It was once going to be the new home for Bristol City but now Steve Lansdown has finally sold it
Mike Gill, Project Director (left), and Andy Cattermole, Planning Director (right), of Allison Homes, pictured on site at Longmoor with land acquired sign.(Image: Allison Homes)
A plan to create a new suburb of Bristol, along with the Sporting Quarter arena development at Ashton Gate, has taken a big step forward. Bristol Sport owner Steve Lansdown has finally sold the land he once wanted to build a new stadium on, between Ashton Vale and the Long Ashton Park and Ride.
It will now see around 500 new homes built on it – which will help fund the creation of a new indoor sporting arena next to the stadium. Housebuilder Allison Homes has announced it has completed the purchase of the 26-acre site, and will bring forward a detailed planning application for 500 homes later this autumn.
Mr Lansdown already obtained outline planning permission for a 510-home development on the site back in 2022, but the sale and the development was then held up for almost three years due to council bureaucracy and a failed legal challenge.
The sale means two things – a multi-million injection into the funds to start work on the Sporting Quarter, which will feature a 5,000-capacity indoor arena for concerts, conferences, events and basketball matches, alongside a multi-storey car park, hotel, flats and offices, built next to Ashton Gate Stadium. The sale also means the 500 or so homes, first proposed back in 2018, will now go forward and work to build them could start as early as next year.
The land is effectively one huge field sitting between the Longmoor Brook and Colliters Brook, and encircled by the metrobus road to the Long Ashton Park and Ride, the David Lloyd Sports Centre and the Ashton Gate Trading Estate, less than half a mile from Ashton Gate Stadium.
The field between Ashton Vale and the Long Ashton Park and Ride, which has now been sold by Steve Lansdown. There are plans for up to 510 new homes there in a development called Longmoor Village. The Sporting Quarter would be built in front of Ashton Gate Stadium.
Allison Homes said it is on a mission to build new homes to help the housing crisis in South Bristol. In the plans that were given outline permission, 30 per cent of the new homes – or around 150 – were designated as ‘affordable’.
“South Bristol needs new homes and we’re here to deliver them,” said the managing director of Allison Homes South West, Glyn Mabey. “Our vision for Longmoor is simple: to create a neighbourhood of high-quality homes that meet the needs of local people and reflect the character and ambition of this part of the city.
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“We are absolutely committed to quality in design, sustainability, and working closely with the community at every stage,” he added.
“The development will include a mix of homes for private sale and affordable homes, designed around walkable streets, green space, and energy-efficient technology,” he added.
An artist’s impression of Longmoor Vilage, the development proposed on a field at Ashton Vale(Image: Bristol Sport)
“Features such as air source heat pumps, EV charging and sustainable drainage will be standard across the scheme. Developers say Longmoor is being brought forward with a strong focus on helping to meet Bristol’s housing needs and supporting local jobs, skills, and community infrastructure.
“Based on Home Builders Federation figures, a development of this size could support over 1,700 jobs, create 21 apprenticeship or training roles, and provide nearly £23 million to help deliver affordable homes,” Mr Mabey said.
In total, the 26-acre site could be worth up to £165m for Allison Homes. The firm said it will submit a ‘reserved matters’ planning application soon, and begin a fresh round of consultation with local residents on their detailed plans.
The saga of Ashton Vale
Back in the late 2000s, Mr Lansdown bought the land between the existing Ashton Vale estate and the main A370 Weston Road with plans to build a 40,000-capacity stadium which would be a new home for Bristol City.
Although the plan got permission from the council in 2009, it was never built after local residents in Ashton Vale mounted a bid to designate it as a ‘Town or Village Green’.
A deal was eventually done in 2013 to redevelop the existing stadium, build homes on half the land nearby, and leave the other half as a Town Green. Ashton Gate has since seen a major transformation into a 27,000 capacity stadium, the southern half of the site is now a nature reserve and the metrobus road has been created around the northern half.
Andy Cattermole, Planning Director (Left), of Allison Homes, and Mike Gill, Project Director of Alison Homes (Right) pictured on site at Longmoor.(Image: Allison Homes)
After the completion of the renovation of Ashton Gate Stadium, in 2018 plans for the Sporting Quarter were unveiled, along with the new homes on the northern half of the greenfield site nearby, which was named Longmoor Village.
The plans took around two years to be tweaked before being delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. Then it took almost two years for Bristol City Council planners to make a decision – which was to grant approval in September 2022.
It took another year for planning officers to agree the details of the approval, and then weeks after planning permission was finally granted in September 2023, local waste firm ETM mounted a legal challenge against the council over fears their facility near the Longmoor Village homes site would be too noisy for people moving in when the homes were built.
That legal challenge took a year to eventually be dismissed, but Steve Lansdown warned he could pull the plug on the whole project – including the Sporting Quarter – if it dragged on too long.
Eventually, last autumn, the green light for both the Sporting Quarter and Longmoor Village was given, and at Ashton Gate, work to demolish the existing buildings between the stadium and Winterstoke Road is being prepared.