Threat to Bristol’s last working farm

The “heartbroken” owner of Bristol’s last working farm has revealed she will be forced to quit unless land earmarked for 200 homes can be saved from developers.

Catherine Withers’ family has run Yew Tree Farm in Bedminster Down for more than 50 years and prides itself on low-intensity and sustainable farming, such as not using pesticides and making only one hay harvest in late summer, to protect the environment.

But proposals in the draft Local Plan — the council’s blueprint for housing over the next two decades — will strip the meadows she rents from greenbelt protection.

The owner of Bristol’s last working farm says it is under threat of closure if plans for 200 homes go ahead. Photo by Dan Regan.

Withers’ family, which has farmed in South Bristol for 120 years, owns 28 acres outright and rents a further 15 acres adjoining the farm, off the A38 Bridgwater Road, to the east, the site set for a housing estate.

The 49-year-old said: “I am absolutely heartbroken.

“It is a David and Goliath fight. Redrow Homes has bought the option on the land.

“This is Bristol’s last working farm and it feels like nobody cares about us. We are going to lose our livelihood and our heritage. Is that not worth hanging on to?”

She said if the rented fields became housing, it would be impossible to maintain a viable working farm, and not just because the space for the family’s cattle herd would be drastically reduced.

The farmland has multiple public footpaths across it. Photo by Dan Regan.

“The fundamental problem is that our 28 acres has multiple public footpaths over it,” Withers said.

“There is a natural barrier at the moment with the A38, so the numbers we get here is manageable.

“But this land will be on the doorsteps of residents in 200 houses which will make it impossible for us to farm.

“There will be something like 70 dog walks twice daily and many people do not clean up their dog’s mess after them.

“There is a parasite in dog muck that causes cows to spontaneously abort.

“The whole herd could be wiped out with it.

“We cannot fence off the footpaths because they run across the field and would leave us with little triangular parcels of land.

“Two-hundred houses is a tiny drop of what Bristol needs.

“What we are giving back to the city is far more valuable than that. There is nowhere else like this in Bristol.

“The land is 15 acres of magnificent, lovely wildlife. We cut the hay from the rented field to feed the cows, then rest the fields so everything gets rotated.

“That field has wonderful wildlife, with amazing butterflies and moths.

“Ironically, the land the council wants to develop has been prioritised by us as a natural habitat for pollinating insects.

“Council officers have recently visited us and were impressed with the sustainable and low-intensity way we farm, but also confirmed the proposed planning changes would make it impossible for us to continue.

“Bristol has this huge initiative with food sustainability called Going for Gold and this land should be earmarked for food production, not condemned for house-building and making us unpaid guardians of an open parkland.

“I extend an open invitation for mayor Marvin Rees to visit and see for himself.”

Withers’ parents no longer live at the farm but her daughter and son-in-law are moving into the cottage soon to join her.

She said: “The farm can carry on for at least another generation if we can get it protected in the Local Plan.

“We do not want to do anything different, we just want to carry on quietly.”

Catherine Withers has described it as a David and Goliath fight. Photo by Dan Regan

Bishopsworth Tory councillor Richard Eddy, who organised a packed public meeting last Thursday (May 9) where Withers received support from other residents, said: “These proposals are ill-thought-out, risk devastating our precious greenbelt and wrecking and destroying the last working farm in Bristol.

“At a time when the council is belatedly waking up to its responsibility to protect our environment and encourage local sustainable food production, it seems genuinely incredible that Bristol City Council is recommending this hugely damaging course of action.

“This sits utterly at odds with the city’s biodiversity and zero carbon emission targets.

“I am urging all my constituents and those who live beyond Bishopsworth to contact the council with their objections before the consultation deadline of May 24.”

A Bristol City Council spokesperson said: “We are currently talking to communities across the city as part of the consultation for the draft Bristol Local Plan, which outlines the council’s approach to delivering inclusive growth and development over the next 20 years, including over 33,500 homes by 2036.

“The draft plan includes proposals for meeting development needs across the city and provides a chance for people to make their views known.

“It’s not too late for people to give their thoughts on how we build a better Bristol that meets the needs of the future.

“The draft Bristol Local Plan Review document is available at www.bristol.gov.uk/localplanreview where there are full details about consultation and how to provide feedback. Comments should be submitted by Friday, May 24.”

Adam Postans is a local democracy reporter for Bristol

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