Potential lifeline for Brislington Meadows and Yew Tree Farm

Controversial plans to build hundreds of new homes on two wildlife-rich green sites in Bristol could soon face a new obstacle.

Brislington Meadows and Yew Tree Farm are under threat from huge housing developments, but developers could soon struggle to get permission.

Plans for both sites have caused controversy due to concerns about the loss of important natural habitats, particularly after councillors pledged to protect green areas like these. But neither site currently has planning permission for housing, and this could likely now get harder.

This week council chiefs revealed that Brislington Meadows and Yew Tree Farm will likely no longer be earmarked for housing in Bristol City Council’s new Local Plan, a hugely important document setting out where major developments should take place across the city up to 2040.

Days before the local elections in 2021, Marvin Rees pledged to keep Brislington Meadows as a local green space, saying that the wildlife haven was too ecologically precious to be built on – photo: Marvin Rees

During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, cabinet member for strategic planning, said: “The forthcoming Local Plan consultation will no longer propose that residential development on Brislington Meadows or Yew Tree Farm will be progressed in our Local Plan.

“Over the past 12 weeks we’ve been working through site allocations to make sure that the proposals we put in our consultation reflect the needs of the city, and that includes the green belt discussions.”

Homes England is applying for planning permission to build 260 homes at Brislington Meadows, despite local protests. The government-owned developer recently appealed to the planning inspector to grant permission for the scheme, bypassing the council, which it said was taking too long to make a decision. Construction could start on the meadows in 2024.

Redrow is planning to build 200 homes at Yew Tree Farm, near Bedminster Down, but has not yet applied for planning permission. Last year, the city’s only working farm saw diggers sent by the developer to test the ground, just a week after Bristol mayor Marvin Rees said the farm should be protected on ecological and climate grounds.

Glad to see @Catherinewith11 getting credit for suggesting brownfield sites from @nicolabeech in the cabinet meeting today. Lots of us work hard making suggestions of suitable sites for development. I even mentioned a few options on @BBCRB when I was on last month. pic.twitter.com/kRUkOlEpSx

— Danica Priest??? (@DanicaPriest) November 1, 2022

Deciding to grant planning permission is not a normal political decision that’s taken by the mayor or the cabinet. Instead, these decisions are taken by two planning committees, made up of cross-party councillors, who must follow strict rules set by the government but also the council’s own rules laid out in its Local Plan — or risk costly appeals from developers.

This month, the council will begin consulting the public on its new Local Plan, which could include details preventing any housing on Brislington Meadows and Yew Tree Farm. If these two sites are not allocated in the new Local Plan, developers would then find it much harder to get planning permission and build hundreds of new homes.

But the new Local Plan takes a long time to draw up, and won’t fully take effect until 2024. In the meantime, it will still begin to build up weight, and could help councillors on a planning committee justify refusing permission. Both sites were previously allocated for housing in the existing Local Plan in 2014.

Countryfile broadcasted from Yew Tree Farm, Bristol’s last remaining traditional working farm, in January – photo: Catherine Withers

A new consultation will launch this month, and then the council will publish its draft new Local Plan in summer next year. In early 2024, government planning inspectors will examine the document, before it’s adopted and signed off by the council in autumn later that year.

More details about how residents can take part in the consultation should be made clear later this month. The cabinet approved the timetable over the next two years for replacing the Local Plan, on Tuesday.

During the cabinet meeting, councillor Beech said: “What’s become clear to me, since the declaration of the ecological emergency and the climate emergency, is how much more we understand the contribution that certain green spaces in the city make to our broader city picture. Brislington Meadows is one of those sites, and is no longer being proposed to be allocated for housing.

“Having said that, those homes need to be built somewhere else. So there is no quick fix or back door way out of this conundrum about the number of homes we need to build in the city. It’s important to remember that doesn’t mean we’re going to deliver 600 fewer homes, for instance, that just means they won’t be built at Brislington Meadows, but they’ll be built somewhere else.”

Alex Seabrook is a local democracy reporter for Bristol

Main photo: Oren-Taylor

Read next:

• Community marches on meadows in bid to save it
• Countryfile broadcasts from Yew Tree Farm as its future remains uncertain
• Greens challenge ‘unachievable’ government housing targets

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