Bungalows planned in south Bristol have been refused permission due to concerns over the impact on flooding and ecology.
Local property mogul Alex Fry applied for planning permission to build five bungalows off Marksbury Road. But Bristol City Council’s development control committee rejected her application after fears about the increased risk of flooding from the nearby River Malago.
Plans included demolishing the house at 149a Marksbury Road to make way for a two-metre footpath to the site. The bungalows would have been built on a small plot of land previously home to green habitats and nature, but which was cleared to a wasteland in 2019.
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Other concerns about the plans included access to the constrained site for fire engines, ambulances, and potentially disabled residents; and questions over a restrictive covenant allegedly protecting the land from development.
Speaking to the development control committee on Wednesday, August 3, local resident Lisa Cole said: “My garden backs onto the land at Marksbury Road. 120 people live around the land—if we had known it was at risk of development, we would have incorporated and bought it, it would have cost us £50 each. The owner bulldozed the land, creating fly tips where nature was previously flourishing, before the ecological report could be done.”
Developers bought the land from Bristol City Council for £6,000. The council placed a covenant on the land, preventing any development from taking place. But that didn’t stop the application for planning permission going ahead, and questions were raised about whether the council would actually enforce the covenant, if permission would have been granted.
Local Green Councillor Ed Plowden added: “I would really rather not be here, because I would like to think that the covenant would be respected by both the landowner and we can’t get a clear answer out of the council as to whether or not they’ll enforce the covenant.”
The site was cleared in November 2019, before the developers carried out necessary ecological surveys, common in these types of planning applications to assess the impact on local habitats. Ecological surveys done after the site was cleared unsurprisingly found there was now “nothing of any particular value”, according to a council planning officer.
Cllr Guy Poultney said: “I’m having trouble with this idea that a landowner, knowing that they’ll have to do an ecological assessment, can bulldoze the site concerned and then submit their own report saying there’s nothing substantial that can be lost as a result of development. It was a green site that the applicants themselves have destroyed. And the council could decide tomorrow not to enforce the covenant.”
Councillors on the development control committee voted unanimously to refuse planning permission. Developers have previously applied for permission for larger schemes on the site, which were refused, and then appealed to the planning inspector, who threw out the appeals. No representatives for Alex Fry were present to speak at the committee meeting.
