A boss at Historic England has denied the government adviser’s role in delaying bridge repairs in Bristol like the Kingsweston Iron Bridge. The public body, whose goal is to protect historic buildings, has faced some criticism from councillors in recent years for a few notable examples.
The Kingsweston Iron Bridge was finally reopened last year, almost a decade after its closure, but without disabled access after a row over how ramps would “harm the heritage” of the area. The bomb-damaged Vauxhall Bridge remains closed, while construction on an office development in the city centre, which Historic England criticised, has not yet begun.
But in a new interview, a director at the government body said they object to only one per cent of planning applications, and work constructively with local councils and developers. Historic England gives advice to communities, local councils and developers, including on listed buildings and scheduled monuments.
Recently in Bristol that has included developments near Temple Meads and the upcoming regeneration plans for the Western Harbour. The Western Harbour area includes three historic bonded warehouses, and other important heritage sites.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, regional director Ross Simmonds said: “Clearly the city has aspirations there, it wants to develop housing, and they basically asked us to go in and have a look at all of the buildings in the area, review those that were already listed or scheduled, have a look at the ones that weren’t.
“That allows us to provide clarity and certainty. What you don’t want is an issue coming up at the development stage with somebody saying ‘that should be listed’. We’ve actually done that exercise, we know it’s not listable. It allows us to provide certainty around what the important sites are.
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“We’re trying to balance that preservation of what’s important about Bristol and its historic environment, and recognising that we need sustainable growth and development. Balancing that is primarily the local authority’s job, but we’ll help support them in trying to come up with solutions.”
The organisation also gives out grants to help heritage buildings at risk, like the Jacobs Wells Baths in Hotwells. The Grade-II listed building was constructed in the 1890s, but has been empty for almost a decade. Trinity Community Arts is now renovating the building with a grant. Historic England previously helped at the Trinity Centre too, in a former church in Old Market.
A stone’s throw away from Historic England’s offices in Finzels Reach is another old church, surrounded by abandoned buildings and a new wooden fence. At the western end of Castle Park, the St Mary le Port development will knock down the abandoned buildings and replace them with offices, shops and restaurants, while the historic ruins will also be repaired.
“That’s the Anglo-Saxon heart of the city, where Bristol started”, Mr Simmonds said. “Completely flattened in the Second World War, most of the earthworks you see walking through Castle Park are just piled up rubble from bombed out buildings. There’s many good aspects about that scheme, like the old mediaeval vaults underneath it.”
But the organisation, which is a non-departmental government body, has earned a reputation among some councillors for being “absolutist” and holding up developments or repair projects. The regional director disputes this, and says Historic England works with developers mostly before they submit a planning application.
“In Bristol we deal with about 150 planning applications a year. Across the country it’s something like 18,000. We object to like one per cent of them. In large part we try to resolve problems in pre-app work. A building that’s empty is of no value to anybody — unless it’s an empty church.
“We’re concerned about quality and making sure new tall buildings are in the right place. A big-boned city like Manchester could probably accommodate a lot of tall buildings and you probably wouldn’t even notice them. Bristol’s character is very different, it’s a lot more intimate, its scale is more modest. Even in that context it’s appropriate to have tall buildings, in most places but not all.”
Protecting historic buildings “ties people to where they’re from”, giving a city a sense of place, shared stories and unique identity. The style of architecture at Temple Meads, for example, makes Bristol appear different from Manchester or Bath. The old docks, as another example, were close to getting filled in and tarmacked over, before instead being preserved and regenerated as the Harbourside today.
However, some of Historic England’s recent advice has drawn criticism from councillors. Last October, the quality of the organisation’s advice was slammed as like a “chocolate teapot — they don’t carry water, hot or cold”. Developers wanted to rebuild offices near the Cornubia pub off Victoria Street, but councillors were told Historic England objected to the application.
The new office building would be slightly taller than the existing Canningford House. People standing in a certain location looking at a historic church would be able to glimpse the new building behind it. Councillors voted to grant permission anyway, but they were told that the objection from Historic England meant the application must be referred to the government, who could call in the plans. Mr Simmonds said the designs could have been easily changed.
“We provide advice. We didn’t object to the scheme per se, we didn’t have a problem with it in principle at all. We objected about one very particular aspect, which was the setting of the 12th-century church. It survived the blitz, and very significantly has leaned since its first construction.
“We still think it could have been resolved simply, with a slightly better design, not to reduce the scale or size of that across the piece, and still provide them with the density required. That wasn’t an objection, and it’s for the local authority to balance that. It doesn’t need to go to the secretary of state to approve that, just because we’ve raised a concern about something.”
A similar recent row was over the Kingsweston Iron Bridge that closed in 2015 after getting hit by a lorry. The footbridge, which connects the Blaise Castle Estate and Kings Weston Estate, finally reopened last year. The council eventually decided to reinstall the bridge a metre higher, to avoid any future collisions with tall lorries, but with steps preventing access in a wheelchair.
Initially the plan was to include ramps, so disabled people would be able to use the bridge. But the council discounted this option after receiving advice from Historic England that large ramps would have an “unacceptable impact” on the bridge and other old buildings nearby. According to the former mayor Marvin Rees speaking in 2023, this led to the project getting held up. But Mr Simmonds said the delays were not due to Historic England.
“That took an awfully long time to resolve,” he said, “but it wasn’t due to conversations relating to us in any shape or form. We were supportive of other suggestions around not having to raise the bridge. We think the solution they’ve arrived at is fine, it does the job. It doesn’t address the issue of accessibility, I completely acknowledge that.
“We would have preferred it to have been level. We think there was an opportunity to put a gate at the road level, possibly sacrificial, so that buses or trucks going up there would have hit that first. That’s a solution we thought would have worked better and kept the levels the same. It would have actually been cheaper as well.
“I’m not sure how accessible it would have been in any event. There’s a lot of roots and it’s basically an unmade path on one side. So if you get across, you’re not going anywhere very fast because there isn’t a path, it’s basically open ground. But that was the local authority’s decision, not ours. The local authority decided against the ramp, that wasn’t our decision ultimately. We didn’t object to their suggestions.”
Similarly, another old bridge and Historic England’s alleged involvement “caused a stink” last year. Vauxhall Bridge connects Southville and Spike Island but has been shut since 2023 for extensive repairs. Last autumn, councillors were told that Historic England insisted on keeping damage from the Second World War, delaying the project. The organisation later denied this.
“We didn’t have a role at all”, Mr Simmonds said. “Because we have a good working relationship with the city and they were having a few technical issues with some bridges that are structurally struggling, they came to us for some structural engineering advice. We have some specialist structural engineers and we provided technical advice around what they might be able to do.
“Categorically, we never suggested that anyone should keep World War Two damage, just to make it absolutely clear. It was a little disappointing for us to be given that sort of commentary. At no point did we suggest that was an appropriate thing to maintain for any reason. We didn’t realise it was going to cause a stink. I think it was just miscommunication.
“I don’t accept that the historic environment should ever be seen as a blocker to development. It’s something we press with the team — always try and find solutions to problems, not create our own problems.”