Councillors to decide future of beauty spot

The fate of the beauty spot that could be covered with 260 homes will be decided later.

Members of Bristol City Council's planning committee will meet at 18:00 GMT to debate whether plans for the Brislington Meadows can go ahead in their current form.

The site was sold to Homes England, the government's land and property agency, by the council in 2020, but subsequent council administrations have sought to protect it from development.

Homes England won the right to build on the land in 2023 by taking the matter directly to appeal - after the city council missed the deadline to make a decision - and it is now seeking to get detailed plans approved.

Keepmoat was appointed to the project in April 2025 and claims the development will boost biodiversity.

It says that 78 of the homes, or 30%, will be classed as affordable.

The plans have received more than 600 objections on the council's planning portal - many of them raising concerns about the loss of urban green space - but council planning officers recommended that the project be approved.

Ben Leather, regional managing director at Keepmoat Homes, said he recognised there were "strong local views" about the meadows, but said the company had focused on "creating well-designed homes" and "protecting significant areas of green space".

Those opposed to the scheme say the plans fail to meet standards relating to biodiversity, flood mitigation and accessibility, and that it will deliver fewer affordable homes than claimed.

The Save Brislington Meadows group said in an open letter to councillors green spaces "make our lives better".

"And, after all the promises by our democratic representatives, we're faced with the destruction of one of these green spaces by an ill thought through application which contains multiple errors, inconsistencies and a lack of detail," they added.

Local Labour MP Kerry McCarthy has also opposed the scheme, urging councillors to consider the strength of public response and the fact that ecological surveys the developer relies upon were undertaken some years ago, and the loss of rights of way.

"The application should be rejected and a new application made with, at the very least, a far smaller number of homes and footprint," she said.

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