Campaigners claim protections on wildlife havens ‘incorrectly’ ignored

Campaigners are claiming that protections on wildlife havens in Bristol were “incorrectly” ignored on land earmarked for new housing developments.

They say proper processes were not followed when Bristol City Council allocated the areas for housing, despite these protections.

Seven Sites of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI) across the city are marked as land for new housing on the council’s Local Plan policy map, identifying areas where developers can get permission to build much more easily, according to Bristol Tree Forum.

But the map does not mark them as SNCIs.

Plans were recently refused for 144 new homes on a south Bristol wildlife haven – photo: Charlie Watts

One site is the Western Slopes and Novers Hill between Bedminster and Knowle West. The meadows and woodland are home to a diverse range of wildlife such as badgers and bats, and earlier in July the council refused permission for plans to build 144 homes there.

But a planning officer report to the development control B committee said only the central part of the site was protected as an SNCI, and the rest was not. The committee refused permission due to road safety concerns, and not the harmful impact on wildlife.

Bristol Tree Forum and Friends of the Western Slopes said that in fact the whole of the Western Slopes is protected as an SNCI, and six other sites across the city have also been affected, with some habitats already destroyed and built upon. The council denied any errors were made.

Mark Ashdown, chair of the Bristol Tree Forum, said: “The whole of the development area in the Novers Hill application is an SNCI, not just the centre as the officer has stated. We’ve received an answer to a freedom of information request which states that Novers Hill was never deregistered as an SNCI — yet the council is still trying to justify the removal of this SNCI and providing incorrect information to a development control committee.

“If Bristol City Council officers are allowed to remove SNCI status from sites at a whim, with no due process, what is the point of the ecological emergency declaration and indeed the whole system of nature protection in Bristol?”

Strict rules about building on SNCIs in theory stop property developers from any construction that would have a “harmful impact on the nature” and wildlife found within the site. Without these protections, it’s much harder for the council to justify refusing planning permission and much easier for developers to get approval to build on these natural habitats.

To deregister an area as an SNCI, the council must get the permission of local stakeholders, which they say didn’t happen.

Plans have been refused for 144 new homes on a south Bristol wildlife haven on a dangerously steep hill.

The answer to our question about correcting SNCIs on the Local Plan policy Map is in!?

When I was about to sit exams, I was always told to answer the question. Clearly, no one advised the writer of this answer to do the same!
1/ pic.twitter.com/tQhv0WP3l6

— Bristol Tree Forum ??? (@BristolTreeFora) July 27, 2023

A spokesperson for the Friends of the Western Slopes said: “When we first heard that Novers Hill, Western Slopes and Brislington Meadows might be built on, it didn’t make sense to us. The council’s maps showed these whole sites as SNCI. We couldn’t understand how they could be allocated for building and answers from the council just didn’t make sense.

“How could sites of nature conservation just be suddenly carved up and allocated for development? Who made the decision and what procedures were followed? Why weren’t the public part of the process particularly when local people have continually fought to protect Novers Hill?

“The recent planning report regarding the application from Lovell Homes for development on Novers Hill was incorrect to say that the SNCI covers just a small corridor — it is still the whole site and we have plenty of evidence to prove this.

“Mistakes must be rectified and procedures undertaken transparently, if we are to protect the few nature sites remaining in the city, many of which are in less affluent areas and seem to be rich pickings for some.”

Plans have been refused for 144 new homes on a south Bristol wildlife haven on a dangerously steep hill.

The council denied there were any errors in the current Local Plan, in a written response to a question from Mr Ashdown at a full council meeting earlier in July. A new Local Plan is currently being drawn up. The process involves several public consultations over many months, but land currently allocated for housing at the Western Slopes will no longer be.

The council spokesperson said: “There are no errors in how planning policies and SNCIs are shown in the 2014 Local Plan. That plan was all agreed by a planning inspector following an examination. But it was not the right policy choice for the previous administration to allocate SNCIs for development in that plan.

“Previous development allocations at Western Slopes and Brislington Meadows will no longer be included in the [new] Local Plan. It would not be appropriate for the policies map for the existing adopted Local Plan to be changed now, since … changes to policies maps must be subject to consultation.”

Main photo: Save Brislington Meadows

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