News / Environment
Ashton Vale town green saga finally ends
The long-running Ashton Vale saga is finally at an end, after Bristol City Council formally registered land as a town green that had once been earmarked for a new stadium for Bristol City FC.
A compromise agreement was reached in July, with the southern half of the land is to be registered as a town green, as well as a strip of land near Silbury Road, while the northern half is expected to become a sports centre and training pitches.
Yesterday, a council official emailed the lawyer for campaigners who had fought to protect the land to say that this agreement had now been formally recognised.
The land earmarked for the town green has been designated as being ‘voluntarily registered’ by the landowners – making any future challenge to the land’s status as a town green virtually impossible.
Bristol24-7 understands that a condition of the deal insisted upon by town green supporters was that no supermarket or stadium development would be proposed for the northern half of the 45-acre site.
An application for the training centre has not been officially made, but indications are that any planning application for such a centre would be supported.
Bristol City FC was given permission to build a new stadium on land at Ashton Vale in 2009, but this sparked a bitter dispute between the club and many of its fans, and a number of local residents.
An application was made to register the entire site as a town green, with the legal battle ending earlier this year.
Bristol City FC is now redeveloping its Ashton Gate ground, after councillors almost exactly a year ago gave unanimous backing to the club’s plans. Designers said the plans would turn a “relic of bygone era” to a “beacon of growth for the city”.
Picture: Land at Ashton Vale marked inside red border, the scene of the long-running battle – the southern half of this land is now voluntarily registered as a town green / Google Maps
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