Plans to redevelop the site of Bristol’s historic zoo in Clifton will be delayed at least until next year after campaigners trying to stop it took what they say is a ‘giant step’ forward in their legal challenge.

Back in September, Bristol Live revealed that the campaigners had raised enough money to start legal proceedings against the city council, and now a High Court judge has agreed that each one of the three different grounds of objection is ‘arguable’, and can be taken forward to a judicial review, which is now expected to be heard at the start of 2025.

Bristol Zoo bosses had hoped the judge would reject the challenges from the campaigners with the ‘Save Bristol Gardens Alliance’ out of hand, but Judge Jarman KC has agreed that those trying to stop the residential development on the Clifton Zoo site do have a case worth arguing.

The Alliance, which is made up of local residents, environmentalists and campaigners wanting to keep some kind of zoo-based visitor attraction at the site in Clifton, said it was ‘brilliant news’. But it is a further delay for Bristol Zoo Gardens, who already have a developer ready to buy the site and build the 200 new homes there. Those millions would help fund the creation of new habitats at the Bristol Zoo Project, the Zoological Society’s site at Easter Compton on the edge of Bristol, and any lengthy delay could cause delays to the expansion of that site.

The case is now set for a legal showdown, probably not until the New Year, and the case will actually be between the Save Bristol Gardens Alliance and Bristol City Council, with the Alliance mounting a judicial review against the council’s decision to grant planning permission.

CGIs of what the redevelopment of Bristol Zoo will look like
CGIs of what the redevelopment of Bristol Zoo will look like (Image: Kin Creatives)

A spokesperson for the Alliance said: “This is brilliant news, and a giant step towards overturning the flawed planning permission for a luxury housing development on this site.

“We say that council planners were wrong in allowing the Zoo to miscalculate the impact on biodiversity and carbon emissions and wrong under planning law in allowing development on this important open space,” she added.

“We are delighted that the judge has agreed that we have an arguable case. When first proposed, this scheme caused a huge public outcry across Bristol and the strength of opposition has not gone away. It is clearly the wrong development in the wrong place,” she added.

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“No amount of greenwashing and spin from Bristol Zoological Society can hide the fact that the proposed development will destroy biodiversity, massively increase embodied carbon in the city and that cutting down 162 trees is simply wrong. The environmental impact is unjustifiable,” she claimed. “Everyone in Bristol can help preserve a historic, nature rich oasis that has been enjoyed by Bristolians for nearly two centuries,” she added.

Save Bristol Gardens Alliance said it has two aims: to overturn the planning permission and to bring forward ‘nature-led alternatives for the site’, ensuring that the Zoo Gardens ‘remain accessible for all Bristolians in perpetuity’.

Bristol Zoological Society has remained confident that its plans, and the way the city council processed and decided on its application, would withstand a judicial review. Zoo bosses have been frustrated by the legal action, as it is delaying the sale of the site and the injection of funding to the expansion of the Bristol Zoo Project.

“The application for a judicial review of Bristol City Council’s decision, to approve the redevelopment of the former Bristol Zoo Gardens site, is seeking to stop a development that will bring much-needed housing for Bristol,” a Zoological Society spokesperson said when the Judicial Review was first submitted to the court.

“The redevelopment would bring 196 new homes, 20 per cent affordable, a new public park which will see the gardens accessible for free, for the first time, a new café, playground and Conservation Hub.

“We remain confident in our plans and genuinely believe this is the right thing for Bristol. The sale will support the creation of a new conservation zoo at our Bristol Zoo Project site where at least 80 per cent of species we care for will be both threatened, and part of targeted conservation programmes.

“Both we and Bristol City Council have taken independent legal advice and will robustly defend against this application for a judicial review, which in our opinion has no merit. With regards to the trees on site, to protect the most important trees like the monkey puzzle tree, the Society has put in place 29 tree protection orders, and the design of the buildings has been carefully planned to protect tree roots.

“In total, there are 218 existing trees on site (excluding groups of tree shrubs /under-storey trees) of which we are proposing to remove 80 trees. Most of the trees to be removed are of a low quality and have been assessed as Category U or C. None of the trees planned for removal have been assessed as Category A. Of those being removed, 44 trees will be translocated, and 470 new trees will be planted, which far exceeds Bristol Tree Replacement Standard,” she added.