matters worse, when Vistry began work to hack back the hedge between the field and the back gardens, large pieces of it – and a big piece of metal – were flung into Mr Brown’s back garden.
“I was shocked when this happened. They were sizeable things. They could have seriously hurt my dog or my grandchildren if they’d been out there at the time,” he added.
“Overall, the thing we feel is that we’ve been badly treated. They have made promises and then gone back on them, and the plans keep changing. Everything Goram Homes has done that has been inconsistent always falls in their favour. When they make changes or admit they were wrong before, it always seems to go against us,” he added.
There have been several meetings between Goram bosses and the residents of this part of the Wells Road, both in their homes and on the site. Things came to a head in November at a meeting at Goram’s base at The Boulevard at Hengrove Park, and last week Mr Brown was contacted by police to be told Goram Homes had called them to make a complaint about his conduct after the meeting.
“I was amazed and shocked,” he said, adding that he has now made a counter-allegation against a Goram Homes boss. “It’s probably too late for us now, but we just want people to know what Goram Homes are like and the way they treat people, because they are building in other places around the city,” he said.
Local councillor Andrew Brown (Lib Dem, Hengrove and Whitchurch Park) has been involved for more than a year. “As local councillors, my colleagues and I have sought to ensure that neighbouring residents have been kept abreast of developments and represented in the planning process.
“I have also met with residents on multiple occasions, and facilitated discussions with Goram to try and address the key issues,” he added.
Goram Homes says it has tried to take on board what the residents want, but have to balance it with the need to build homes in an economically viable development.
A spokesperson said all the new homes will be at least 21m away from the existing homes, and after listening to the residents, two of them have been reduced in height from three to two storeys.
“It’s hugely important to involve local people in shaping our plans and we’ve worked closely with residents on the Wells Road over the last 18 months,” a spokesperson said. “We changed our plans following direct feedback, including reducing the height of two properties nearest to concerned residents and committing to maintain the boundary hedge.
“We appreciate construction work can be disruptive to neighbours, but we must always work in a responsible way to minimise this. Our developer apologised immediately following an incident where a piece of hedgerow fell into a neighbouring garden during clearance work. Measures have been put in place to ensure this never happens again.
“We’ve had many meetings and phone calls with this group of residents, both to listen to feedback and provide updates on our plans. These meetings have been calm and measured, with both parties sharing their views. However, following the most recent meeting, there was an incident which led to us filing a police report,” she added.