Bristol City Council accused of ignoring conservation status

Bristol City Council has denied the claims

Protection of wildlife havens in a city was ignored on land earmarked for new houses, campaigners claim.

Bristol City Council has been criticised for allocating seven areas for new developments, despite them being classed as Sites of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI).

Under SNCI status, developers are not allowed to construct anything which would harm nature and wildlife.

The council has denied any errors were made.

One site is the Western Slopes and Novers Hill, between Bedminster and Knowle West, which is home to a diverse range of wildlife.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the council this month refused permission to build 144 new homes on the site, but cited road safety concerns as the reason.

'No due process'

A planning officer's report to the development control B committee said only the central part of the site was protected as an SNCI, and the rest was not.

The Bristol Tree Forum and the Friends of Western Slopes said the other six sites across the city have also been affected, with some habitats already destroyed and built upon.

Mark Ashdown, the chair of the Bristol Tree Forum, said: "We've received an answer to a freedom of information request which states Novers Hill was never deregistered as an SNCI - yet the council is still trying to justify the removal of this SNCI and providing incorrect information to a development control committee.

"If Bristol City Council officers are allowed to remove SNCI status from sites at a whim, with no due process, what is the point of the ecological emergency declaration and indeed the whole system of nature protection in Bristol?"

To de-register an area as an SNCI, the council must get the permission of local stakeholders, which they say did not happen.

'Wrong policy choice'

A council spokesperson said a new local plan was being created and current housing allocation on land at Western Slopes was being withdrawn.

They added: "There are no errors in how planning policies and SNCIs are shown in the 2014 local plan. That plan was all agreed by a planning inspector following an examination.

"But it was not the right policy choice for the previous administration to allocate SNCIs for development in that plan."

Along with Western Slopes, they said Brislington Meadows would not be allocated for development in the new local plan.

The other allocated sites are Airport Road, Malago Valley, Novers Common, St Anne's Valley, Pigeonhouse Stream and Bonnington Walk.