A high street building once home to a branch of NatWest bank could be set to become flats if planning permission is given the go ahead. According to the official planning application on the Bristol City Council Planning Portal, Empyrean Properties Limited plans to change the use of the former bank site to provide ‘nine self-contained flats’.
The application states that the site “comprises the former NatWest bank on Wells Road, a part two, part three-storey building on the corner of Wells Road and Greenmore Road, in the Knowle area of Bristol. The use of 286 Wells Road as a bank was first approved in 1961, and extended into the remainder of the building in 1970 and 1972.”
The plans detail how the flats will include four one-bedroom two-person flats, a two-bedroom three person flat, two one-bedroom one person flats, and two two-person studios. All flats would be spread across the ground floor of the old bank, and across two storeys of the offices above.
So far the planning application, which was first submitted on December 5, 2024, has received two objections. One objection refers to the decreasing number of shops and commercial businesses in the area, with the nearby Broadwalk shopping centre set to be redeveloped in the near future.
It says: “The proposal is to remove commercial space from a designated local centre and the proposed change of use will impact undesirably upon the provision of shops and services. Broadwalk shopping centre is to be redeveloped in the near future and alternative commercial space will be needed to serve the local community for several years. The property is within a line of commercial premises and to insert flats at ground level will adversely impact the streetscape.
“While my main objection is to the removal of commercial space at such a critical time for the local area, it should also be noted that the design of the proposed flats is to maximise the number of residential units rather than to provide good quality accommodation for future residents. Inadequate consideration has been given to waste storage and collection, with the potential for numerous bins to be left on the pavement outside the property between collection days.”
A second objection simply states: “This building should be retained as retail space.”
BristolLive reported on December 10 that the redevelopment of South Bristol’s biggest shopping centre will go ahead, but local residents claimed victory after developers agreed to scale back their plans. A battle over the controversial plan to knock down the Broadwalk Shopping Centre in the centre of Knowle and build more than 800 flats in its place had been due to go to the courts last month, but an eleventh hour deal was struck between the developers and a campaign group of local residents who had forced a judicial review.
The property development company that bought the ailing shopping centre has now agreed to scale back their plans, which would have seen three 12-storey blocks of flats and other residential blocks built on the large site between the Wells Road and Redcatch Park – and in return the leader of the residents’ campaign group that was challenging the scheme in the courts has agreed to drop the judicial review.
It means the ‘Redcatch Quarter’ will now go ahead, but on a reduced scale, after a three-year campaign by a group of local residents who raised thousands of pounds to challenge a series of controversial decisions by council planners over the course of 2023.