By Pete Simson & Jasmine Ketibuah-Foley
BBC News, Bristol
The number of van dwellers in Bristol has quadrupled since 2020, according to new figures.
A Bristol City Council report said the number had increased from 100-150 three years ago, to 600-650 in 2024.
Councillor Steve Smith said residents near the Downs in Clifton want to see “tougher enforcement action”.
But Deputy Mayor Asher Craig said other locals wanted to “find a happy medium because [they] respect the fact these people have nowhere else to live”.
She added: “They just want to make sure that the park is not impeded, that they’re not parked in an unsafe way.”
Leaflets are going to be distributed because many residents are confused about what the law is, Ms Craig said.
‘Not a passing fad’
The city council report contains a number of recommendations around van dwellers, which will be discussed by the council cabinet in the spring.
It said there should be a city-wide response and accepted that people living that way is not “a passing fad” but also “not a problem which needs to be solved, and not something which can be ignored”.
The report adds: “Vehicle dwellers are citizens of our city and need to be respected and represented as such, with equal access to services as would be available to any other resident or visitor.”
Recommendations include investigating providing more permanent sites, setting up a task group to explore options, and offering training to elected members on the subject.
Luke, who works 70 hours a week as a fine dining chef, has lived in a truck on the Downs for a year.
He said he could afford to live in a house if he wanted to but “doesn’t need to” and believes there is a “stigma” around his choice of lifestyle.
“I always wanted to live in a truck but also circumstances [affected my choice] and the cost of living and rent in Bristol is insane. I don’t want to pay a grand a month in rent ever again,” he said.
“I pay around £70 a month for insurance and tax and in the winter it’s around £8 a week for my diesel heater,” added Luke.
He said the community of van dwellers on the Downs and in the city in general is “an excellent community”.
‘Residents are exasperated’
The council’s official policy states it is to support and manage vehicle dwellers in places that are “low impact” to local residents – including areas such as the Downs.
However, about 40 residents have written to the council to complain about a lack of enforcement in the area.
Some described the report as “woefully inadequate” and have concerns over rubbish, sanitation and the view.
Henleaze and Westbury-on-Trym Conservative representative Mr Smith criticised the report for being “very one-sided”.
“It says almost nothing about the impact of encampments on the area and the people that live around them,” he said.
“Residents are exasperated over the inaction of the Labour administration to deal with the highway encampment on the Downs.
“The Downs is what David Attenborough described as the jewel in Bristol’s crown. This is a heavily-protected beauty spot.
“The city now has the largest population of van dwellers in the country.”
‘Where would they go?’
Speaking to the BBC, Bristol’s Cabinet Member for Housing Services councillor Kye Dudd said the policy wouldn’t be changing, and that vehicle dwelling sites considered “low impact” will be supported and managed.
“No site with a large number of people is going to be without problems, and we do get a large number of complaints – many of them are genuine concerns about rubbish and things like that,” he said. “But this isn’t a fad, the root cause is the housing crisis.
“If we took a possession order on the Downs and dispersed the encampment, where do they go? They could disperse into the nearby streets instead.
“At the moment, although it’s not ideal, it’s probably better that they are there,” the Labour councillor added.
