A GROUP of residents in Knowle West are convinced that council plans to demolish more than 1,000 homes in the area fail to take into account the social and environmental cost of the £1 billion project.

They say it also calls into question the council's aspirations to be Europe's leading "Green" capital and a low carbon city.

Alister Palmer, local vicar and chair of the Knowle West Residents' Planning Group which has been working on regeneration plans for the past two and a half years, said: "It is very important that the council comes clean on the real costs of demolition and new build.

"Research shows that, when environmental impact considerations are taken into account, the real cost of demolition is anything between £17,000 and £35,000 per dwelling.

"In the council's preferred option, the carbon footprint is massive. Climate change considerations demand that it be kept to a minimum.

"It is far better to refurbish existing homes than spend up to £35 million demolishing structurally sound occupied properties.

"Let's remember that people live in the homes earmarked for demolition, unlike the development in Horfield, Bristol and other regeneration projects across the country where dwellings demolished were standing empty.

"Our option requires no more than 100 house demolitions and the construction of 1,600 new homes mainly as infill and on brownfield sites.

"It minimises the environmental impact and limits disruption to people's lives yet generates sufficient capital to address the need for improved retail, business and community facilities. We think it will attract ethical private developers with a genuine concern for people and the environment. Both matter."

Mr Palmer, who is vicar of St Barnabas, Knowle and Holy Cross, Inns Court, points to a recent study by Ann Power, professor of Social Policy Housing and Social Exclusion at the London School of Economics, who concludes that refurbishing existing homes is better than demolition.

Mr Palmer said: "Demolition should always be a last resort. The residents' proposal will benefit more than 2,000 existing households through enlargement and refurbishment to higher energy standards."

He said it was impossible to put a price on the personal and social costs of a plan which threatens to disrupt so many lives, their community support networks and local culture.

He said: "Anxiety levels among residents in Inns Court have been raised considerably since the plans to demolish their homes were unveiled.

"Some people are highly stressed. Some are off work from worry at the prospect of losing out badly through the demolition of their homes."

He said residents were not against change and realised it was needed to address the area's underlying problems.

But he said their option addressed all the root causes without causing long term damage to the community.

He said: "It requires less public money, less risk to private investment, less risk that it will fail halfway through. It is far less damaging to the environment and doesn't sacrifice people for profit.

"Change will be quicker in the short term, but it will still transform the image and quality of life of Knowle West in the longer term."

He is urging people to put their views to the council about the options which have been published so their voice is heard before the plans "are set in stone".

The Evening Post exclusively revealed plans last week to give Knowle West the biggest and boldest facelift of a Bristol council housing estate since the Second World War. In one of the options, more than 1,000 homes – mostly in Inns Court – could be demolished to make way for 3,500 new ones.

The regeneration project, which would stretch over two decades, could see as much as £1bn worth of private investment to build the new homes.

Council spokeswoman Kate Hartas said: "Significant change attracts higher levels of private sector investment.

"High investment means big change and a better, stronger community with high-quality facilities.

"A painless option is something everyone would seek, but the council has to be straight up front and say it simply cannot deliver the big change Knowle West needs without some level of disruption and demolition.

"The council could assume infill could work and they could draw a school or a shopping centre on a map, but they could never get it built because no private developer would see it as viable with so few people living in the area.

"Local shops, buses and facilities will not work unless enough people live in the immediate area to use them. This is why it is so difficult to provide good quality local services in areas with less housing density."