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Bristol Post

National

Tristan Cork

How one area of Bristol will see its population increase by 44 per cent as huge amount of development planned

Bedminster Bristol Live South Bristol (Location) Southville Ashton (Geopolitical Entity) Bedminster Green

The population of just one postcode area of South Bristol is set to increase by almost half in the next three years - and now the community is to come together to discuss how to deal with that. A five month project is being launched by Action Greater Bedminster to try to get everyone already living in BS3 to have their say about what needs to happen so that the area and community can cope with such an increase in residents.

Those community leaders and councillors behind the project say they want to get as many people as possible involved, especially those who don’t normally get to have their say on changes in their neighbourhood.

The five month project will see workshops, public meetings and consultations, culminating in a one-day event on May 20, which will bring together city leaders from the council, health and education to hear the ideas and concerns of the residents of BS3 about the massive change that is already underway across Ashton Vale, Ashton, Southville, Bedminster and Windmill Hill.

For the past few years, Bristol Live has reported on all the many large-scale development projects, from initial planning announcements to permissions, work and completions. Thousands of new flats have already been built in the past couple of years, are being built now, or already have planning permission with work about to start.

Local councillor Tony Dyer, who grew up in Bedminster, said he calculates that there will be a projected population increase in just his council ward of Southville, of 44 per cent in the next few years. And that doesn’t include large-scale developments of flats in Bower Ashton, Ashton Vale, Ashton Gate or Bedminster. The project to work on ways for residents and the authorities to cope with this rapid expansion is called BS3 2025, and is being organised by community group Action Greater Bedminster.

“It’s in the really early stages and it’s important to stress we don’t have a set agenda at all, apart from wanting to get as many people as possible, as many community groups, residents and local business owners, to get involved and take this forward together,” said AGB chair Ellie Freeman.

“People need to be empowered to shape their future, not just to receive it as something they can’t influence. In a neighbourhood still recovering in both public health and economic terms from the COVID epidemic, and already being impacted by the disruption to roads and retail streets by building works, concern verging on anger is being expressed about the future quality of life here. With a projected population increase of 40%, a much-needed detailed look to the future and its opportunities as well as threats has been raised in local discussions,” she added.

“The focus will be the anticipated impact on BS3 of economic, public health and environmental issues, coinciding with an increased cost of living, climate change threats/opportunities, and a severely challenged UK economy. The agenda will be decided during local consultation with residents, organisations and groups, stakeholders, and business owners,” she added.

Last year, Bristol Live revealed details of projects like the Bedminster Green regeneration scheme, which could see more than 2,300 new homes - including more than a thousand student flats - built along one 500 yard section of Malago Road.

Meanwhile, Bristol Live has regularly updated a separate study, which showed that over on the other side of BS3, there are more than 1,500 new homes being planned or built all within just 800 yards of the centre spot on the pitch of Ashton Gate Stadium - which could eventually be as high as 4,500 if the Western Harbour project is included.

Work begins on the Old Brewery development site in Ashton Gate (Abri)

A third study revealed that there are more than 12,000 new homes either being built or planned across the whole of South Bristol - with almost half of those in the BS3 area from Ashton Vale to Windmill Hill, with Bedminster and Southville in between.

As part of that investigation, South Bristol MP Karin Smyth said she feared schools and especially health services would not be able to cope with such a rapid increase in population south of the river, and said she had been trying to get council chiefs and NHS bosses together to agree a way forward for new facilities to be provided.

A fourth report by Bristol Live last year found that only a fraction of the millions of pounds of Community Infrastructure Levy money developers at Bedminster Green are having to pay to the council to build new homes on Malago Road will actually end up being spent in the area.

Ms Freeman said every time new flats were announced on one of Bedminster’s industrial sites, residents who live have three main questions - where will the new residents go to the doctors? Where will their children go to school? And where will they park their cars?

“People obviously have concerns, and there are opportunities too,” she said. “This is going to be a big project, which will take stock of what we already have in BS3, assess what is going to happen, and what needs to happen going forward. We as residents can’t necessarily stop this change, but we can do more than sit and watch it happen around us,” she said.

“What’s our community going to look like? What is realistic to achieve, what is feasible? This is not council-led, this is trying to open it all out to the residents of BS3, outside of the usual people who are well used to having their say. We particularly want to get people from parts that aren’t often asked - places like Ashton Vale, or Windmill Hill or the south of Bedminster. This is going to happen anyway, so it’s important for everyone to have a constructive conversation,” she added.