{"id":472889,"date":"2026-03-13T06:11:37","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T06:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/472889\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T06:11:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T06:11:37","slug":"fears-over-1000-home-pill-greenbelt-plan-but-some-say-people-must-live-somewhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/472889\/","title":{"rendered":"Fears over 1,000 home Pill greenbelt plan but some say ‘people must live somewhere’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Locals fear their village will become a suburb of Bristol\"Pill,<\/p>\n

Pill, Somerset(Image: Bristol Weekend)<\/p>\n

Bristol Live readers have heard that residents in a \u2018small friendly village\u2019 in North Somerset<\/a> fear plans to build 1,000 homes <\/a>on nearby countryside could turn their community into a suburb of Bristol.<\/p>\n

Pill is one of several green belt villages identified for major housing under North Somerset Council<\/a>\u2019s new local plan. The government recently increased the council\u2019s 15 year housebuilding target from 15,000 to 24,000 homes, with the authority saying green belt land must be considered as other areas face flooding risks.<\/p>\n

A petition opposing the scale of development in Pill has gathered 2,324 signatures, although only 815 are from North Somerset postcodes. It was presented to a full council meeting on 24 February by local councillor Jenna Ho Marris, the council\u2019s cabinet member for homes and health. She said there was still uncertainty over whether central government would fund the infrastructure needed to support the extra homes.<\/p>\n

The petition warns that building 1,000 houses on four areas of green belt land would increase the number of homes in Pill by around 40%, putting pressure on roads and services and threatening to turn the village into a suburb of Bristol. Local GPs have also raised concerns about the impact on health services, with no current plans to expand capacity.<\/p>\n

Councillor Annemieke Waite, cabinet member for planning and environment, said the concerns would be considered and passed to the planning inspector as part of the local plan process.<\/p>\n

Commenter Hayden S says: \u201cPeople have to live somewhere. Every home that exists today was once built on land that used to be someone\u2019s view or open space. At some point every development replaced fields, trees or countryside, yet those homes are now where families live and communities grow. It is easy to oppose building when it changes the landscape, but the reality is that people still need places to live, and every generation has faced the same balance between preserving views and providing homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter W states: \u201cIf it happens I will be moving, I moved out of Portishead<\/a> due to over building, I will do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

William H thinks: \u201cHomes built there would make a lovely place to live. The location has real potential, and with the right design and planning it could become a pleasant and attractive area for residents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dione H disagrees: \u201cLooks like another spot is going to be destroyed. Big cities don’t really offer much good stuff; they’re just concrete jungles with terrible traffic and crime. You can forget about peaceful strolls, fresh country air, or seeing any wildlife roam free. Why can’t these developers just focus their attention (and their wallets) on old, run-down industrial areas or empty buildings instead?\u201d<\/p>\n

Simon W adds: \u201cAnother beautiful environment ruined with cheaply built characterless houses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leanne H asks: \u201cWhy are they building more? The population is decreasing and half of new properties are empty. Leave the greenbelt alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caroline M agrees: \u201cI hope there are plenty of strong objections. It often feels like no one is thinking about what we are leaving for future generations. We do not need more houses on green land. There are around 1.5 million empty homes in England and Wales, plus countless vacant shops and commercial buildings in town centres that could be converted into housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Habitat loss is already the biggest threat to wildlife. The State of Nature Report 2023 says the UK is now the most nature depleted country in Europe. At the same time we produce only about 60 percent of our own food. With many new builds already struggling to sell, why keep building on green land when so many properties already stand empty?\u201d<\/p>\n

What do you think about the plans to build 1,000 homes around Pill? Would it help tackle the housing shortage or change the character of the village too much? Share your thoughts in the comments.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Locals fear their village will become a suburb of Bristol Pill, Somerset(Image: Bristol Weekend) Bristol Live readers have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[2999,1397,102,2960,10610,168833,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-472889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-commenting-content","tag-environment","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-north-somerset-council","tag-portishead","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}