A date has been set for the battle of Brislington Meadows between Bristol City Council and Homes England. Councillors rejected plans by the government’s land and property agency for up to 260 homes at the South Bristol wildlife haven at a meeting on Wednesday (December 7) – but the decision has already been taken out of their hands.
Homes England lodged an appeal in September with the Planning Inspectorate, which will now have the final say after the local authority missed the deadline on whether to grant or refuse permission. An 11-day public inquiry will begin on January 31, and Wednesday’s decision by the council’s development control committee to formally reject the controversial outline proposals means the authority will fight the scheme, which has received 575 objections, at the hearing.
The city council had asked Homes England to buy the land in Brislington in 2020 to accelerate house-building there after the project stalled, and the government body spent about £15million of taxpayer’s money obtaining it from three different parties. But within a year Marvin Rees announced a U-turn despite the site being allocated for housing in the local plan and the principle of development accepted.
