A massive ‘office campus’ on the outskirts of Bristol, set to become the UK base for a US healthcare software giant, is being recommended to get planning permission despite concerns over its impact on the city’s Green Belt.
North Somerset Council’s planning officers have suggested that councillors approve a 15-year project by American firm Epic. The ambitious plan includes a sprawling landscaped campus with a 3,000-seat auditorium, office buildings, a training centre, restaurant and kitchens, an underground car park, and a solar panel field.
The proposed site will occupy a significant portion of the Greenbelt land that separates Long Ashton village in North Somerset from the south-western corner of Bristol at Ashton Vale. It will be situated within the triangle formed by the junction of the A370 Long Ashton bypass, the A4174 South Bristol Link Road, and the mainline railway.
North Somerset Councillors are due to meet next Wednesday to make a decision on the application. The council’s planning officers have recommended approval of the project, arguing that the potential job creation outweighs the numerous reasons for refusal.
“Epic is a global healthcare software company,” North Somerset planners will tell councillors in their report recommending permission be granted. “Epic primarily develops, manufactures, licenses, supports, and sells electronic medical record software. In the UK, Epic provides software and services to NHS Trusts, helping them ensure accurate patient information is securely available to medical staff. Epic is the client, applicant, owner and future occupier of the proposed office campus,” they added.
Epic say the campus will be built over seven phases, starting in April this year, with the first office buildings completed in 2028. The auditorium will be completed in 2033, and three more office buildings built during the 2030s and the final part completed in 2041.
US medi-tech firm EPIC want to build a new office campus on fields between Long Ashton and Bristol
(Image: Epic)
Opposition to the project have come from far and wide. Almost 700 objections have been received from members of the public, with just 43 writing in support of the idea. The plan did divide the community in Long Ashton, with Epic promising many enhancements to the village, including for the next door village cricket club.
A wide-ranging public consultation was held by Long Ashton Parish Council in early 2024, with public meetings held, and in the end the parish council decided to object – and have since hired London planning experts to help fight their corner. The parish council told North Somerset that the village has clearly stated – most recently in its Neighbourhood Plan document – that it should remain physically separate from Bristol, with the Green Belt narrowest between Ashton Vale and Long Ashton. Villagers fear that if Epic’s campus is giving permission, it will set a precedent for other development in the Green Belt on this corner of Bristol – with developers already proposing plans for thousands of new homes to be built on the south-western corner of Bristol at Yanley, half a mile away.
“The position of LAPC has been reached through significant discussion both internally, and with the community as a whole,” its spokesperson said. “The Long Ashton Neighbourhood Development Plan states from the outset that residents wish Long Ashton to remain separate from Bristol both physically and administratively. The parish has made concerted efforts to preserve its sense of community and identity despite its proximity to Bristol. LAPC continues to emphasise the importance of preserving the integrity of the surrounding Green Belt,” they added.
US Medicare tech company Epic want to build a new ‘campus’ on fields between Long Ashton and Ashton Vale, close to the Long Ashton Park and Ride. This image shows the triangle of land that is the site of the proposal. Looking north east, the edge of Long Ashton village is to the left, with the Long Ashton bypass running from the bottom to the left after crossing the mainline railway. The roundabout junction with the A4174 South Bristol Link Road is to the top left, with the Link Road running left to right. Ashton Vale, and Bristol is beyond.
(Image: Google Earth)
Bristol City Council has also objected, telling neighbouring North Somerset that, while the investment and jobs are welcome, there are other sites Epic could have chosen, and the site they did choose can’t be described as ‘grey belt’. “The proposal will represent an unplanned development which will affect the openness of the existing Green Belt and which will diminish the separation of Bristol from the neighbouring settlement of Long Ashton,” the city council has told North Somerset.
“It will represent an unplanned encroachment on open countryside at the edge of Bristol. Having regard to emerging national planning policy, the site does not appear to conform with the proposed definition of ‘grey belt’. The City Council supports international investment and the growth of companies with a local presence. However, it does not consider that the benefits of the proposal have been clearly demonstrated to outweigh the inconsistency with planning policies and the impacts which will arise from that,” they added.
One of Bristol’s objections is the concern that most people who work there will drive there. The new South Bristol Link Road that connects the Long Ashton bypass with the A4174 into Bishopsworth and Highridge in South Bristol is already very busy. And Active Travel England has also objected.
The Environment Agency had objected, but withdrew their objection after Epic amended their plans in the summer of 2024, but Historic England are still objecting, on the basis that the development would damage the setting of various listed and historic sites, including Ashton Court Mansion and Estate and the Clifton Suspension Bridge. “The land makes an important contribution to the setting of Long Ashton Conservation Area, providing a green buffer between the village and Bristol. The immediacy of transition between townscape and landscape at the western edge of Bristol is one of the city’s defining characteristics,” Historic England said.
US medi-tech firm EPIC want to build a new office campus on fields between Long Ashton and Bristol
(Image: Epic)
But North Somerset’s planning officers have decided that the benefits outweigh the reasons it should be refused. “The benefits of the proposed development, which include its significant contribution to employment opportunities, the local economy and wider sub-region, and the absence of sites outside the Green Belt, clearly outweigh the Green Belt and other harms identified as to constitute the necessary ‘very special circumstances’ required by national policies to justify the development,” the planning officers’ report stated.
“Officers’ assessment of the planning balance that leads to the overall conclusion that the application should be granted planning permission,” they added. Councillors will decide next Wednesday.
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