Residents of a Bristol cul-de-sac have described the “soul-destroying” experience of living next to a building site for three years while a new housing project was being built. Plans for an eco-housing development in Kings Weston, which includes 33 new homes, was approved by Bristol City Council back in 2018.
Building work on the Water Lilies scheme began in the Spring of 2020, with the first phase due to be completed by the summer of 2021. But the scheme faced delays in part due to a shortage of building materials caused by the covid pandemic and Brexit.
And the delays have only added to the difficult experience nearby residents have suffered as a result of the construction work. Laura Bricklebank, who lives near to the site off Alderdown Close, told Bristol Live she had experienced problems with traffic, noise and mud from the site since the work began.
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She claims vehicles belonging to subcontractors constantly block her driveway, and that she “can’t get off her drive most mornings”. She added: “If an ambulance were to try and get up here, they'd have no chance.”
Ms Bricklebank described the noise from the site as “absolutely horrendous” and claimed that it goes on seven days a week. The developers behind the scheme, Bright Green Futures (BGF), said it disputed many of the claims made by local neighbours but said it recognised the residents had "paid a very high price for the disruption.”
While primary construction is now on track to be finished within the next few months, the development is classed as a ‘self-build community’, which means property buyers can opt just to buy an external shell which will still need a lot of work to fit-out the property inside.
Ms Brinklebank said: “Everybody in the street has had enough. We’ve just reached the end of our tether. They keep saying it’s going to be finished, but it’s gone on now for three years, and they keep moving the end date.
“We’ve complained, and they do say sorry, but that's as far as it goes. Nothing changes.”
Residents said that BGF and the main contractor on the site, Dove, had been generally responsive to residents' concerns, but the constant burden of having to flag ongoing issues over the course of nearly three years has been “soul-destroying at times.”
One resident said: “We personally have to ask delivery drivers each day not to park in front of our drives, despite notices being displayed.” They also said the constant need to engage with construction workers to ask them not to block them in, or ask them to move their vehicles, was “distressing”.
"I just don’t know if they [BGF] fully understand the daily upset because they’re not here on site,” they added. “They don’t have the daily experience of living here. It may sound like just small issues taken in isolation, but over the course of three years, it has grown.
“I don’t want to damage our relationship [with BGF and Dove] or for it to become antagonistic. We don’t want to have a bad relationship with the new residents. We’ve worked hard to find a way forward to improve things, but it has been very challenging because of the constant daily issues relating to noise, dirt and traffic.”
In response to the claims, Caroline Pringle, managing director for BGF, said: “It has been extremely disappointing and upsetting for us as a purpose lead, community-focused developer to see what the Alderdown Close neighbours have had to go through. We will always do as much as we can to minimise the impact on their lives and have even changed the design of the site at their request to try and mitigate their concerns. "
She said the firm had introduced a range of measures to try and make the build more tolerable for residents. These include a regular newsletter, putting up 'no parking' and 'no deliveries before eight' signage, cancelling contracts with workers who have refused to abide by site rules and providing direct contact to both the site manager and herself.
Mrs Pringle added: “But with all the money and planning in the world, there is very little we can do because large vehicles have to access this incredibly tight site via a very small cul-de-sac.
“To put this in a wider context, it's important to remember that the UK is in a dire housing crisis, particularly in places like Bristol, and so we are at a point where we have to use up land that is very difficult to build on, like the Water Lilies site. We are also in the midst of an environmental emergency, so innovative eco-communities like this are essential.
"But we recognise that the Alderdown Neighbours have paid a very high price for the disruption.”
Bristol Live has approached Dove and the architects involved in the site design, Marshall and Kendon, for comment. Bristol City Council said that no complaints had been received in connection to traffic, dirt and noise from the site.
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