Features / Housing
MP backs calls to protect health park from development
A Bristol MP has lent her voice to a campaign to stop homes being built on an open space in her constituency.
Bristol City Council’s housing company Goram Homes has earmarked Knowle West Health Park for development.
But Karin Smyth, the Labour MP for Bristol South, says the site is a “special place” that “must be protected”.
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She said: “To lose what this space offers the community in terms of health related activities for all ages and the resulting inter-generational connection would be a tragedy.”
Bristol South MP Karin Smyth has had her say on housing proposals for Knowle West Health Park. Photo by Charlie Watts
Earlier this year, the council ran a consultation on plans for 50 homes on a green space in the Health Park. But the proposals were described as “detrimental to the community.”
The council has since been “keen to take a step back” and launched a new consultation in October.
It has now identified other parts of the Health Park, alongside the green space, that could be suitable for housing and other kinds of development.
The council has identified green space, a car park, a former caretaker’s house and a space between buildings as potentially suitable for development. Photo by Participatr
But the company which runs the Health Park says it is opposed to house building anywhere on the site.
Knowle West Health Park Company chief executive, Heather Williams, said: “The green space is essential, both for the health and well-being of the users, but also local community.
“Any development should be to enhance what’s already here around activity that will improve health and well-being.”
A spokesperson for Bristol mayor Marvin Rees has responded to Karin Smyth’s intervention. Photo by Aphra Evans
Karin Smyth says she has written to Bristol mayor Marvin Rees to express her opposition to building housing on the Health Park.
Responding to the MP’s intervention, a spokesperson for the mayor said: “Cities are complicated with competing demands.
“We need to meet the housing crisis at the same time as tackling the climate and ecological crises.
“Leadership needs complex decision making that faces the fact that good things can have negative consequences for some people.”
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Read more: Knowle West residents fight plans for 50 homes on health park
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They continued: “Campaigners often have the luxury of opposing without considering the wider challenges and the need to deliver.
“While we welcome challenge, we have been stressing the need for people to come forward with solutions.
“In this specific case, to tell us where they think we should build, rather than simply where we shouldn’t.”
Karin Smyth has suggested Hengrove Park as a more suitable location for housing.
But Smyth says there are “far better” places to build new homes, such as Hengrove Park, where plans for up to 1,435 properties were approved more than 18 months ago.
She added: “We cannot undertake decisions which will be to the detriment of neighbourhoods whilst other developments continue to fail in being commenced.”
The Health Park is also just one of a number of proposed development sites in Knowle West, with more than 500 homes earmarked for the Western Slopes, for example.
The Health Park currently includes an outdoor gym and walking routes. Photo by Charlie Watts
Knowle West Health Park is allocated in the Local Plan for community use, open space, business and around 50 homes.
Thirteen houses have already been built on part of the site for a development called The Bridleway, which was completed in 2014.
The existing buildings on the Health Park – the Healthy Living Centre, Health Centre and Dialysis Unit – are not being considered for development.
There is also currently a play park and multi-use games area, which could be moved to another part of the site if it is developed.
The Health Park consultation is open until Monday, after which the council will “review feedback from the community and consider the appropriate next steps for the site, before making any decisions on the site’s future.”
Charlie Watts is reporting on Knowle West as part of Bristol24/7’s community reporter scheme, a pilot project which aims to tell stories from areas of Bristol traditionally under-served by the mainstream media
Main photo by Google
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