Prioritise brownfield sites for development: protect precious green open space

This petition has been launched by the Protect Frome Valley @ Stapleton Community Association, formed in February 2015 in direct response to a proposed development on green open space adjacent to Eastville Park Lake (see photo opposite) that enjoyed multiple protective designations in Bristol’s planning policies and yet was still extremely vulnerable to what we regard as a speculative and wholly inappropriate development proposal.

Bristol needs more homes: we recognise and accept this. We also recognise that this will place increasing pressure on our much loved and used green open spaces.

However, Bristol does not need to sacrifice these precious and finite resources in order to meet this need. In its report ‘From Wasted Space to Living Spaces’, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) identifies that up to 30,000 homes could be built on brownfield sites in the Bristol area.

The report, based on research conducted by the University of the West of England (UWE), highlights Bristol as one of the few local authorities already doing much in this regard but acknowledges that more needs to be done – both locally and nationally – to protect green open space from being lost forever. The report’s recommendations call for:

A clear and consistent ‘brownfield first’ approach in planning policy
Bringing back an effective strategic tier of sub-regional or county level planning
Ensuring that strong strategic and local plans are encouraged, implemented and updated across the country
Giving the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) greater powers and resources to redevelop large and difficult sites
Developing a proactive approach to identifying brownfield land, with increased focus on regenerating large sites with multiple owners
Reintroducing mandatory reporting to the National Land Use Database (NLUD) and make its data more accessible
Providing assistance to smaller builders by identifying smaller sites and offering incentives for development such as the increased use of local development orders (LDOs)

The full report can be found at http://bit.ly/cprerpt.

We urge Bristol City Council to use the year of European Green Capital to adopt these recommendations so far as possible at City level, and in so doing develop Best Practice models as an example to other local authorities.

As population densities increase, access to green open space becomes ever more important for our physical and mental wellbeing and for our beleaguered wildlife. We must make every effort to keep Bristol the wonderful place it is in which to live and work. If the legacy of our year of European Green Capital is to have any real meaning for the ordinary people of Bristol, it will lie in the quality of the Green Infrastructure that we hand on to the next generation. We urge you to support this petition.

Please follow this link to the Bristol City Council e-petition site and sign the petition there , because if we reach 3,500 signatures on the BCC site, it will trigger a full council debate. http://bit.ly/bccpetn

Thank You!