{"id":471757,"date":"2025-10-03T18:46:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T18:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/471757\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T18:46:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T18:46:15","slug":"public-inquiry-into-bristols-turbo-island-village-green-status-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/471757\/","title":{"rendered":"Public inquiry into Bristol’s Turbo Island village green status"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex SeabrookLocal Democracy Reporting Service<\/p>\n

\"BBCBBC Images<\/p>\n

Campaigners want Turbo Island to be granted village green status<\/p>\n

A small piece of land in Bristol known for being a place for social gatherings as well as attracting crime is to be the subject of a public inquiry.<\/p>\n

Campaigners applied to Bristol City Council to protect Turbo Island in Stokes Croft as a village green, but questions were raised about whether its activities – including impromptu parties – make it qualify for the status.<\/p>\n

Avon and Somerset Police objected the plans over the “risk posed to the local community”, while the National Grid, which has a substation there, said altering the land would “hamper” the electricity network.<\/p>\n

The council will hire a barrister to chair a two-day inquiry to explore the options for the site’s future.<\/p>\n

Village green applications are usually granted to protect small plots of land from developers wishing to build there.<\/p>\n

Sites protected by the status are then open for public access to allow for recreational activities.<\/p>\n

Campaigners from the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft want to “save” Turbo Island<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They said the area served as a “vital” meeting point for members of the community, particularly homeless people, for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n

In evidence statements submitted earlier in 2025, one campaigner said the site “radiates deep tolerance, acceptance and understanding”.<\/p>\n

‘Crime every other day’<\/p>\n

But Turbo Island has been the scene of numerous criminal incidents<\/a> in recent times.<\/p>\n

Figures from Avon and Somerset Police showed 21 crimes were reported on the site in August – eight of which were violent and sexual offences.<\/p>\n

The force’s figures from September 2024 to August showed 185 crimes were reported – an average of one crime every other day, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Turbo Island is popular among those enjoying Bristol’s nightlife<\/p>\n

Bristol City councillor Ed Fraser said the cost of a public inquiry would not be “extraordinary” for taxpayers.<\/p>\n

“We can’t talk about the costs publicly but I do want to reassure the public that the costs are not wildly significant compared to lots of decisions that we make on policy committees,” he added.<\/p>\n

Councillor Don Alexander said: “Obviously the definition of extraordinary is quite subjective. <\/p>\n

“It’s certainly enough for me to worry about the costs of having somebody independent coming in.”<\/p>\n

At a council meeting on Thursday, councillors also raised concerns the public inquiry might not find a definitive answer.<\/p>\n

The authority could still be left with many unanswered questions before they have to make a decision on whether to register Turbo Island as a village green.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex SeabrookLocal Democracy Reporting Service BBC Images Campaigners want Turbo Island to be granted village green status A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,748,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-471757","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115311725437256264","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471757","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=471757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}