Bristol farm under threat from new homes plan

Catherine Withers says she is devastated by the prospect of losing grazing land for her cattle

The future of Bristol's last working farm is in doubt after developers submitted plans for 200 homes that would "destroy" it.

Redrow Homes wants to build the "much-needed" homes on greenbelt land next to Yew Tree Farm in Bedminster Down.

But Catherine Withers, whose family has run the farm for the past 50 years, says the development would force them to quit.

"We are devastated by these heartless proposals," she said.

Ms Withers rents the 15 acres of land to graze her cattle on and had hoped it was safe after the West of England Joint Spatial Plan was rejected by planning inspectors in August.

However the site is still under threat from Bristol City Council's under review local plan, and Redrow has submitted a pre-application planning inquiry to the authority for the homes.

'Outrageous'

Ms Withers, whose family has farmed in south Bristol for 120 years, said: "We farm in an environmentally friendly way and use our land to enhance nature and wildlife and feed the people of Bristol.

"The greenbelt has always afforded us security and protection to plan our future.

"There are still so many brownfield sites in the city to develop — why destroy the last farm in Bristol, which is helping to address our climate crisis?"

Bishopsworth councillor Richard Eddy said there was strong local opposition to new homes there, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"The fact that, in the intervening time before Bristol City Council has rewritten its local plan, Redrow Homes has opportunistically jumped in with a plan to build 200 homes, thereby destroying forever the viability of Yew Tree Farm, is outrageous," he said.

Redrow South West managing director Lee Hawker said: "Any future planning application at Bridgwater Road, only to be submitted at an appropriate time, will demonstrate how we would achieve this as part of our plans to provide much-needed housing in Bristol."