I object to the planned development on Ashton Vale (application reference 21/03166/P). The area concerned is green belt land, so it has been designated to be part of a permanently open area around Bristol which controls urban sprawl and conserves the environment to make it available for a wide range of purposes. The National Planning Policy Framework says that exceptional circumstances are required in order for development on green belt land to be permitted. Not only are there no exceptional circumstances sufficient to override the substantial weight you are required by law to give to the potential for damage to the green belt – there are exceptional circumstances not to develop on green land because of the critical period the world is in with regard to our environment.
In November 2018 Bristol City Council and its elected Mayor declared a climate emergency and this year we have all seen the climate news stories, from the loss of many lives in Europe due to massive flooding, to the smashing of maximum temperature records in Canada and North West USA, both of which scientists have said could not have happened without climate change. To help in tackling this extremely serious and urgent problem we need every bit of carbon absorbing green space we have in and around Bristol – and we need to improve and enhance the ability of all those spaces to absorb and store carbon, such as through rewilding*. If the Council and the Mayor really meant it when they declared a climate emergency and if we are going to act at the scale and in the way the best scientific evidence requires then we cannot afford to allow developments that replace green land with concreted over, grey land that is a net emitter of carbon. It is a double climate loss to permit this development. The extent to which cities like Bristol do or don’t further develop, where they develop and how they develop is a critical part of the picture, so planning committees have a vital role to play.
In February 2020 Bristol City Council and its elected Mayor declared an ecological emergency. Bristol is a biodiversity depleted and depleting city in a biodiversity depleted and depleting world. A Site of Nature Conservation Interest extends into the site of the development that is proposed. Many species have already been recorded in and around the area concerned – but there is great potential for the area to be even more biodiverse than it is, from more hedgehogs to more swifts to more bees and perhaps even species currently extinct in the city. If the Council and the Mayor really meant it when they declared an ecological emergency then we cannot afford to build over sites like Ashton Vale. Not only are they vital to the retention and improvement of biodiversity (such as through rewilding*), an increase in biodiversity is needed to help tackle climate change – the two issues are causally interrelated.
Along with climate and ecological crises we also have a health and wellbeing crisis. The Covid pandemic has illustrated to us all, with crystal clarity, the value beyond price of green spaces around and inside cities for physical activity and for relaxation, especially if they are semi-wild. It is a key purpose of green belt land that it remains permanently open for purposes which include recreation. Loss of green land to development is a loss of ability to improve our physical and mental health through being more active in semi-natural spaces. One of the best things we can all do for our health and wellbeing is to go for a walk in a green space. Many people from Ashton and the surrounding area have walked themselves, their family and their dog in the area proposed for development, as was firmly established in the Town/Village Green application and assessment process.
The National Planning Policy Framework states:
‘The purpose of the planning system is to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development. At a very high level, the objective of sustainable development can be summarised as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’
If you permitted this development on green belt land you would be: reducing the permanently open area around Bristol which controls urban sprawl and conserves the environment; reducing the current ability of Bristol to fight climate change; reducing the current capacity of Bristol to increase its biodiversity; reducing the scope for activities that enhance human health and wellbeing; and so you would be compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Your action would thus be contrary to achieving sustainable development, the purpose of the planning system.
