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Affordable, greener, fairer housing growth in Bristol: collective ambitions or a conflict of interests?
Can Bristol achieve its ambitions or do conflicting interests stand in the way? We asked some of the city’s key players in delivering the housing agenda, from across the public and private sector, along with community representatives, what they see as Bristol’s priorities and how we can best achieve them.
The recent 2021 Bristol Housing Festival expo highlighted a number of key ambitions for the city, including delivery of affordable housing, the smart city agenda, place making, activating communities and community-led development. As we reflect on the expo we must question - with so many important targets to tackle is there a conflict of interests acting as a barrier to housing delivery in Bristol?
Bristol is a city of activism, innovation and creativity. Can we use those unique characteristics to collectively tackle and reach these key ambitions? Can we face our city’s challenges together as communities, political stakeholders, public and private partners?
Bristol is faced with big questions and challenges ahead. Its key players give us their thoughts on how we tackle them.
“We can achieve accelerated housing delivery through highly sustainable, off-site manufactured homes. Our greatest challenge is land availability, securing sites and unlocking the complexities often associated with achieving the relevant consents and resolving technical constraints. Simplifying these processes and increasing Local Authority resources is key to improved housing delivery.”
Lydia Whitaker, Head of Planning, BoKlok
“Development partners need to have a deep understanding of how communities work and their innate challenges. Communities are realistic, and so whether it be private investors or the Council, it’s important to be honest from the outset – What is possible? What are our challenges? Build in success by meaningfully engaging from the earliest stages, before pre-application consultation, and using clear and constructive consultation to strive for positive outcomes.”
Paul Hassan, Development Manager, Locality
“Radical, but practical, collaboration between private sector developers, the public sector and community groups can accelerate positive change more quickly. Be bold and let's engage in a new way.”
Gavin Bridge, Property Developer, Spatia
“In our experience, this is where collaboration becomes so important. All of these challenges (and others not mentioned here) are of vital importance to the city flourishing, but no one organisation or person can tackle all of these. We must work together, we must look for opportunities to innovate, to try new ideas, to support one another and champion those who have the piece of the puzzle we don’t.
The temptation will always be to reduce the challenge down to something manageable, to single out a specific problem - so that it becomes a linear, solvable problem. The difficulty with this is it doesn’t account for the ways in which these challenges overlap and impact one another. We have to think holistically. We have to rely on each other and recognise that not one organisation has all the solutions. And we have to fight to ensure that the challenges don’t get reduced down and oversimplified - which won’t actually solve anything.
Let’s be courageous and collectively face the complexity head on.”
Jessie Wilde, Deputy Project Director, Bristol Housing Festival
“Bristol has a housing crisis, with a population that is expected to grow by up to 70,000 people over the next 25 years, and there are over 16,000 people currently on our housing register waiting list. We know that there will be conflicting priorities, so we must tread a balanced path as we deliver new affordable homes that are innovative, sustainable, low carbon and inclusive, while achieving thriving and safe communities.
By the end of 2021, 9,000 homes will have been delivered in Bristol since 2016, with 12,000 more homes with permission in the pipeline. Looking ahead, alongside council-led schemes, we are working with our partners, including Goram Homes, the council’s housing company, registered providers, community-led projects and private developers – which build most of the housing in the city – to accelerate the delivery of new homes.
Plans for building homes must put affordable housing at the centre, to help families to move out of temporary accommodation, address rough sleeping, reduce a growing housing register, give people opportunities to prosper and to build successful communities. Our intention is that Project 1000 will create 1000 affordable homes each year by 2024. Community-led affordable housing projects play a key role in not just providing the homes local people need. They also bring social value and help strengthen our city communities as people can stay living in their neighbourhood and learn new skills, improving their opportunities and quality of life.
Creating and supporting innovation in housing development and construction is key too. Projects like BoKlok, which is providing 173 homes on Airport Way, the ZedPods development at Hope Rise and modular homes brought forward by Legal and General at Bonnington Walk are all examples of an environment enabling modern methods of construction that are creating the sustainable homes our growing city needs.”
Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol*
So, what does all of this mean? Yes, we are faced with complex priorities from all communities across the city. Yes, there are great challenges we must face to create a greener, fairer city. But, there is an overwhelming sense that solutions can and will continue to be achieved through creative collaboration – from understanding our city, its communities, our needs and our future.
To deliver housing schemes in Bristol, we must have a genuine and meaningful understanding of the city’s communities and stakeholders, alongside their unique needs, vision and aspirations. Our Strategic Communications team has local experience of unlocking this insight through facilitating important conversations. For more information on how we can help you with your projects, please contact Andrea Kellegher and Emily Bell.
3 November 2021
*Image courtesy of Bristol City Council