South Gloucestershire councillors voted 5-3 to grant permission
12:00, 08 Sep 2025Updated 18:58, 08 Sep 2025
How the luxury houses on a wildlife haven at Oldland Common would look(Image: BBA Architects and Planners)
Plans for seven luxury homes at a wildlife haven on the outskirts of Bristol have been approved despite fears for bats, badgers, otters, water voles and other protected species.
South Gloucestershire councillors granted permission for the large detached houses at the Willows, a steeply sloping site at the eastern end of California Road, Oldland Common.
More than 220 residents objected to the proposals, along with both Oldland and Bitton parish councils, but the development management committee voted by 5-3 to give the go-ahead after hearing the site could be cleared at any time because there were no tree preservation orders, as long as the protected animals were not harmed.
Neither the council’s ecologist or the Environment Agency objected, subject to conditions, and planning officers recommended granting consent, even though they admitted “all species on site will be impacted by a loss of habitat”.
South Gloucestershire Council development manager Marie Bath told the meeting on Thursday, September 4, that a wildlife corridor would be retained and a “ramshackle” house and outbuildings on site were subject to arson and vandalism and would be demolished under the plans.
She said: “The site is undeniably a haven for wildlife, it also has some protected species. However, it’s private land that could be cleared at any time.
“On balance the council’s ecologist is satisfied that the work is acceptable. It is expected that the development of the site will have unavoidable implications for badgers both during construction and operational phases.
“This scheme will inevitably impact on ecology, especially in the short term. But that said, a significant swathe of habitat will be managed and maintained. We have attached a lot of conditions. Officers are satisfied that the impacts on ecology can be adequately mitigated.”
She said eight different species of bat foraged across the site and that nine bat boxes would be installed to make up for any potential loss of habitat in the trees and buildings.
Ms Bath told councillors: “Badgers are a key issue. There is a main badger sett on site with an annex sett and eight outlier setts. As part of the proposal, the main sett, the annex sett and five of the outlier setts are now to be protected and retained.
“A new artificial sett is also to be provided on site. This will occupy a large area and include three entrances and tunnels.”
She said the new homes were not trying to blend in with surrounding properties and were designed to be “unashamedly proud of their difference”.
But committee member and ward Cllr Paul Hughes (Conservative, Bitton & Oldland Common) said councillors did not receive several weighty documents on the site’s ecology from officers until late the previous day and had not had enough time to absorb them, although his request to defer the decision was voted down by 4-3, with one abstention.
Quoting from the officer’s report, he said the work would involve “significant excavation and disruption” to water voles.
Cllr Hughes said: “It is significant. It will probably drive them away. I don’t know where they’re going to go. They will probably die.
“But that’s okay because these guys want to put seven houses up,” he added ironically.
Cllr Hughes questioned the report’s assertion that protected species would leave the site during construction but return afterwards. He said: “So the otters and water voles can go on holiday for 12 or 18 months while [the developers] dig the whole hell out of it and then they’ll come back?
“You will have to forgive me if I’m representing every little creature that’s been down there for many years, and I hope this committee will understand why there’s so much anger about reducing or wrecking this site.”
Ms Bath said otters were active in adjacent Siston Brook but not on the development site itself.
She said: “It’s not blokes in diggers looking for water voles, it’s an ecological clerk of work.
“There is a pre-construction ecological check for badgers, bats, otters and water voles required, so that will be done by an ecologist, it’s not done by a builder.”
The officer said applicants Stantonbury would require a licence from Natural England to relocate 12 willow trees to avoid harm to water voles.
Ms Bath said: “The site is subject to a lot of arson, it’s subject to vandalism.
“We’re worried that those bat roosts could be lost anyway because of unacceptable behaviours.
“Youre not allowed to harm any protected species but providing you don’t do so, this site could be completely cleared.”
One resident told the meeting that the proposed artificial badger sett could not have been checked for its suitability because the area was covered in thick bramble.
He said: “These luxury houses with their own communal garden areas for residents-only creates segregation and elitism and does not encourage a sense of community.
“The community that lives here has spoken in volumes, the most common objection being overdevelopment at the expense of wildlife and the greed of developers.”