www.southglosfoe.org.uk

Vine Cottage, Kington Lane, Thornbury, Bristol, BS35 1NA

01454-416778 housing@southglosfoe.org.uk

PRESS RELEASE

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY

17 January 2006

On Monday 20 February 2006, local Friends of the Earth and CPRE groups will launch their ‘Save Our Green Belt’ campaign at 10am at Poole Court, Yate. Friends of the Earth groups from Bristol, Bath and South Gloucestershire and Avon CPRE are supporting the campaign.

Campaigners will be handing of their report ‘How Much Growth for Bristol?’ to Steve Webb, M.P. for South Gloucestershire. The 11-page document explains why campaigners believe the South West Regional Assembly is wrong to propose over 90,000 new dwellings in the former Avon area over the next 20 years[1]. The scale of this development can be appreciated by comparing it with Bradley Stoke (about 8,000 dwellings), or the City of Bristol (about 170,000 dwellings). 30,000 of those new dwellings would be built on greenfield sites.

The report says:

“High levels of growth are in conflict with sustainability. The Bristol area does not need high growth, and development resources are needed in other areas of the country. The Bristol area authorities should strongly resist any more than modest growth. We recommend that housing growth should be no more than about 60,000 dwellings in the period up to 2026, so that all the development can occur within the existing built-up area. We would prefer growth to be limited to 40,000 dwellings, to reduce pressure on urban open spaces.

“The Bristol economy suffers from overheating rather than lack of growth, and the main local problems, such as traffic congestion and high housing prices, are a direct result. We need to address the overheating, and this is most easily achieved by restricting growth to modest levels. There are some pockets of deprivation, but high levels of growth make it difficult to direct the development to where it is needed.”

Alan Pinder of Friends of the Earth says:

“Miles of open countryside round Bristol will be covered with concrete. Every blade of grass within the city will be at risk. For every two cars on the road now, there will be three, and we will have complete gridlock at rush hours. Bristol will be turned into a giant building site. The construction and quarrying will add to the global warming that will flood large areas of the South West.

“I cannot begin to understand why they want growth on this scale. The Regional Assembly is unelected and we cannot vote them out. They can and will impose this on the Bristol area if we do not fight them.”

For further information please contact Alan Pinder on 01454-416778.

Notes:

[1] Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) draft 2.3, February 2006,
http://www.southwest-ra.gov.uk/swra/assemblymeetings/2006papers270106_paperg.shtml