![\"CGI](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_Oldland-Common-Houses.jpg\")
How the luxury houses on a wildlife haven at Oldland Common would look(Image: BBA Architects and Planners)<\/p>\nSouth Gloucestershire councillors voted 5-3 to grant permission<\/p>\n
12:00, 08 Sep 2025Updated 18:58, 08 Sep 2025<\/p>\n
How the luxury houses on a wildlife haven at Oldland Common would look(Image: BBA Architects and Planners)<\/p>\n
Plans for seven luxury homes at a wildlife haven on the outskirts of Bristol have been approved despite fears for bats, badgers, otters<\/a>, water voles and other protected species.<\/p>\n South Gloucestershire<\/a> councillors granted permission for the large detached houses at the Willows, a steeply sloping site at the eastern end of California Road, Oldland Common.<\/p>\n More than 220 residents objected to the proposals, along with both Oldland and Bitton parish councils, but the development management committee voted by 5-3 to give the go-ahead after hearing the site could be cleared at any time<\/a> because there were no tree preservation orders, as long as the protected animals were not harmed.<\/p>\n Neither the council\u2019s ecologist or the Environment Agency objected, subject to conditions, and planning officers recommended granting consent, even though they admitted \u201call species on site will be impacted by a loss of habitat\u201d.<\/p>\n South Gloucestershire Council<\/a> development manager Marie Bath<\/a> told the meeting on Thursday, September 4, that a wildlife corridor would be retained and a \u201cramshackle\u201d house and outbuildings on site were subject to arson and vandalism and would be demolished under the plans.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cThe site is undeniably a haven for wildlife, it also has some protected species. However, it\u2019s private land that could be cleared at any time.<\/p>\n \u201cOn balance the council\u2019s ecologist is satisfied that the work is acceptable. It is expected that the development of the site will have unavoidable implications for badgers both during construction and operational phases.<\/p>\n \u201cThis scheme will inevitably impact on ecology, especially in the short term. But that said, a significant swathe of habitat will be managed and maintained. We have attached a lot of conditions. Officers are satisfied that the impacts on ecology can be adequately mitigated.\u201d<\/p>\n She said eight different species of bat foraged across the site and that nine bat boxes would be installed to make up for any potential loss of habitat in the trees and buildings.<\/p>\n Ms Bath told councillors: \u201cBadgers are a key issue. There is a main badger sett on site with an annex sett and eight outlier setts. As part of the proposal, the main sett, the annex sett and five of the outlier setts are now to be protected and retained.<\/p>\n \u201cA new artificial sett is also to be provided on site. This will occupy a large area and include three entrances and tunnels.\u201d<\/p>\n She said the new homes were not trying to blend in with surrounding properties and were designed to be \u201cunashamedly proud of their difference\u201d.<\/p>\n But committee member and ward Cllr Paul Hughes (Conservative, Bitton & Oldland Common) said councillors did not receive several weighty documents on the site\u2019s ecology from officers until late the previous day and had not had enough time to absorb them, although his request to defer the decision was voted down by 4-3, with one abstention.<\/p>\n Quoting from the officer\u2019s report, he said the work would involve \u201csignificant excavation and disruption\u201d to water voles.<\/p>\n Cllr Hughes said: \u201cIt is significant. It will probably drive them away. I don\u2019t know where they\u2019re going to go. They will probably die.<\/p>\n \u201cBut that\u2019s okay because these guys want to put seven houses up,\u201d he added ironically.<\/p>\n Cllr Hughes questioned the report\u2019s assertion that protected species would leave the site during construction but return afterwards. He said: \u201cSo the otters and water voles can go on holiday for 12 or 18 months while [the developers] dig the whole hell out of it and then they\u2019ll come back?<\/p>\n \u201cYou will have to forgive me if I\u2019m representing every little creature that\u2019s been down there for many years, and I hope this committee will understand why there\u2019s so much anger about reducing or wrecking this site.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms Bath said otters were active in adjacent Siston Brook but not on the development site itself.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cIt\u2019s not blokes in diggers looking for water voles, it\u2019s an ecological clerk of work.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a pre-construction ecological check for badgers, bats, otters and water voles required, so that will be done by an ecologist, it\u2019s not done by a builder.\u201d<\/p>\n The officer said applicants Stantonbury would require a licence from Natural England to relocate 12 willow trees to avoid harm to water voles.<\/p>\n Ms Bath said: \u201cThe site is subject to a lot of arson, it\u2019s subject to vandalism.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re worried that those bat roosts could be lost anyway because of unacceptable behaviours.<\/p>\n \u201cYoure not allowed to harm any protected species but providing you don\u2019t do so, this site could be completely cleared.\u201d<\/p>\n One resident told the meeting that the proposed artificial badger sett could not have been checked for its suitability because the area was covered in thick bramble.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cThese luxury houses with their own communal garden areas for residents-only creates segregation and elitism and does not encourage a sense of community.<\/p>\n \u201cThe community that lives here has spoken in volumes, the most common objection being overdevelopment at the expense of wildlife and the greed of developers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Gloucestershire councillors voted 5-3 to grant permission 12:00, 08 Sep 2025Updated 18:58, 08 Sep 2025 How the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3847],"tags":[728,6334,12717,285,70,10299,10302,16,15,1717],"class_list":{"0":"post-409284","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-housing-crisis","10":"tag-planning","11":"tag-politics","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-south-gloucestershire","14":"tag-south-gloucestershire-council","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115171916824036226","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409284","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=409284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}