Western Slopes Campaign group says ‘they are offering us nothing’
CAMPAIGNERS fighting plans to build new homes on the semi-rural Western Slopes in Bristol claim developers are “offering nothing” to the community.
Lovell Homes has begun a consultation process with people living around the steeply sloped green space on the edge of Knowle West, ahead of a planning application to build 157 new homes there, including 47 affordable homes.
The Western Slopes form the green boundary on the western edge of Knowle West, between Novers Lane and Hartcliffe Way, and were never built on as South Bristol’s homes and industrial estates expanded after the war.
Residents in Knowle West, Headley Park, Bedminster and Inns Court say the slopes, which are still filled with copses, woods and hedgerows, are an important wildlife area, as well as being a valuable green space for people to walk in.
Earlier this year, the Post revealed that Lovell Homes had plans for new houses on the Bedminster end of the slopes, while the larger Inns Court end had been transferred to Bristol City Council’s housing company Goram Homes, with longerterm plans to build more than 300 new homes there.
Lovell Homes is the first to try to win planning permission to develop the Western Slopes, and said that the land has already been allocated for development by the council.
The new homes would be grouped into two different areas, with the steepest and most densely wooded area left not built on.
Lovell Homes said they will create a new pedestrian and cycle route along Novers Hill and open up the protected green space for public access.
With Novers Lane currently a narrow road, with hedges on both sides and no pavement, the developer has major plans to deal with the increased traffic to its new homes, while keeping the hedgerow.
It said it is proposing to retain the existing hedgerow, which would screen the development – but because that means the road can’t be widened, it would instead propose to make Novers Hill one-way to traffic, and build a 3m-wide cycle and pedestrian path on the other side of the hedge as part of the development.
“This new path would provide a safe, well-lit route alongside Novers Hill,” said a spokesperson for the developers.
“Lovell Homes is proposing to build mainly two-storey houses with two, three and four bedrooms.
“There would also be four threestorey apartment buildings provid
ing one and two-bedroom apartments. Thirty per cent of the new homes would be affordable homes.”
He added: “A green corridor which runs through the central area of the site would be protected and enhanced.
“Currently this part of Novers Hill is privately owned with no public access.
“The proposal would open the site up to the public, with a path proposed through the green corridor, as well as a new ‘natural’ play area for the whole community.”
A three-week public consultation was launched by Lovell homes last week, and a community briefing event is taking place tomorrow at 6.30pm.
The developers have advised anyone wishing to comment, or to register for the briefing, to email info@novershillconsultation.co.uk or call 0800 193 9403.
News of the two separate proposals for development broke earlier this year, when Lovell Homes first asked city planners for a pre-application scoping report, and the council’s own housing company had the southern half of the slopes handed to them by the city council.
It prompted local residents living in Knowle West, Bedminster and Headley Park, on the other side of the Malago Valley, to form the Save the Western Slopes campaign group.
They created a petition calling for the green spaces to be saved and not built on, and say they have put together an offer to buy the land from the landowner, to protect it from development.
The Friends of the Western Slopes said the community benefits outlined by Lovell Homes could be achieved without housing.
The group has suggested that the community benefits the developer has pledged can be achieved without housing.
A spokesperson said: “We can make Novers Hill safer by adding a footpath without housing. We can make the space public if the landowner sells it to us.
“We can get a cycle path without housing. We can fund local groups without housing.
“You are offering us nothing. This only hurts the community. If you want to help, build on brownfield and build shops and pubs.
“How someone can look at this and think ‘yep, let’s destroy it’ is beyond our comprehension.”
Lovell’s consultation site argues that the development will have “many real benefits to local residents”, including the delivery of homes to address “significant housing need across Bristol”.
The imminent Western Slopes planning application will be the
first test since May’s election of the way in which Bristol City Council approaches building homes on wildlife-rich green spaces, following the U-turn on the Brislington Meadows site on the other side of South Bristol.
There, council chiefs earmarked another series of green fields that had never been built on for 300 homes, including 90 for social rent council houses, and persuaded the Government’s Homes England agency to spend £13million buying
❝ How someone can look at this and think ‘yep, let’s destroy it’ is beyond our comprehension
Friends of the Western Slopes
the land from a London-based property developer to ensure the new homes would be built more quickly.
Then, just three weeks before the election, after Avon Wildlife Trust told a One City board the land should not be built on.
Mayor Marvin Rees announced it would not be, leaving Homes England with what could prove to be the most expensive nature reserve the Government has bought.
Avon Wildlife Trust has also said the council-owned half of the Western Slopes should not be built on, and they will be asked for their input into a forthcoming planning application for the northern end of the slopes.