More than 150 local residents have objected to plans by the owner of Bristol City to create a new suburb near Ashton Gate Stadium.
And Steve Lansdown and Bristol Sport face a battle to convince council planners and councillors to agree that they should be allowed to build around 500 new homes on the edge of Bristol, in a project called Longmoor Village. The proposal for what would effectively be a giant cul-de-sac of new homes off the access road to the Long Ashton Park and Ride site has been linked by Bristol Sport to another planning application to create a Sporting Quarter, complete with conference centre and basketball arena, hotel, offices and flats next to Ashton Gate Stadium, just a few hundred yards away.
The site is a huge field that was once where bosses at Ashton Gate proposed a new stadium more than ten years ago, which was ditched after a vociferous battle with local residents and environmental campaigners. Instead, Mr Lansdown funded a massive redevelopment of the existing Ashton Gate into a 27,000-capacity stadium, which was completed more than five years ago.
Read more: Final plans for 4,000 seat arena and 500 homes submitted by Ashton Gate
Now, there are ambitious plans for a new ‘Sporting Quarter’ next to the stadium, which will create a 5,000-seat arena and conference centre venue that will also become a home for the Bristol Flyers basketball team, alongside other new facilities, including a block of 125 new flats, offices, shops, a gym, a club museum, a multi-storey car park and a hotel on land currently occupied by Wickes DIY store and other local businesses.
Some of the cost of that huge project will be met from the profits of building on the land originally earmarked for a stadium - and the 500-home Longmoor Village proposal was announced at the same time as part of the wider Ashton Gate Sporting Quarter project. But while the Sporting Quarter plans have been largely welcomed by local residents and civic leaders - the planning application has attracted just 11 objections and six letters of support - the plan to build 500 homes on the big field nearby is more controversial.
Bosses at Ashton Gate Stadium are hopeful both applications will go before council planners in the next couple of months - so work on the Sporting Quarter can begin in earnest, and the Longmoor Village plan, which is an outline application to confirm the principle of development, can progress to the next stage. But council planning officers have been deluged with objections to the idea of building new homes on the land that is bounded on all four sides by the recently-created Metrobus track, a huge car auction business and the David Lloyd Long Ashton sports centre.
Since the application was submitted in last summer, a total of 158 objections have been submitted from people all over Bristol, including dozens from residents of nearby Ashton Vale and also Long Ashton, where people fear the ‘creep’ of residential Bristol towards the village. Some objections or concerns came from official bodies or organisations. Simon Hickman, the principal inspector for Historic England, said they had concerns, although they were ‘less than substantial’, about the development, which he said had ‘the potential to cause harm to the setting of Ashton Court’s Grade II*-listed ‘registered landscape’.
“The harm is likely to be less than substantial, and towards the lower end of that spectrum. It should be possible to mitigate some of the possible negative effects through good design via subsequent reserved matters applications, if you are minded to approve this proposal,” he said.
Many of the objections were made because of concerns about the importance of the field - which is grazed by cattle, is between Longmoor and Colliters brooks and can be very marshy - to local wildlife habitats. Natural England have asked for more information about what the developers can do to stop harm to local bats - something the developers have this month answered.
And even Avon Fire and Rescue Authority said it was worried about the increase in the number of new homes on this edge of Bristol.
Back in 2020 and 2021, Bristol Live reported how, within 800 yards of the centre spot at Ashton Gate, there were some 4,500 new homes either being proposed or being built, with developments at Ashton Vale, Ashton Meadows, Southville and the Cumberland Basin. In the fire authority’s official response to the planning application, a representative said they were looking to move fire stations around South Bristol as a result of all the new development in this corner of the city.
She said they were not expecting the Government to provide extra funding for new fire stations, so the fire brigade would be looking for developers to pay.
“Where possible Avon Fire & Rescue Service will need to seek and explore opportunities in relation to funding from other sources to meet the changing demands within its operational area,” she said.
“Therefore, Avon Fire & Rescue Service may need to become reliant on local support funding through either developer contributions, through the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). These developments will contribute to a significant increase in demand for Avon Fire & Rescue Service. As the population increases, so does the demand.
“This has an added impact upon the current resources therefore stretching our assets to meet this demand. It is accepted that Avon Fire & Rescue Service will not be increasing the number of resources or assets to manage with this growth. However Avon Fire & Rescue Service is seeking to formulate discussions to move fire stations to meet these new increasing demands,” she added.
Many of the 158 local residents’ objections have come from Ashton Vale and Ashton Gate. One resident of Ashton Drive, a road close to the development, said: “This will, in essence, be catastrophic for numerous species of wildlife, birds and insects. The council seems to want to intentionally eradicate all green spaces around Ashton vale, and even in the wider city. This space is utilised by hundreds of local residents who already live in the Ashton Vale and surrounding areas for walking, Dog walking etc and has been exceptionally valuable especially given the recent pandemic to have an outside space that is safe for people who live in the local area to enjoy. The ground itself absorbs a great deal of rainwater - key on future flood prevention.
“I believe the land itself is greenbelt and therefore should be protected and not be built on? here also are not suitable roads to get in and out of the area - as it is local neighbourhoods are congested and this will only exacerbate the problem. There are multiple reasons as to why this is an absolute catastrophe and should not be given the go-ahead to proceed,” he added.
Another resident of Swiss Drive in Ashton Vale said it was a ‘travesty’ to build on the field. “Having lived in Ashton Vale all my life, I believe it will be a travesty to build on the greenbelt land. Greenbelt legislation was put into place to prevent urban sprawl and safeguard greenspaces,” she said.
“The Ashton Vale community regularly use this area for leisure activities, including dog walking, nature walks and to maintain general mental well being. The children in the area are fortunate enough to see a huge amount of wildlife in this area along with farm animals.
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“This area needs to be secured and remain as greenbelt to protect its use for future generations. Once areas such as these are gone they are gone forever,” she added.
This month, the planning consultants working for Ashton Gate Stadium replied to many of the concerns about the impact on the environment, pointing out that the homes are planned on what is essentially just a field of grass, and the areas around the edges will be preserved for wildlife.
They said the impact on the environment will be minimal. “The main area of development will take place in an open, cattle grazed field, which is a capped landfill, with a draft allocation for housing, with limited function as a wildlife corridor. Whilst this part of the site will be developed, the function of the site as a wildlife corridor is unlikely to alter as a result of the proposed development due to the retention of boundary features and those around Longmoor Brook,” he said.
“In fact, boundary habitats and planting in the central area of the site will be strengthened as a result of the development to improve their function as a wildlife corridor compared to the baseline, which is an open field with limited cover and connectivity,” he added.
