News / Development
Homes England faces opposition over plans to build housing on ‘vital’ green space
The Labour government are facing opposition from the Greens, Lib Dems, their own party members and campaigners ahead of their controversial plans to build housing on one of the city’s most “vital” green spaces.
When Homes England won an appeal over the Brislington Meadows’ planning application in April 2023, a question mark began to loom over the green space’s future.
On April 14 2025, things took a sour turn when Homes England announced that Doncaster-based Keepmoat Homes will start building 260 homes on this locally loved site, thereby diminishing the efforts of campaigners to save the site.
The Greens have emphasised that “nature shouldn’t pay the price for decades of poor housing policy” and that they were keen to work with Homes England to find sustainable solutions to Bristol’s housing crisis.
Reiterating the appeal of his party, James Crawford, a Green councillor on the environment & sustainability committee, said: “Brislington Meadows has been undeveloped for hundreds of years, and is a vital green area and habitat for wildlife.
“Meadows are often overlooked as habitat and are often considered prime development land, which is why wildflower meadows are now one of the rarest habitats in the UK.
“We must make space for nature in our city, and that means protecting and enhancing the existing sites we have. We should be investing in nature at this site, not looking to pave it over.”
Bristol City Council are making attempts to protect the site in the local plan by designating it as a Site of Nature Conservation Interest.
Blaming the Labour Party for creating a “mess”, lord mayor of Bristol and Lib Dem councillor Andrew Varney said: “The Labour Party may no longer be in charge in Bristol, but the mess they made is still having an impact.
“Let us not forget that it was Bristol Labour who sold the land for development and then changed their minds.
“Since the sale had gone through and the development was in the local plan from 2014, Bristol Labour have made local residents powerless to stop it – no matter what they wrote on their leaflets.”
People have been actively campaigning to save this green space since 2022 – photo: Save Brislington Meadows
Members of the Labour Party have also expressed their disapproval of their party’s government’s plans to build housing on this wildlife haven.
This included former mayor Marvin Rees, who had said he was “deeply disappointed” with the government’s decision to build housing on Brislington Meadows, when the plan was first announced in April 2023.
Rees, who now sits in the House of Lords, has not shared his views about the latest developments.
Bristol East MP, Kerry McCarthy, has expressed her concerns over the development in the past.
Writing on Facebook on Tuesday, McCarthy said: “Homes England have today announced that they have found a developer for Brislington Meadows, and intend to begin further consultation about the proposed development ahead of submitting a reserved matters planning application later this year. I will be seeking a meeting with the developers as soon as possible.
“I remain of the view that the Meadows development should not go ahead. As well as being a site of Nature Conservation Interest, the Meadows is a key green lung for Brislington and developing it would have a detrimental impact on local residents.
“I will continue to look for realistic ways to prevent the development; if this isn’t possible then I will be pushing as strongly as I can to reduce the development’s footprint, to ensure access to local people to the wider Meadows, and a promise that any Biodiversity Net Gain remains in the local area.”
In 2021, Rees had said that the site was too ecologically precious to be covered in homes – photo: Marvin Rees
Members of Save Brislington Meadows have been disappointed ever since the developers were announced.
One member on Facebook said: “It will be all concrete and nothing else soon. I was sort of hoping naively, this won’t go ahead. But it will.”
Green Party councillor Jenny Bartle strongly dismissed the Labour government’s way of handling the housing crisis and highlighted the Green Party’s desire to resolve the crisis in a sustainable way.
Bartle said: “The Green Party believes that prioritising brownfield sites and vacant buildings is a better strategy for resolving the housing crisis in a sustainable way.
“If the government was truly serious about resolving the housing crisis, they would look to enable us as a council to develop more social housing through these means, rather than tarmacking over valuable sites for both nature and the local community.
“Labour sold this land for development, and while they U-turned publicly, the decision to continue to develop on this land shows that they are clearly unserious about its commitments to climate and nature.
“We urge the government in the strongest possible terms to listen to their own minister and other local representatives and abandon their plans to develop this site.”
Main photo: Arundhuti Roy
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