The building of 260 new homes could finally start next year
Residents of Brislington march in protest of plans to build homes on Brislington Meadows(Image: Oren Taylor)
The Government is to press on with one of the most controversial housing development proposals in Bristol, after it announced it had finally found a new housebuilder to develop the site.
Homes England, the Government’s housing and land agency, has appointed developer Keepmoat to construct a total of 260 new homes on the Brislington Meadows, in South Bristol.
Homes England said they ‘anticipate’ work to build the homes will begin next year, but there is one more hurdle to overcome – getting a detailed planning application through Bristol City Council ’s planning committee.
Brislington Meadows – land between Broomhill and Brislington that was never developed in the expansion of South Bristol and has since become a wildlife haven – is currently in a paradox situation in planning terms. It has been designated a green open space that shouldn’t be built on in the draft Local Plan, but at the same time has outline planning permission for 260 homes.
Homes England were refused permission to build on the land but appealed to the Government’s Planning Inspectorate and won, and were granted outline permission to build the homes in principle.
A statement from Homes England said: “Homes England is pleased to confirm that Keepmoat has now been appointed as the developer for Brislington Meadows.
“They will now prepare a Reserved Matters planning application, which will include public consultation later in the year. It is currently anticipated that work will start on-site in 2026,” they added.
READ MORE: Delay to meadows homes creates planning paradoxREAD MORE: Brislington Meadows homes plan should be stopped but it won’t be, admits MP
Around 30 per cent of the 260 new homes will be designated as ‘affordable’ in planning terms, and will be rented out at the lowest ‘social rent’ levels to people on the housing waiting list through a housing association, or the city council itself, via the HomeChoice system.
Homes England said its plans are: ‘Proposals that focus on nature and landscape quality, with a commitment to an overall increase of 10 per cent biodiversity achieved on and off site.”
The plans will also include: “New formal and informal play spaces and new pedestrian and cycle routes heading south and north, east and west, and investment in the local area through the Community Infrastructure Levy,” they added.
Keepmoat now face the task of putting together a ‘Reserved Matters’ planning application that outlines the detailed plans for the 260 homes, to a council which is in the process of getting the land labelled as somewhere that shouldn’t be built on. However, with the Government Planning Inspectorate’s appeal decision backing the homes, it remains to be seen if council planners will stand in their way again.
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The saga of Brislington Meadows
Local campaigners and residents have been battling for 12 years to protect the land from being developed, ever since the city council included it in the 2014 Local Plan as a site that could be developed for housing.
In 2019, frustrated at a lack of action by the landowner – a property company from London – to bring forward plans to develop it, the city council organised a deal which in 2020 saw Homes England pay around £15 million to buy all of the Brislington Meadows land from the landowner, and the city council, which owned part of the site.
The city council announced it would see 300 new homes built there, as part of the Labour administration’s drive to get at least 800 affordable homes built every year by 2020.
Mayor Marvin Rees announced plans not to develop on the contested Brislington Meadows patch in Bristol in April 2021
From left: Tim Rippington (cllr for Brislington East), Kerry McCarthy (MP for Bristol East), Mayor Marvin Rees and Katja Hornchen (candidate for Brislington East).(Image: James Beck/BristolLive)
But less than 12 months later, the then Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees – now Lord Rees of Easton – announced a dramatic U-turn. Just 20 days before the 2021 Mayoral election, he said that the land would not now be built on, to protect the wildlife and biodiversity of the site.
That proved to be something which he did not have the power to order. Faced with spending £15m of taxpayers’ money on what looked like now being a nature reserve – Homes England pressed on with its plans, and won permission at appeal, citing the 2014 Local Plan which said houses could be built there.
In the years since, Homes England has repeatedly confirmed it does plan to develop the site, despite local MP Kerry McCarthy – now a minister in the Labour Government – explaining in detail that she doesn’t think homes should be built there, but believes they will be eventually.
TIMELINE – The Saga of Brislington Meadows
2014 – Under George Ferguson’s Bristol City Council administration, Brislington Meadows was added to the Local Plan – and voted through by all parties at City Hall. A campaign to ‘save’ Brislington Meadows began, run by local residents.
2016 – New Mayor Marvin Rees and a new Labour administration took over at City Hall. The then housing chief Paul Smith began working on a deal with the owner of most of the land at Brislington Meadows, London-based development company Olympia & Hammersmith, to get new homes built.
2019 – Bristol City Council owned some of the land at Brislington Meadows, including key access points, and persuaded Homes England to step in and buy the land required from Olympia & Hammersmith so the land could be built on.
Artists’ impression of Homes England’s plans to build 260 new homes on Brislington Meadows in South Bristol(Image: Homes England)
Feb 2020 – Bristol City Council declared an ecological emergency
Mar 2020 – Homes England bought all of Brislington Meadows, spending a total of £15m buying the land from O&H, the council itself, and local business owner Johnny Palmer.
Autumn 2020 – Plans were revealed by Homes England for 300 homes to be built there, including 90 council houses
Jan 2021 – Homes England announced the start of a consultation process on its plans for 300 homes, but then said that will be delayed so it doesn’t happen during the election campaign.
April 2021 – Just 20 days before polling day, mayor Marvin Rees, local MP Kerry McCarthy and Labour’s two candidates for Brislington East announced that Brislington Meadows won’t be built on, because the Avon Wildlife Trust had said the land there was too ecologically important to be destroyed by development. Homes England cancelled its planned consultations.
May 2021 – Both Labour candidates, Tim Rippington and Katja Hornchen, were elected in Brislington East, as was mayor Marvin Rees.
Summer 2021 – Avon Wildlife Trust said other greenfield sites in South Bristol, including the Western Slopes in Knowle West and Yew Tree Farm on Bedminster Down, should not be built on either – both have developers with plans for hundreds of new homes. Mayor Marvin Rees said Yew Tree Farm should not be developed. A Tory and Green Party motion calling for all green field sites in Bristol to be protected from new housing was passed by the council, with Labour councillors abstaining.
Oct 2021 – Homes England announced it still wants to develop Brislington Meadows, with consultation on its plans starting at the end of November.
Nov 2021 – Homes England unveiled its plans for 260 new homes, including 78 affordable, and announced a consultation in early December.
Apr 2022 – Homes England submitted an outline planning application
June 2022 – Residents hold a protest march through Brislington Meadows to highlight the strength of opposition to the plans for housing.
Oct 2022 – After realising it would eventually be refused, Homes England appealed to the Government Planning Inspectorate for non-determination, as soon as it was six months since they submitted the application, and it hadn’t been decided.
Nov 2022 – Bristol City Council begins drawing up its Local Plan for 2024, mapping where homes can be built, and promises to take Brislington Meadows back out of the list.
Jan 2023 – The Government Planning Inspector held a public inquiry into whether the land should be developed.
April 2023 – The planning inspector ruled that, because it is in the 2014 Local Plan as housing land, Homes England should get planning permission for their plan.
June 2023 – Residents and Kerry McCarthy MP urge Communities minister Michael Gove to look again at the plan, and tell Homes England to drop the development. He thinks about it, but declines.
Summer 2024 – Homes England say they will submit a ‘reserved matters’ planning application, confirming the details for the housing development by the end of 2024.
Jan 2025 – There is a delay to the detailed planning application. Homes England still has not confirmed which housebuilder it will partner with. The agency say it ‘intends’ to submit a reserved matters application in the summer of 2025.
April 2025 – Homes England announces Keepmoat as its developer for Brislington Meadows, and said it will put forward a ‘reserved matters’ application, with work starting in 2026
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