Housing Council told to find room for more homes

BRISTOL will have to find sites for 5,265 more homes than the tens of thousands already pencilled in over the next 15 years, a Government-appointed inspector has told city planners in a damning review of its Local Plan.

- Tristan CORK

The review means Bristol City Council will have to go back to the drawing board and find even more places to build new homes, all within the city and county boundary, or ultimately face uncontrolled development on controversial sites as house-builders will be able to show city leaders have failed to plan its growth in the years to come.

The Local Plan has been drawn up for the past three years by councillors and officers initially under the previous Labour mayor administration, and now since May 2024 by the Green-led strategic planning committee.

The plan indicates where new homes should be built, both on ‘brownfield’ industrial sites - in places like Bedminster, St Philips, Fishponds and St Judes - and also on the last remaining bits of green belt land within Bristol’s boundaries. But now even the land which council planners said should not be built on could be under threat, because three Government planning inspectors asked to review Bristol’s plan have said it does not go far enough.