Bristol City Council approves stadium in the Green Belt

Bristol will be waking up with mixed feelings of joy and disappointment this morning.

After nearly four and a half hours of debate, countryside on the outskirts of Bristol is one step closer to changing for ever after councillors approved Bristol City Football Club’s planning application.

The approval came with conditions as councillors would not give  the go ahead to the Southlands housing development.

This came as a blow for City’s chief executive Colin Sexstone, who claimed this was an integral part of funding the stadium.

Though the stadium managed to demonstrate ‘exceptional circumstances’ for being built on the Green Belt, the housing development did not.

Should this housing have been allowed to go ahead it could have set a precedent for further development on protected land, pushing Bristol’s urban sprawl further into the Green Belt.

These types of applications are likely to be inevitable in the future given the advanced Regional Spatial Strategy which advocates housing development on Green Belt land.

During debate, councillors voiced reservations about the stadium site being a potentially dangerous flood risk, the transport infrastructure and pedestrian access to the stadium.

Despite Bristol City Council’s approval, the plans are not final as they will have to be approved by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, John Denham.

Further planning applications regarding the stadium development are yet to be heard.

North Somerset Council must approve access roads and Bristol City Council has yet to hear an application regarding the change of land use at the current Ashton Gate stadium location.