Mike Orr, a planning partner at property consultancy Rapleys who has worked in Bristol for 40 years, points out that the Greens have raised the target for affordable housing from 600 to 1,000 of the planned 1,925 homes per year.
“They haven’t said how they’re going to do it,” says Orr. “That is going to be extraordinarily difficult.”
The situation in Bristol invites the charge that the Greens are seeking to rule for the world they want to exist, rather than the one that does. Bryher insists this isn’t the case.
“Greens on planning committees weigh up each application against the balance of housing need, environmental sustainability and the sensitivity of the development to local context,” he says.
“This independent-minded and values-driven approach ensures that the right homes are built in the right place at the right price.
“It does not give a blank cheque to developers for proposals that are substandard or unaffordable for people struggling at the sharp end of the housing crisis.”
Dougal Matthews, who moved to Bristol seven years ago and is part of a neighbourhood group in the area of Brislington on the city’s outskirts, says the Greens need “to get a grip on planning applications” in the city, but adds that all parties have a share of the blame.
“We have a massive shortage of affordable housing. The situation in Bristol is chronic.”
A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government says “all areas of the country, including Bristol, must play their part in ending it by building the homes we need”.
They add: “Housing targets are an important tool to ensure housing is delivered in the right places – this is critical in tackling the chronic shortage that the country is facing that means owning a home is a distant reality for much of the public.”
Back in Clifton, the Bristol Zoological Society says it remains confident in the development, believing it is “genuinely the right thing” for the city and will deliver “much-needed” housing.
Its plans are on hold while legal action is ongoing.