Government minister Michael Gove has promised to ‘look closely’ at the plan to build 260 new homes on wildlife-rich meadows in South Bristol, after the saga was raised in parliament by the local MP.
Kerry McCarthy quizzed Communities Secretary Michael Gove on the scheme by the Government’s housebuilding and development agency Homes England to build new homes on Brislington Meadows. The Bristol East MP said Homes England had a new strategic plan to build on brownfield sites first, but was pressing on with its project to build on a greenfield site there.
Mr Gove said he sympathised with the point Ms McCarthy was making, and agreed that the green belt is a ‘valuable environmental asset that we need to protect’. The case was raised in the House of Commons after residents and local councillors wrote to Mr Gove, urging him to tell Homes England to drop the scheme.
Read next: Brislington Meadows blame game as councillor tells residents 'many mistakes were made'
Ms McCarthy told Parliament that Homes England’s new strategic plan was at odds with the idea of building homes on Brislington Meadows, which the Avon Wildlife Trust said is a key habitat in South Bristol.
It was allocated for housing in 2014, and so keen was the Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees and the Labour administration to get those new homes built there that in 2019 they encouraged Homes England to pay £15 million to buy the land, so a housing scheme could happen, only to U-turn in 2021 when the mayor announced that no homes would be built there.
Now, after Homes England obtained planning permission on appeal, Mr Gove - as the minister ultimately in charge of the Government organisation - is the last hope for local residents fighting the scheme.
Ms McCarthy asked Mr Gove: “Homes England’s new strategic plan contains commitments to work with local leaders to deliver ‘a brownfield first approach’ and to ‘support biodiversity’ by working with partners ‘to protect, enhance or create new environmental assets’, yet there are plans to put 260 housing units on Brislington Meadows, a beautiful nature-rich site in my constituency, going against the wishes of the council, local residents, the mayor and me.
“Does the Secretary of State really think the plan is worth the paper it is written on if Homes England does not put its principles into practice?”
The minister replied: “I have a lot of sympathy with the hon. Lady’s position, and I will look closely at that proposal. I agree with her and, indeed, with the shadow Secretary of State Lisa Nandy, that the green belt is a valuable environmental asset that we need to protect, but sadly that is not the view of the Leader of the Opposition,” he added.
Mr Gove is now faced with a choice - either he decides not to intervene and therefore allows Homes England to start building 260 new homes on Brislington Meadows, or he tells the Government agency to halt its plans, leaving the agency owning what will effectively be a nature reserve that cost the national taxpayer £15 million.
Read more:
- Last hope as residents urge Michael Gove to intervene to save Brislington Meadows
- Bristol area leading housing revolution that sees tiny homes being built in back gardens
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