Concerns over West of England Combined Authority ambitious house-building plans
Weca Mayor Helen Godwin in a digger at a housing construction site(Image: WECA)
Ambitious plans for thousands of new homes every year across the West of England must not include ‘another Bradley Stoke’, a councillor has warned.
Bristol City Council Conservative group leader Cllr Mark Weston said any housing developments must go hand in hand with crucial community facilities, such as GP surgeries, schools and leisure.
He spoke during a debate by councillors over the West of England Combined Authority’s (Weca’s) annual draft business plan for 2026/27.
That includes seven top priorities for the region covering Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath & North East Somerset, spanning jobs creation, planning, skills, transport, and economic growth.
The third priority is ‘creating and building homes and communities that are affordable, attractive and sustainable’, including a major uplift in house-building, expanding low-carbon energy to cut heating bills, and speeding up the replacement of dangerous cladding.
Earlier this week the government announced that Brabazon and the West Innovation Arc – initially conceived about 15 years ago as Cribbs Patchway New Neighbourhood (CPNN) – was on the shortlist to be named as one of the country’s next generation of new towns, with about 40,000 homes over the next few decades.
But Cllr Weston (Conservative, Henbury & Brentry) told Weca overview and scrutiny committee on Monday, March 23: “When we talk about priority three, housing, it’s all warm words and everything, but what we don’t seem to talk about with housing is that when housing is built that it is accompanied with the appropriate infrastructure.
“Maybe this is me being hypersensitive with the recent announcement about the CPNN but I really don’t want another Bradley Stoke-style development.
“It has to be with the proper infrastructure.
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“So if we can when we’re looking at our priorities of building new homes and communities, the half sentence that goes with it just to reassure me is it will also go with new facilities and amenities.”
Weca director of strategy Jess Lee replied: “Infrastructure is very much the theme we have through the growth strategy.
“So those are the terms in which we talk about our housing ambitions aligning with the transport ambitions and the infrastructure that goes around it in the growth strategy.”
That strategy aims to ultimately build more than 7,500 new homes a year.
Weca leaders were set to approve a series of investments at a meeting on Friday afternoon (March 27) to move the programme forward.
Ahead of the meeting, West of England Labour metro mayor Helen Godwin said: “We need to build more homes faster to tackle the housing crisis.
“It is important that we build the right homes in the right places, with the right services and infrastructure for people to be able to live well and get around.”