Bristol’s ruling Labour council has announced it has dropped plans to build homes on a park in Southmead - just 20 days before a by-election there.
Labour’s housing chief said they would not build homes on Doncaster Road Park after they knocked on people’s doors in Southmead and were told no one liked the idea.
The rival Green Party candidate in the by-election claimed Labour had "neglected the views of Southmead residents" until they needed votes.
READ MORE: Bristol council chief has 'very little power' to make developers build affordable homes
The by-election is taking place on February 17 after the resignation of Labour councillor Helen Godwin, who had been education chief at City Hall until she got a new job as a management consultant and quit the council cabinet and then as a councillor altogether before Christmas.
The Southmead ward has, almost exclusively, been a Labour stronghold for 25 years or more, but with the Green Party drawing level with Labour on 24 councillors each at last May’s full council elections, who wins the by-election on February 17 matters more than it might have done.
Labour’s housing chief Cllr Tom Renhard joined existing Southmead councillor Brenda Massey and Labour’s by-election candidate Kye Dudd in Doncaster Park to make the announcement. “We all know that Bristol’s got a real housing shortage and the city council looks at any site they can that might possibly be able to be used for development for housing,” said Cllr Massey. “And we do understand how important it is that people have somewhere to live.
“So originally, the council started looking around the area to see if there were any potential sites that could be used, and that’s why they came across Doncaster Road for planning,” she added.
Mr Dudd added: “We’ve got a really positive announcement about the future after feedback from residents. I know some of the plans here were unpopular. I think we can really look at the future of the park, and improving the park.”
And then in a video, the city council’s cabinet member for housing, Cllr Tom Renhard made the announcement: “From feedback from residents and also from Brenda and Kye who’ve been lobbying really hard on behalf of local residents, we can announce that we won’t be proceeding with any plans for housing on Doncaster Road Park.
“Although they were at a very early stage, we know the strength of feeling that’s been communicated with us over the last couple of months, so we just wanted to give that community assurance that we’ll be looking at alternative sites within Southmead."
Cllr Renhard last week explained to Bristol Live why the council found it a huge challenge to force developers to include affordable homes in private developments, so the council was looking more to building homes on land it already owns.
Cllr Renhard told Bristol Live the idea of building homes on the Doncaster Road Park was first suggested to local residents by council chiefs at a public meeting in November last year, held to discuss wider plans to build new homes on various sites around Southmead.
The park had not yet made it onto the council's Housing Revenue Account list of potential sites for council owned land that it had earmarked for house-building up until 2027, and wasn't on the two 'pipeline' lists of sites proposed by the council's house-building company arm Goram Homes - a list which includes controversial council-owned sites like the Western Slopes in Knowle West and the nearby Knowle West Health Park.
But the suggestion that Doncaster Road park could be partly built on - with some of the money made from developing it put into improving the rest of the green space and playground - was put to residents in November as a possibility.
The announcement now that homes will not be built on the site, made so close to an election, has echoes of a similar announcement made 20 days before last May’s full council election.
Back then, Mayor Marvin Rees joined local MP Kerry McCarthy and two local Labour candidates in announcing they were dropping controversial plans to build 300 new homes on Brislington Meadows.
The announcement seemed to work - both Labour candidates were elected in May. But within just a few months, Bristol Live revealed that Homes England - the Government housing agency who the council persuaded to buy the land for £15 million so that homes could be built on it - had no intention of abandoning its housing plans - and a fresh proposal for 260 new homes is currently being consulted on.
Labour said this time the council could meet its promise, because it does actually own the land. “The park is owned by the council,” a spokesperson said. “So the council has every power to prevent or allow housing being built there."
Cllr Renhard said people in Southmead made it clear they didn’t want homes built on Doncaster Road Park. “I have recently been on the doorstep in Southmead with Kye,” he said. “The strength of feeling about the park is more than apparent. The plans for housing were at a very early stage, but I am more than happy to put a stop to them and instead see council money invested elsewhere.
“Labour has always said that we will prioritise denser, brownfield developments close to employment hubs; this announcement reiterates our commitment to that,” he added.
Kye Dudd, a former council cabinet member who lost his seat in the city centre ward last May and is now standing for election in Southmead, said: “Speaking to Cllr Massey and local residents, it is clear that the park is a much-loved, well-used community asset that needs to be protected.
“After I was selected as a candidate for Southmead Ward, one of the first things Brenda and I did was arrange a meeting with Tom Renhard, to ask him to put a stop to these plans and instead invest council money into more suitable sites.
“We visited the park and he agreed. This is a huge win for the local community, and I’m glad the park can be enjoyed for generations to come,” he added.
What do other candidates say?
There are five candidates for the Southmead by-election on February 17. Alongside Kye Dudd for Labour, Roddy Jaques is standing for the Conservatives, Ed Burnham for the Green Party, Gill Brooks for the Liberal Democrats and Tom Baldwin for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition.
In May last year, Labour won both Southmead seats up for grabs at the city council elections, with more than 40 per cent of the vote. The two Conservative candidates came third and fourth, with the Greens fifth and sixth, with less than 20 per cent of the vote, and the Lib Dems last.
With the Green Party equalling Labour’s share of seats in City Hall, they have been prominently campaigning in Southmead this month, alongside Labour’s canvassing.
The Green Party at City Hall told Bristol Live they believed the announcement broke local election purdah rules, which forbid those in power making announcements in the run-up to an election.
It’s not the first or even second time in the past year Labour have been accused of breaking purdah rules. As well as the Brislington Meadows saga, in the run up to the council elections last May in Ashton Gate, there was a similar pre-election announcement.
Just 13 days before May’s poll, Labour’s candidates in the Southville ward announced that Kye Dudd - who was the cabinet member in charge of the roads - would bring in a much-called for extension to Southville’s Residents Parking Zone.
Despite a letter to every household making that promise, it is yet to happen, and Southville elected two Green Party councillors.
Ed Burnham, who is from Southmead and is standing for the Green Party, welcomed the Doncaster Road park announcement.
“It’s always good to hear about green spaces in our community being protected and unpopular decisions being reversed,” he said.
“However, it’s a shame to yet again see the views of local Southmead residents neglected until it serves in the best interests of those who don’t live in the ward.
“I think this goes to highlight the desperate need for someone who lives in the ward, making the voice of local Southmead residents properly heard,” he added.
Green Party councillor Tony Dyer, who won the election in Southville ward last year despite the late intervention of Labour promising an extended RPZ for Ashton Gate, said: "So, seems best approach to getting 'the council' to commit to protecting local green space is to persuade the nearest Labour councillor to resign and trigger a by election? I am sure I can persuade the Greens to support that strategy."
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