Labour councillor lambasts mayor over Meadows

A Labour councillor has taken the unusual step of publicly criticising Labour mayor Marvin Rees.

Tim Rippington, who has represented Brislington East at City Hall since 2019, says that Rees has shown “a total abdication of duty” in the ongoing saga of Brislington Meadows.

“To say I feel let down is a massive understatement,” said Rippington.

Rippington’s excoriating statement comes after Homes England reaffirmed their commitment to build 300 homes on Brislington Meadows.

This is despite Rees pledging prior to May’s mayoral and council elections that the wildlife haven was too ecologically precious to be built on.

Rees has now said that Homes England’s plans are “disappointing” but that he cannot rule on planning applications as mayor.

On Monday morning, Rippington wrote a statement on Facebook to explain the latest goings-on.

Here is his statement in full:

If you are feeling a bit confused by the on-going saga of Brislington Meadows then you are not alone.

When I was first elected in January 2020, I was told that because the land was included in the Local Plan in 2014, there was no chance of stopping the development going ahead. Looking back at the plan, I saw that opposition to including the land was overwhelming at the time, and yet still the decision to include it was made. Given the apparent lack of choice, I made the decision to engage with the developers Homes England to make sure that we got the best possible deal for Brislington from the development. I know this wasn’t a popular decision with some at the time, but I think it was the right thing to do in the circumstances. I maintained throughout this time that I would keep an open mind on whether or not to support the planning application, based upon how good it was in terms of ecological sustainability amongst other things.

Fast forward to April 2021 and I was informed during the election campaign that Mayor Marvin Rees was about to make an announcement concerning the Meadows, to say that the development would not go ahead because the site was deemed too valuable in the light of the recently declared Ecological Emergency. I assumed that this decision had been made in negotiation with Homes England, based on the impossibility of bringing forward a suitable plan for the area that would meet all the ecological restrictions. However, I found out almost immediately that Homes England did not know that the announcement was forthcoming, and no such agreement was in place.

Some people questioned whether the Council had the power to stop the development, but I was informed on many occasions that it did – that it would be removed from the Local Plan and its future as a meadows would be secured permanently.

Since then, I have continued to raise this issue with Cabinet colleagues and the Mayor’s office and have always been reassured that the development would not go ahead, that the council had the power to stop it.

After a considerable delay, on Friday, Homes England issued a statement to say that they would be proceeding as planned with their application to build 300 homes on the site. The response from the Mayor’s office has been, to say the least, disappointing. “Planning applications sit with cross-party councillor committees, not Mayors”. To me, this sounds like a total abdication of duty considering the publicly made announcement by the Mayor during the election that the development would not go ahead.

I have spent the last few days trying to find out what avenues there are for preventing this application, but strangely many of those that told me with absolute certainty that it could be prevented have now started to hedge their bets. To say I feel let down is a massive understatement.

NEXT STEPS

All political parties in Bristol have made known their opposition to building on Brislington Meadows. I will therefore be doing all I can to oppose this planning application going forward, and to aid the community in putting forward its objections. It is very likely that, if it gets as far as one of the Development Control Committees, it will be turned down flat. Homes England will then have the option to take it to appeal and could win at that stage however. This is far from certain, but it is quite possible.

Over the next few weeks, along with my colleague Katja, I will be examining all routes to oppose this scheme, including talking to our MP Kerry McCarthy about how we can take this matter up to governmental level. I also feel however that it would not be serving the community properly if we did not continue to engage with Homes England on a civil level. They have done nothing wrong in this respect – they bought the land in good faith, encouraged by BCC, and are fully within their rights to bring forward a scheme – albeit with very heavy restrictions now on environmental protections.

On a personal level I’d like to say that I am as disappointed by this turn of events as many other people, and I understand that feelings will be running very high – however, please let’s all keep the debate as civil as possible.
Thanks

Tim

Councillor, Brislington East

Main photo: Tim Rippington

Read more: Wildlife haven could still see homes built

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