{"id":234394,"date":"2025-07-03T09:55:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T09:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/234394\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T09:55:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T09:55:13","slug":"update-on-controversial-brislington-meadows-housing-site-after-12-year-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/234394\/","title":{"rendered":"Update on controversial Brislington Meadows housing site after 12-year battle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Developers want to build 260 homes on land the former Mayor of Bristol said would never be built on<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_TCBR010725BrislingtonMeadowsBRI_result.jpg\" alt=\"An artists' impression of what the proposed Brislington Meadows development would look like\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>An artists&#8217; impression of what the proposed Brislington Meadows development would look like(Image: Keepmoat)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Developers looking to build 260 new homes on perhaps the most controversial green field site in Bristol have announced that they are pressing on with their plans. Keepmoat are to publish their plans for the new homes on <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/all-about\/brislington\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Brislington<\/a> Meadows next week, and are holding a \u2018drop-in session\u2019 for local residents to find out more the week after.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The site already has outline planning permission for the 260 new homes, <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/news\/bristol-news\/brislington-meadows-built-after-government-8359779\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"controversially awarded by the Government\u2019s planning inspectorLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">controversially awarded by the Government\u2019s planning inspector<\/a> after the owners of the land &#8211; the Government\u2019s housing agency Homes England &#8211; appealed a council decision to turn down the plans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">But now Homes England<a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/news\/bristol-news\/government-announce-developer-controversial-meadows-10105055\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\" has selected a housebuilder - KeepmoatLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\"> has selected a housebuilder &#8211; Keepmoat<\/a> &#8211; and they are set to submit a more detailed planning application to <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/all-about\/bristol-city-council\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Bristol City Council<\/a> in the next couple of months, a move which will reignite a 12-year long battle over the future of the site, which was left as green fields and hedges when Brislington and Broomhill expanded around it in post-war South Bristol.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The new plans from Keepmoat will go live on the development\u2019s website from midday next Wednesday, July 9, and the following Monday, July 14, Keepmoat are hosting an in-person drop-in event at St Luke\u2019s Wigwam Scout Hut on Brookside Road in Brislington between 3pm and 7pm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Keepmoat said 30 per cent of the new 260 homes they are planning &#8211; some 78 new homes &#8211; will be classed as \u2018affordable\u2019, and the development plans are \u2018centred around the site\u2019s natural features\u2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cThe proposals would create 260 new homes, including 30 per cent affordable housing, in a green landscape-led neighbourhood in keeping with the local landscape,\u201d a spokesperson for Keepmoat said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cThe plans are centred around the site\u2019s natural features, which will enhance existing local biodiversity and create and maintain green open spaces for current and future residents in Brislington. The site, set to be called \u2018Brislington Meadows\u2019 is well located, within walking distance of local schools, shops and bus stops and will deliver a network of new pedestrian and cycle routes,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cThis is a thoughtfully designed, landscape-led proposal that places nature and community at its heart. We want to create a neighbourhood that respects Brislington Meadows\u2019 natural assets, delivers real local benefits and helps meet the City of Bristol\u2019s clear need for new homes,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE: <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/news\/bristol-news\/mp-calls-government-stop-south-10107565\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MP calls on her own Government to stop South Bristol building plan<\/a>READ MORE: <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/news\/bristol-news\/brislington-meadows-blame-game-councillor-8376137\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Brislington Meadows blame game as councillor tells residents &#8216;many mistakes were made&#8217;<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cAt Keepmoat, we\u2019re committed to creating high quality new homes and this development, in partnership with Homes England, is responding to an acute housing crisis in Bristol where local people are finding it increasingly difficult to get on the housing ladder.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cBy shaping the development around the site\u2019s natural features and investing in public green space, infrastructure and affordable homes, we can deliver a place that grows out of the landscape rather than imposing on it. We encourage everyone to explore the proposals and tell us what matters to them,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Brislington Meadows has been a controversial site to propose housing ever since the early 2010s, when a local campaign was unsuccessful in stopping the city council &#8211; then led by first Bristol mayor George Ferguson &#8211; including it as a potential housing site in the 2014 Local Plan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Nothing happened until early 2020 when Mayor <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/all-about\/marvin-rees\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Marvin Rees<\/a>\u2019 administration successfully persuaded Homes England to spend around <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/news\/bristol-news\/marvin-rees-brislington-meadows-decision-5327244\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"\u00a315m of taxpayers\u2019 money to buy all the land thereLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">\u00a315m of taxpayers\u2019 money to buy all the land there<\/a>, both from a London-based property company and Bristol City Council, with the aim of unlocking the logjam of ownership that had stalled any development plans.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1_TCR_BRI_250622MeadowsBRI_03.jpg\" alt=\"Residents of Brislington march in protest of plans to build homes on Brislington Meadows\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>Residents of Brislington march in protest of plans to build homes on Brislington Meadows(Image: Oren Taylor)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">But less than a year later, Mr Rees and Bristol\u2019s <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/all-about\/labour-party\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Labour<\/a> councillors and a local MP <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/news\/bristol-news\/bristol-mayor-mayor-marvin-rees-5305881\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"announced a drastic U-turnLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">announced a drastic U-turn<\/a>. From encouraging Homes England to get involved and push development, they now announced they were opposed to building on Brislington Meadows, and would try to stop Homes England\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The issue went to the Planning Inspector who <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bristolpost.co.uk\/news\/bristol-news\/brislington-meadows-built-after-government-8359779\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"gave outline permission almost two years agoLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">gave outline permission almost two years ago<\/a> now, in August 2023. Since then, Homes England has resisted all calls for the site to be dropped as a housing development site, and found a willing housebuilder in Keepmoat to take on the scheme, despite the current Green Party-led administration taking the Brislington Meadows site back out of the emerging new Local Plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Developers want to build 260 homes on land the former Mayor of Bristol said would never be built&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[9420,381,3893,748,393,4884,14144,528,13072,285,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-234394","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-brislington","9":"tag-bristol","10":"tag-bristol-city-council","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-green-party","15":"tag-labour-party","16":"tag-marvin-rees","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114788704268208432","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}