The sale of Turbo Island to property developers is set to go ahead this week, with community groups calling on the council to act fast to designate it an ‘asset of community value’.
With its current owners rejecting offers from community groups to buy the tiny square of land at the junction of Stokes Croft and Jamaica Street ahead of this Wednesday’s online auction, there appears to be only one thing that will stop the sale to the highest bidder – and that’s the council stepping in.
The area is currently owned by an outdoor advertising company called Wildstone – for 70 years, it has been left empty to allow commuters on the A38 to see the billboard above it – but the London-based company has now decided to sell, and the spot that has seen a thousand impromptu street parties – including one this Saturday evening, will be sold on Wednesday as a potential development site.
Auctioneers Hollis Morgan have told prospective buyers that they ‘understand there is scope for a mixed use scheme’, with a building up to four storeys high being talked about by council planners.
The Stokes Croft Land Trust (SCLT), a community group that has been raising money to buy buildings around the area for the community, has approached Wildstone and offered to buy the plot of land for £100,000 – double the £50,000 guide price – but that offer has been rejected by the firm, and the auction is going ahead on Wednesday.
News of the sale sparked a flurry of public meetings and the SCLT said it had offered £100,000, but acknowledged it would need six months to raise that money and pay for the site.
Meanwhile, an application is being discussed to designate Turbo Island as a ‘village green’, but in the short term, a more realistic and immediate saviour could be the ‘asset of community value’.
The People’s Republic of Stokes Croft arts organisation, which is based opposite Turbo Island, has applied to Bristol City Council to have the land designated as an ‘asset of community value’ – something that could instantly put any future development of it in doubt, and therefore could scupper the sale of it.
Now, both the Land Trust and the PRSC are calling on council chiefs to step in and act fast – if they can process and agree that Turbo Island is indeed an asset of community value before Wednesday, then that could halt the auction.
“There has been a groundswell of interest from the local community,” said SCLT director Keith Cowling. “Given a little time, we are certain that we would be able to raise the required finance for this culturally valuable local asset,” he added.
Fellow director Lucas Batt said it would be a ‘massive blow’ if the land was lost to the community, and developed. “We are extremely disappointed Wildstone has decided to not enable a community purchase, and have instead decided to seek the highest bidder at auction with a short offer period,” he said.
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“If Turbo Island is bought by a commercial property developer and this opportunity for community ownership is lost, it would be a massive blow for the area and the local community. Turbo Island is iconic. It needs a strategy, care, and improvement, but if it is lost at auction, it could be a turning point for the gentrification of Stokes Croft, and Bristol risks further damage to its vibrant arts quarter,” he added.
“Stokes Croft Land Trust is widely supported by the community to buy Turbo Island. But we need more time to raise funds from the community, and call for Wildstone to take Turbo Island out of the auction,” he explained.
Turbo Island became an ‘iconic’ spot in Bristol almost by accident. Its status as an area on a street corner in front of a billboard meant it was left empty but still open and accessible. The fact it was private land meant it could never be part of any bylaws around street drinking, and has regularly been a place for sound systems to be set up and street parties that attract thousands of people – even though the privately-owned area is just 0.03 acres in size.
With Turbo Island’s controversial and notorious reputation for street drinking, parties and almost nightly bonfires, there have been moves in recent years to ‘clean it up’. Former Bristol West MP Thangam Debbonaire led an initiative to persuade its owners Wildstone to work with the council, police and fire chiefs, that saw it tarmacked over and cycle stands installed on the council-owned side of the street corner.
There is no mention of the words ‘Turbo Island’ in Hollis Morgan’s marketing of the plot of land – it’s just described as ‘land at 72 Stokes Croft’. Potential purchasers are advised that it comes with an electricity sub-station, and the lease for that brings in £1,250 a year. Buyers are also advised that a ‘pre-app’ planning inquiry has gone in to Bristol City Council to develop the land, with hints that planners might well allow a four-storey building to be built there, with a shop or bar on the ground floor.
Benoit Bennett, from the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft, said it was a race against time to save Turbo Island from being lost to Bristol forever. “It’s a race against time. We need the council to move quickly: If the site is designated an Asset of Community Value prior to the auction, the sale will have to be delayed by law, allowing for the possibility of a fair negotiation.
“The reality is that if a developer were to buy the site, there would inevitably a long, wasteful and potentially damaging battle through the planning process, with no likely winners,” he added.
The PRSC’s Chris Chalkley said it was ironic that the very thing that made Turbo Island now valuable as a potential development site – Stokes Croft’s reputation as a vibrant, alternative neighbourhood – is now going to be ‘erased’ by property developers.
“This situation is demoralising,” he said. “Stokes Croft has been buffeted by the forces of gentrification, as developers have moved in. The irony is that the very thing that made Stokes Croft of interest in the first place is being rapidly erased by property developers,” he added.
“Given that this area has an active land trust, and that the Jamaica Street Artists are in the process of securing their adjacent building, it is a no-brainer that Turbo Island should rest in the community’s hands. It is time for a change in the way we handle property in this country,” he added.