The intervention of the wildlife trust could be a crucial one for people who want the area kept as semi-rural green fields. A similar intervention earlier this year prompted Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees to reverse a decision to 300 build homes on another key wildlife site in South Bristol, Brislington Meadows land.
Campaigners will hope the new statement by Avon Wildlife Trust will scupper an imminent planning application from a private housing developer at the Bedminster end of the Western Slopes, and the longer term plans for hundreds more houses on council-owned land at the Inns Court end of the green space.
The land is the steeply sloped and wooded side of the Malago Valley between Novers Lane and Hartcliffe Way, and is currently the subject of two different plans for new homes. Developers Lovell Homes are about to submit a planning application for 157 new homes off Novers Lane, on the slopes above the industrial estates around the Malago River.
Lovell Homes have been running a pre-application consultation process in July and August and are expected to submit a formal planning application for the land in the middle of August. The council’s own housing development company, Goram Homes, are working up plans for up to 360 homes on land further south along the slopes.
Campaigners and locals say the slopes, as undeveloped land full of woods and hedgerows, are a wildlife-rich habitat that provide a sanctuary to a huge range of biodiversity.
Despite assuring Avon Wildlife Trust that there are ‘no foreseeable plans for development’, the council’s own housing company recently began preliminary discussions with local community groups in Knowle West about plans for development on the council’s land.
Homes England were about to launch a consultation on its plans for 300 new homes, including 90 council homes, on Brislington Meadows when the Mayor announced he would stop any homes being built there.
Mr Rees said the ecological emergency declared by Bristol City Council at the start of 2020 had to be balanced against the ongoing housing crisis, and that, in the case of Brislington Meadows, it was more important to preserve the fields than build much-needed new homes.
Like Brislington Meadows, the Western Slopes in Knowle West were also designated for housing in the last Local Plan in 2014 – something being used now by Lovell Homes to propose 167 new homes there, and by Bristol City Council to defend the decision to hand over the rest of the Western Slopes to its own housing company Goram Homes earlier this year.
Full article – https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/western-slopes-wildlife-trust-say-5736492
Campaigners will hope the new statement by Avon Wildlife Trust will scupper an imminent planning application from a private housing developer at the Bedminster end of the Western Slopes, and the longer term plans for hundreds more houses on council-owned land at the Inns Court end of the green space.
The land is the steeply sloped and wooded side of the Malago Valley between Novers Lane and Hartcliffe Way, and is currently the subject of two different plans for new homes. Developers Lovell Homes are about to submit a planning application for 157 new homes off Novers Lane, on the slopes above the industrial estates around the Malago River.
Lovell Homes have been running a pre-application consultation process in July and August and are expected to submit a formal planning application for the land in the middle of August. The council’s own housing development company, Goram Homes, are working up plans for up to 360 homes on land further south along the slopes.
Campaigners and locals say the slopes, as undeveloped land full of woods and hedgerows, are a wildlife-rich habitat that provide a sanctuary to a huge range of biodiversity.
Despite assuring Avon Wildlife Trust that there are ‘no foreseeable plans for development’, the council’s own housing company recently began preliminary discussions with local community groups in Knowle West about plans for development on the council’s land.
Homes England were about to launch a consultation on its plans for 300 new homes, including 90 council homes, on Brislington Meadows when the Mayor announced he would stop any homes being built there.
Mr Rees said the ecological emergency declared by Bristol City Council at the start of 2020 had to be balanced against the ongoing housing crisis, and that, in the case of Brislington Meadows, it was more important to preserve the fields than build much-needed new homes.
Like Brislington Meadows, the Western Slopes in Knowle West were also designated for housing in the last Local Plan in 2014 – something being used now by Lovell Homes to propose 167 new homes there, and by Bristol City Council to defend the decision to hand over the rest of the Western Slopes to its own housing company Goram Homes earlier this year.
Full article – https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/western-slopes-wildlife-trust-say-5736492
