News / Local Plan
City centre could become ‘tree desert’
Bristol’s draft Local Plan is “pitifully bad” according to the pressure group committed to protecting our city’s trees.
“Not only is it missing key information which is essential for us to understand the impact of what is being proposed, but it is also tearing up your Ecological and Climate Emergency declarations and undermining your promise to protect Bristol’s green spaces,” Bristol Tree Forum (BTF) wrote in a speech to a full council meeting in which the draft plan was approved.
The Tree Forum said that “key polices for protecting green spaces have been watered down” and that “under the terms of this document the centre of Bristol will become a tree desert, as any replacement trees to replace those lost to development will end up being planted on the outskirts, or even outside, of the city”.
is needed now More than ever
“Will it even increase, let alone double, Bristol’s tree canopy? No chance. A more realistic goal would be to maintain existing canopy, yet it won’t even do that.”
BTF called the Local Plan consultation process “a sham” and said that if councillors “push this plan through, we’ll soon see hundreds of green places that no longer have protection being gobbled up by developers. Bristol will be destroyed.”
Councillors approve a new Local Plan for Bristol on Tuesday evening, with 55 votes in favour of the cross-party plan, four votes against and four abstentions.
The Local Plan sets out a vision and a framework for the future development of the city, addressing needs and opportunities in relation to housing, the economy, community facilities and infrastructure.
Moving the Local Plan, mayor Marvin Rees said: “Our challenge in Bristol is how do we make use of our 42 square miles, in the face of the challenges and opportunities in front of us.
“This Local Plan, and the incredible work that’s been put into it, offers us a blueprint for the city’s future…
“At the heart of the plan is the drive to build 34,650 new homes by 2040, and it is important to say it is prepared in the context of the United Nations 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development which we’ve committed ourselves to delivering…
“The current plan was agreed in 2014, it is now out of date, the landscape and context of Bristol has changed and we must have an up-to-date Local Plan to guide the development of our city’s future.
“We must be purposeful about what we do, where we do it, how we use our land in the face of the challenges and opportunities in front of us.”
Main photo: Martin Booth
Read next:
- ‘Tackling the housing crisis and climate crisis are not mutually exclusive’
- Dismay at tree felling behind hidden 17th century house
- ‘Bristolians feel strongly about trees, perhaps it’s that we keep losing them’
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