Residents in a village just outside Bristol gathered for ‘an 11th hour push’ to try to persuade councillors to refuse a plan for a huge ‘business campus’ that will be ‘more like Disneyland’, that a US medi-tech giant wants to build between their village and the city.
There was standing room only at Long Ashton community centre on Saturday afternoon as more than 130 residents packed into the village hall to hear that their local planning officers were recommending the 15-year building project from an American tech giant called Epic should be given approval.
Bristol Live revealed last week that North Somerset Council’s planning officers were recommending Epic’s huge plan should be given permission. Residents in Long Ashton were ‘furious and bewildered’ that North Somerset Council’s planning officers had decided that, although Epic’s project to create a ‘unique’ business campus would effectively destroy the Green Belt that separates North Somerset’s villages from Bristol, the economic benefits from having a ‘unique’ business campus would outweigh that.
And the planners also believed Epic’s highly controversial claim that they had to expand with a vast landscaped campus, and it has to be on the fields between Bristol and Long Ashton. That claim is contested – not least by Bristol City Council itself, which says there are plenty of other places Epic, which has offices in the city centre already, could grow into, inside Bristol and on other places around the city.
But when councillors on North Somerset’s planning committee meet this coming Wednesday, January 15, in Weston-super-Mare, the recommendation from their officers is to give Epic permission for their campus on the fields next to the junction of the A370 Long Ashton bypass and Colliters Way, the A4174 South Bristol Link Road.
At Long Ashton Village Hall, scores of people packed in to a hastily-called public meeting, demanding to know what they can do to put challenge that recommendation and pressure the councillors to refuse the idea.
US medi-tech firm EPIC want to build a new office campus on fields between Long Ashton and Bristol
(Image: Epic)
Epic’s vision is to bring all their UK offices into one huge campus on land on the edge of Bristol that will be so big it will be built in stages and not be completely finished until 2041. The vast landscaped campus includes a 3,000-seater auditorium, office buildings, training centre, restaurant and kitchens, underground car park and solar panel field. Epic supplies IT systems to NHS trusts across the country and is based in Wisconsin in the US, and 80 per cent of its employees in the UK are American.
Epic says its success is down to a unique working model, where every employee has their own office, no one is allowed to work from home, and its teams work together in a campus that includes a vast auditorium that can seat 3,000 people.
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Several residents at the village meeting in Long Ashton said they worked in similar businesses, and questioned whether Epic needed this in Bristol, and whether there were locations already within the city – like the empty Lloyds building on the Harbourside – which Epic could take on.
The meeting was chaired by former parish council chairman Charles Cave. He said the village has come together before to see off the threat to the Green Belt that separates Long Ashton from Bristol, and it was good to see it do it again.
He said Long Ashton viewed its Green Belt as precious – it was only the width of a few fields which separated the edge of Bristol’s urban line with Long Ashton village, but this project ‘jumped the firewall’ of the link road. “It is important that we really try to fight this. We are at the eleventh hour,” he said.
US medi-tech firm EPIC want to build a new office campus on fields between Long Ashton and Bristol
(Image: Epic)
Nigel Moorcroft, a resident of the hamlet of Yanley, which lies to the east of Long Ashton and is currently the subject of proposals for thousands of new homes, said: “Once the Green Belt is breached, it’s only going to be a matter of time before the whole of Long Ashton is subsumed by houses. We will become part of Bristol very rapidly,” he warned.
“The economic argument that Epic is somehow unique should be challenged,” he added. “But the benefits won’t be for Long Ashton or even North Somerset. It’s such a specialist company that the jobs will be for people from the US or from London. It’s interesting that Bristol Airport support this – that’s because it will increase demand for flights to America,” he said.
Local Lib Dem councillor Ash Cartman represents Long Ashton on North Somerset council. He said the planning officers’ view that the economic benefits of Epic’s plan outweighed the damage to the Green Belt was a subjective one that could be challenged. “This is part of a wider threat to the Green Belt that exists, even without Epic’s plan. We’ve got a number of different threats, but this is the most important planning decision this community has faced in decades, if not ever before – we need to defeat this,” he said.
A public meeting at Long Ashton village hall on Saturday, January 11, 2025, four days before council planners meet to decide on an application from US medi-tech giants Epic for a business campus on Green Belt land between Long Ashton and Bristol
(Image: Bristol Post)
Cllr Cartman said the local councillors asked Epic to include a ‘spatial gap’ between its campus and the village, to maintain an even narrower Green Belt, but they refused. “This is jobs for Bristol, money for Weston and pain for Long Ashton,” he added. “Somewhere like the Lloyds building is perfect for them – this is Bristol, not Wisconsin.
“Epic’s proposal asks local residents to sacrifice protected green space so they can build an extravagant office complex. This isn’t about need — it’s about want. There are many other, more appropriate sites available, which would still bring jobs and economic prosperity to the region without sacrificing our precious Green Belt. I urge North Somerset councillors to stand with the overwhelming majority of local residents and reject this unnecessary and damaging development,” he added.
Read more: How Bristol Live has reported the Epic plans
Many in the packed village hall pledged to email the councillors on the planning committee ahead of Wednesday’s crunch meeting, and volunteered to speak up at the meeting, to counter Epic’s arguments. The meeting was organised by local resident Mike Dunn.
“Epic are demanding Long Ashton and South Bristol give up green space forever so they can build a sprawling complex complete with an individual office for each staff member, countryside views, and a sushi chef,” he said. “They don’t need this, they want it. We’re urging North Somerset councillors to listen to the overwhelming majority of the people they represent and reject this unnecessary proposal,” he added.
North Somerset’s planners will tell councillors that, even though Epic’s proposals to build on the Green Belt should automatically be refused because it’s on the Green Belt, what they are proposing and their need is so unique that it should be treated as a special case. Local resident Moira Hunt said this argument doesn’t stand up.
The North Somerset Green Belt looking from Long Ashton towards Bristol. US Medicare tech company Epic want to build a new ‘campus’ on fields between Long Ashton and Ashton Vale. 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)
“Purely on a whim and a wish this huge American software firm can run roughshod through 13 planning policies to create a completely unneeded office development on precious Green Belt, wildlife corridor, and working farm,” she said.
“Meanwhile, Bristol and Weston are awash with empty office space. Anyone who believes in established UK law and democracy should be outraged that a multi-billion dollar company can rip out the green lungs we cherish and allow Bristol to sprawl into Long Ashton, simply because they want to.
“We need everyone to email the councillors on the planning committee to say ‘No’ to Epic, and stand up against this abuse of the system,” she added. The meeting is in Weston on Wednesday afternoon.