Work has finally begun on building 140 much-needed new homes on a former council highways depot in Lockleaze.
The site, at Dovercourt Road, is one of the projects being undertaken by the council’s own housebuilding company Goram Homes, and was agreed before the new administration’s recent decision not to fund the affordable homes at two other Goram Homes sites at Baltic Wharf and Hengrove Park.
Goram Homes is teaming up with developers Vistry Group to turn what was the old council highways depot at Dovercourt Road into a new development called The Brooklands. The new homes will be a range of one and two-bed flats, and two, three and four-bedroom new houses. Half of the 140 new homes will be classed as ‘affordable’ and owned and managed by the council, with a mix of social rent and shared ownership.
The new homes in Lockleaze are part of a major housebuilding programme in that area of the city, which was initially built as a council estate between the mainline railway and Stoke Park in the 1950s. In the 2020s, the ‘Lockleaze Regeneration Programme’ will see 700 new homes built on the green spaces that were left around the edges of the estate, and brownfield sites like the old council highways depot.
And the ‘affordable’ elements of these hundreds of new homes are also the subject of a pilot scheme to create a ‘local homes for local people’ policy, which sees people on the housing waiting list with local connections to Lockleaze and Horfield prioritised for new homes, and not just on a city-wide basis.
The Dovercourt Road site was controversial – local residents living nearby expressed concerns about a massive increase in traffic on that road and roads like Downend Road that connect this part of Lockleaze to Muller Road in Horfield, and accused the council leaders at the time of ‘underhand tactics‘ to overcome their objections. And then, while the planning process continued, the council allowed a growing number of van-dwellers to set up home there, which grew to around 100. They were finally evicted in October last year, raising questions about where they were supposed to go to next.
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The news that Goram Homes is starting work on a site is ‘fantastic’, according to the firm’s managing director Stephen Baker, especially since the new council administration controversially pulled the plug on council funding for the affordable homes at two key sites this month.
Mr Baker said Goram Homes has contracts with development partners to build 660 homes across the city, more than half of which will be ‘affordable’, and the company has full planning consent for more than 900 homes, and expects work to start on six sites by the spring or summer of next year.
“It’s fantastic to see diggers on site here at Dovercourt Road,” said Mr Baker. “Our plans will create a thriving new neighbourhood here, transforming this derelict piece of brownfield land into a great place to live.”
The man who took that decision to stop council funding to Goram’s sites at Baltic Wharf and Hengrove Park – and instead put the money into the huge bill to maintain and repair Bristol’s existing council housing stock is the chair of the council’s ‘Homes and Housing Delivery Committee’, Cllr Barry Parsons (Green, Easton ). He welcomed Goram starting work at Lockleaze.
“This site is a great example of what Goram Homes was set up to do, working quickly to turn disused council-owned land into much-needed new homes for our city,” he said. “Half of this development will be council-owned affordable housing, helping to provide solid foundations for local people’s lives,” he added.
The new homes are less than a 15 minute walk to the new Ashley Down station, and the development will include a new public park in the centre of the new homes, which should see their first residents in about a year.
“We’re delighted to be working in joint venture partnership with Goram Homes on this exciting new development, which will breathe new life into this derelict site,” said Vistry’s regional boss Sue Scholfield. “The initial works have started, and the first homes will be ready to move into towards the end of 2025,” she added.