Wyevale Garden Centre: Council blunder puts back enforcement action against Green Belt developer

Enforcement action against the owner of a former garden centre accused of harming Green Belt land in Brislington has been delayed due to an alleged mistake by Bristol City Council.

Sam Litt, of Wyevale Bristol Ltd, was issued with four enforcement notices by the authority in January this year over work on land at the former Wyevale Garden Centre, which included the storage of consturction plant equipment and portable buildings.

Mr Litt subsequently appealed and the issue was set to be judged on by the Planning Inspectorate earlier this year. But it has emerged that the four notices were quashed in May after the city council missed an April 18 deadline to return a questionaire.

It meant that all four notices had to be re-issued. These have again been appealed against by Mr Litt - and now the situation will not be dealt with by the inspectorate until early next year.

Bristol World asked the city council how much the process had cost so far given the appealant could also make a claim for the quashed appeals. A spokesperson said this will not be ascertained until the end of the process.

They added: “Whilst we will not comment at this stage on the details of the enforcement process we can assure residents we remain determined to take action in relation to the breaches of planning control at this site.”

The delay is likely to cause frustration locally where members of the community have already voiced their concern over the potential long-term damage to the 11-acre site off the Bath Road.

Wyevale Bristol Ltd is accused of breaching planning rules by forming hardstanding, creating a builder’s yard and scaffold storage area on the land which formed part of the garden centre.

And on Green Belt land to the south west of the site, it is accused of moving and regrading of the land to form earth banks, and the storage of construction plant equipment and portable buildings.

In the company’s most recent appeal, submitted by planning agents Stokes Morgan Planning, it highlighted that the enforcement notices had to be re-issued because of ‘the council’s failure to return the appeal questionaires in time’.

In its case, it argues that the impact to the Green Belt is irrelevant because of future plans for housing development in the area - the site was earmarked as a strategic development location in the failed Joint Spatial Plan (JSP) by Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire and Bath and North East Somerset’s councils.

A new Bristol Local Plan is being developed which will also pick sites for housing. Mr Litt believes the former Wyevale Garden Centre will again be earmarked. Other developers are also eyeing up the surrounding land, including Bellway Homes which wants to build a 555-home estate next to Brislington Park and Ride.

A statement from Stokes Morgan Planning said: “It is in this context that the proposal should be viewed; as land likely to be removed from the Green Belt and developed as a new neighbourhood in the near future. Indeed, were it not for the failures of the JSP, the site would likely already have been removed from the Green Belt and redevelopment be under way.”

The company says that ‘very special circumstances’ mean it should be given the temporary granting of planning permission for the breaches for three years.

To make representation for one of the planning appeals, click here and use case reference number 3306445.