Mayor sacrificed homes for votes claim opponents

BRISTOL mayor Marvin Rees was taken to task over his Brislington Meadows U-turn in an election hustings on Thursday night.

Mr Rees announced last month he would reverse plans to build 300 homes on the fields in southeast Bristol and would preserve them as a wildlife haven instead.

The timing of the announcement, weeks away from local elections, has drawn criticism from the Labour mayoral candidate’s political opponents who claim it was a cynical tactic to gain favour among voters.

Rebel Labour councillor Nicola Bowden-Jones, who is not seeking re-election on May 6, has accused Mr Rees of “sacrificing” an opportunity to provide homes just to win a second term as mayor.

Now Conservative candidate Alistair Watson has repeated the accusation, asking Mr Rees whether his announcement “a couple of weeks” before May’s local elections was an attempt to “buy some votes” in Brislington.

Responding to the attack directly during an online mayoral hustings held by our sister website Bristol Live, Mr Rees said Bristol City Council became the first local authority to declare an ecological emergency in February 2020 after a challenge from the Avon Wildlife Trust.

“Over the subsequent months we wrote an ecological strategy, and that certainly focuses minds on the need to make sure we are protecting important space for nature as we also try to meet our housing needs,” Mr Rees said.

“And it’s through that framework we have come to this decision.

“Avon Wildlife Trust has obviously pointed out that Brislington Meadows is a very important area for nature. Kerry McCarthy [MP for Bristol East] has been campaigning on it quietly with us for some time.

“So it’s as straightforward as that, really.”

Green mayoral candidate Sandy Hore-Ruthven pointed out the council sold the meadows to Homes England for housing in April 2020, just two months after declaring an ecological emergency.

“The right way to protect our green spaces and work out where we build our homes is to review a thing called the Local Plan which sets out how different areas of land would be used,” Mr HoreRuthven said. Mr Rees did not respond to the criticism.

The land at Brislington Meadows

is allocated for housing under the current Local Plan, which is overdue for updating after an overarching regional plan fell apart.

The Local Plan will be refreshed once a new Spatial Development Strategy for Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath and North East Somerset is completed.

Homes England, the Government’s land and housing agency, paid £15 million for almost 10 hectares of land at Brislington Meadows 12 months ago.

It bought the land at the request of the council from three landowners: Bristol City Council, London Property Firm Olympia and Hammersmith, and local businessman Johnny Palmer.

The council’s share of the land was worth almost £3 million.

The understanding was that Homes England would build up to 300 homes – 90 affordable – on the Brislington Meadows site.

It had already started carrying out technical surveys and collecting community suggestions to inform options for its masterplan for the site, and was planning its main public consultation in the spring, when the mayor made his announcement on April 16.

Homes England responded with a statement saying: “We are aware of the mayor’s announcement. We intend to work positively with all parties involved to identify a sensible route forward.”

Nine candidates are vying to become Bristol’s third elected mayor at local elections on May 6.

Avon Wildlife Trust has pointed out that Brislington Meadows is a very important area for nature MARVIN REES

James Beck > Marvin Rees at Brislington Meadows after making his U-turn