Bristol vehicle-dwellers to be refunded council tax after decision to charge them was overturned
Bristol City Council will have to hand back thousands of pounds to van dwellers on its ‘meanwhile sites’ after a decision to charge them council tax was overturned.
Greens leading the authority have apologised for the uncertainty and frustration, while opposition Labour branded the saga a ‘mess from start to finish’.
The temporary residents have been paying £35 a week for almost half a year since April 1, with those on low wages or benefits qualifying for discounts.
They were left in limbo while the government’s Valuation Office (VO) decided whether they should be charged council tax in the first place.
Now, the VO has announced that they shouldn’t have to pay for individual pitches, with only the sites as a whole treated as a single property.
Bristol City Council had considered the meanwhile site vehicles to be the same as council tax Band A properties, with a payment in 2026/27 of £1,808.
But they come with only very basic facilities and no electricity for a fee of about £30 a week.
Opposition Labour labelled it the Green-led council’s latest ‘U-turn’ and said it needed to ‘get its act together in providing meanwhile sites’.
The group’s housing spokesperson Cllr Paul Goggin (Hartcliffe & Withywood) said: “This has been a mess from start to finish.
“After the opening of the first new meanwhile site of the administration, the Green-led council had to turn off the water on the site because it was making its new tenants ill.
“Then they decide to charge them each council tax, without knowing whether they needed to do so or not.
“This was highlighted as a key reason some vehicle dwellers were not going to use the meanwhile sites and stay kerbside instead.
“It now turns out they did not need to charge council tax to each vehicle dweller pitch.
“This raises questions of competence with this administration.
“If the council got its act together in providing meanwhile sites, there would be much fewer unlawful encampments across Bristol.
“It’s in everyone’s interest to get this right.”
Homes and housing delivery committee chair Cllr Barry Parsons (Green, Easton) said: “We remain committed to providing safer places for people living in vehicles, with access to facilities such as water, toilets and waste disposal, while we continue to work towards longer-term housing solutions for Bristol residents.
“We started charging council tax for residents on meanwhile sites based on the information and advice available at the time and the approach that was expected to be taken by the Valuation Office.
“Following changes to case law, the VO has since determined that each meanwhile site should be treated as a single property for council tax purposes.
“As a result, residents will no longer be billed individually for council tax.
“We understand this change may be frustrating, and we are sorry for the uncertainty it has caused.
“Residents affected will have their council tax accounts closed and any refunds due will be processed.
“We are now working through the implications of the VO’s decision and will keep residents informed about future pitch fees, which will include a contribution towards council tax costs.
“Any changes to fees will not be introduced until April next year and will be less than the individual contributions people have been paying.”
Meanwhile sites are a key part of the council’s new ‘vehicle dweller policy’ which aims to reduce the number of people living kerbside in vehicles.
Last month the authority said 83 pitches were occupied at seven sites across the city and that work was underway on a new location in Whitchurch which would provide another 60 spaces, bringing the number of approved pitches in Bristol to 157.
If all were occupied for 12 months from April 1, 2026, to March 31 next year, the council could recoup more than £280,000 from occupants, before any council tax reductions.
People living on the temporary pitches previously warned that the introduction of council tax could force them back onto the street.
A biannual count of lived-in kerbside vehicles in August found they had dropped by over a quarter, from 479 in January to 295.
But this was still far more than the 83 at meanwhile sites.