The first formal steps towards creating a major new transport hub at Temple Meads station have been taken under new plans recently submitted. Each week Bristol City Council receives dozens of planning applications seeking permission for a whole range of developments.
Over the past seven days, those applications also included a temporary energy centre for the city’s district heat network and converting a family home into eight bedsits. Here’s this week’s round-up of notable planning applications submitted to the council.
Every week dozens are validated by the local authority and we have selected some of the more interesting proposals. All planning applications submitted to the council have to be validated and are available for inspection by the public. Anyone is also allowed to submit comments about the applications — whether in support or objection.
The majority of applications are decided by planning officers at the council under delegated powers. However, some will go before elected councillors who sit on planning committees. No dates have been set for when the planning applications below will be determined. They can be viewed by going to the planning portal on Bristol City Council’s website.
Temple Meads Southern Gateway
The partnership behind plans for a transport hub called Southern Gateway at Temple Meads is asking the council whether it needs to carry out an environmental impact assessment (EIA) ahead of submitting a planning application, which is expected to be in April. Bristol City Council, Network Rail, Homes England and the West of England Combined Authority argue an EIA is not necessary.
The proposals, including a multi-storey car park with at least 350 spaces, 700 bicycle spaces, new pedestrian access into the station over the River Avon and more bus stops and space for mass transit, were announced last week by the Bristol Temple Quarter regeneration team. The Southern Gateway will connect to walking and cycling routes from Bedminster, Mead Street and Whitehouse Street areas, which are undergoing major redevelopment.
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In a letter asking the council for an EIA screening opinion, planning agents said: “The proposed development seeks to enhance rail passenger experience at Bristol Temple Meads rail station in the heart of the city and ensure that it becomes a gateway to the city, as well as a significant first step in the realisation of the Bristol Temple Quarter Regeneration Development Framework’s vision.
“The Southern Gateway is a critical enabling development, which would result in the release of land that is crucial to the redevelopment of the wider station area.
“It is considered that the proposed development is not likely to result in significant effects on the environment. Therefore, it does not constitute EIA development.”
Energy centre
A temporary energy centre and underground pipework connecting to the district heat network would be created at the corner of Feeder Road and Brocks Bridge. Vattenfall Heat UK, one of the council’s partners in the City Leap programme to generate low-carbon energy for thousands of residents, has applied for planning permission for two years before the site is returned to its current state.
In planning documents, the company’s agents said the centre was required to provide heat to the neighbouring Unite Student flats and the University of Bristol campus at Cattle Market Road, currently under construction. They said it was a temporary measure ahead of finding a permanent energy centre powered by a carbon neutral heat source to serve the Temple area.
The agents said: “The use of gas boilers to power the district heat network is a necessary short-term solution to provide connections for developments coming forward in areas where the network is not yet advanced enough to enable the provision of more sustainable alternatives (ie, air source or water source heat pumps). The sites currently powered by gas boilers will, in time, be powered by sustainable sources as the district heat networks expand.”
Eight bedsits
A family home in Conham would be turned into a large house in multiple occupation (HMO) for up to eight people. Developers want to demolish the existing conservatory and extend the first and second floors of the property, currently a four-bedroom detached house, in Lower Conham Vale.
Planning agents admitted the conversion would breach the council’s policy limit of no more than 10 per cent of HMOs within 100 metres, taking it to 11.1 per cent. But they said a recent local appeal upheld by a planning inspector concluded that an increase from 5.17 per cent to 13 per cent was deemed acceptable and did not automatically mean consent should be refused.
The agents said: “It is a strong material consideration that the site has a certificate of lawfulness for the use as a small HMO for six people, and the applicants would implement this use, should the current application be unsuccessful. As such, it represents a genuine fallback position.
“The provision of two additional bedrooms within a detached house is therefore not considered to result in harm which would justify refusal. Overall, the development would provide a good residential environment for both neighbours and or future occupiers of the site.” The site is at a medium risk of flooding.
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