Legal challenge launched to save Bristol’s last remaining farm

The farm is home to numerous protected species such as dormice, adders and skylarks. Ms Withers said she had seen an increase in swallows too.

In November 2023, contractors installed a gate into the field by cutting through a hedgerow.

Ms Withers has currently raised more than £2,500 for the legal challenge.

She said: “I wish I was wealthy enough to have to do this on my own, it’s horrible to have to throw yourself at the feet of other people.”

The former Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees and his cabinet approved the expansion, but the now Green minority administration had previously opposed the plan before the election in May.

Ms Withers has called for the decision to be revisited “desperately”.

“If this was the hill the councillors wanted to die on, then it could be the unsticking of what could be an amazing movement in Bristol.

“If we lose it would be an absolute tragedy against wildlife.”