menu
Lack of affordable housing “completely unacceptable” – Green Councillor calls in Bedminster development plans
Green councillor for Southville Charlie Bolton has ‘called in’ a major housing development application for St Catherine’s Place, Bedminster. If successful the councillor’s call-in request will mean that the application has to go before a committee where councillors determine the outcome and will have the option to reject the development plans.
Councillor Charlie said:
“I have submitted a call-in for this application for two main reasons. Firstly, it is the focal point of a development which is just too big for the area. It would still be entirely possible to have a major development on Bedminster Green without all these extremely tall buildings. Secondly, it is utterly outrageous that this development has come forward with a proposal for zero affordable housing given the level of housing need in Bristol.
“I hope that my call-in is successful and the developers are asked to look again at their plans. I supported the initial plans due to the promise of substantial affordable housing and economic benefits to the local area. However these new plans dwarf the original proposals – a much smaller development would still deliver major benefits for local traders, and the complete absence of affordable housing on offer here is frankly not good enough.”
In addition to the size of the development and its lack of affordable housing the call-in document (attached here) also cites other issues with the development. These include inefficient energy usage and concerns about the impact of the large development on local capacity for school places and health services, as well as potentially years of noise disruption locally.