‘Zero trust’ Residents say fears over new homes access ‘ignored’
UNHAPPY residents have banded together to criticise council plans to build 140 new homes on Dovercourt Road in Lockleaze, amid concerns that they have not been listened to.
Bristol City Council is proposing to create a new residential development on the site of a parks and highways department storage depot on the street, as part of plans to build 2,000 homes a year in the city.
But a group of locals have raised several worries since the development was first proposed more than a year ago, particularly over access points, which they say are unsuitable as they could lead to increased traffic and increased pollution.
Rich Dinham, who lives along the road, told the Post that an alternative access point via Petherbridge Way was rejected by the council, even though it would alleviate their concerns about congestion.
The 41-year-old said: “From the start it doesn’t feel like we’ve been listened to. We’ve said (these things) to them before, even at the last meeting we had with them, and they said they’ll relook at this, and they’ll relook at that, but they’ve said that in the past and nothing’s happened.
“There’s zero trust there, and we’re ploughing on trying to do everything we can, and when we get to the end whatever happens we want to know that we’ve done everything we can.
“But there’s not a lot of confidence, I think it will get pushed through as the plans stand at the moment. There might be the odd change.”
The council says that it investigated the alternative access point in detail, but it was found to be unfeasible due to the constraints of the site, including on ecological, planning, transport and cost grounds.
However, Rich says that while residents are not against houses being built, they think the access points that have been proposed are unsuitable.
They are also concerned that the four-storey buildings which are being planned would overlook the mostly two-storey buildings in the area.
Rich added: “What we’ve never opposed is the building of the houses. We’ve never opposed the 140 homes being built at all, our opposition is purely on the access.
“The main access point we view as insufficient, it’s narrow, there’s blind spots.
“At the bottom of the access point, there’s access to lanes and garages either side, so there’s constantly cars coming out onto the tiny access road that they’ve put in place, so we’re concerned with safety there.”
A group of residents have been leafletting and knocking on residents’ doors to raise awareness of the proposals, and contributed to getting 182 residents to object to the plans on the council’s website. And they have crowdfunded to secure legal representation, which could help them to challenge the council if the plans are approved.
Rich said that, having read through the vast majority of comments on the council’s website, he thinks opposition to the plans is consistent among residents.
“People appreciate that there’s a lack of housing but there’s pretty consistent views across the board,” he said.
The Dovercourt Road proposal is one of several which have been designed to revitalise the “underused” Bristol suburb, including 188 new modular homes at Bonnington Walk, which was approved despite dozens of objections, 32 new affordable homes at Muller Road and 47 affordable homes at
Branwhite Close, on the site of the fire-ravaged former Gainsborough pub.
A Bristol City Council spokesperson said: “Dovercourt Depot is an underused council-owned brownfield site with potential to ease housing pressure in the area by delivering up to 140 much-needed new homes, including 50 per cent affordable housing.
“The site is in a residential area, close to amenities and with excellent public transport, walking and cycling links, making it a sustainable location to build new homes.
“Additional funding was approved to help support the development of an outline planning application for the site. This funding was used to facilitate an extended period of consultation with the local community, as well as to explore in detail additional design options requested by residents. This included investigating an alternative access via Petherbridge Way, in response to residents’ earlier feedback. This option was investigated in detail but was found to be unfeasible due to the
constraints of the site, including on ecological, planning, transport and cost grounds.
“Bristol has a housing crisis, and we need to deliver new homes. Underused brownfield sites like this are ideal locations for new homes. While we welcome challenge – and have spent time and money exploring other options at the request of local people, we need people to come forward with workable solutions and to tell us where they think we should build, rather than simply where we shouldn’t, if we are to meet the challenges of the housing, climate and ecological emergencies.
“The outline application is currently going through the planning process, and we are awaiting a committee date. Following determination of the outline planning application a reserved matters application will be submitted and the site will be disposed of to Goram Homes, who will develop the site with their partner Keepmoat Homes.”