Campaigners trying to stop the redevelopment of the Bristol Zoo site in Clifton have called for an auction of hundreds of items from the zoo – including signs, benches, statues and sculptures – to be stopped, labelling the sell of as ‘naked greed’. The Save Bristol Gardens Alliance, which is currently taking legal action to stop the building of around 200 new homes there, said they are ‘beyond dismayed’ at the plan to ‘strip’ the Clifton Zoo gardens site of ‘so much precious and historic material’.
This morning, Friday, November 1, Bristol Zoological Society announced plans for two major auctions later this month of hundreds of items of memorabilia and paraphernalia from the zoo’s 186 years at the iconic Clifton site, including all the Victorian benches from around the gardens, as well as signs, posters, sculptures, statues and other items large and small.
The Society said the two auctions will raise much-needed funds to help pay for the expansion plans at the zoo’s edge-of-the-city site, the Bristol Zoo Project – which the sale of the whole Clifton site to housing developers is also going towards.
But the Save Bristol Gardens Alliance said the auction this month – with a judicial review on the housing plan still yet to be heard or decided – is being conducted with ‘indecent haste’, and they have called on the board of the zoo society to stop it.
“We are beyond dismayed at Bristol Zoological Society’s plans to strip the Gardens of so much precious and historic material – especially at a time when the impending Judicial Review casts serious doubt on the viability of its planning permission,” said a spokesperson for Save Bristol Gardens Alliance.
“This is naked greed and indecent haste. We urge the board to see sense and put a stop to this auction immediately,” she added.
The Save Bristol Gardens Alliance is a coalition of different groups – local community groups, campaigners who had been trying to get the zoo reopened, and environmentalists wanting to save the gardens – who have raised funds to try to overturn the planning permission for 200 homes in the courts, and want to work on a ‘better vision’ for the historic gardens site.
“If the Zoological Society is prepared to asset strip in this horrendous manner it confirms two things,” the Alliance spokesperson said. “One, that the board has no regard for the wealth of culture and history at the gardens and is just pushing ahead to turn it into a featureless private gated development.
“Two, that the cash-strapped Zoo Project out at Cribbs Causeway has become a hopeless money pit. The Zoological Society must be desperate to raise money if it is prepared to auction the family silver. Which – incidentally – belongs to Bristol, not to this ‘conservation’ charity,” she added.
“We remain committed to bringing all parties together to create a much better vision for the Zoo Gardens, to ensure it remains a place of beauty and sanctuary for all Bristolians, for generation to come. The irreplaceable artefacts and heritage built up over 200 years must stay. They must not be sold,” she added.
Bristol Live reported this morning that the zoo engaged an archivist to ensure items of historical significance from the zoo gardens were sent to the city council’s heritage archive, and items of personal significance – memorial plaques and art works – were offered back to the families who donated them.
The auction is being split in two, with more than 300 items in the first sale later this month, which includes everything from posters and signs to large sculptures and statues, and a second sale of just the 45 Victorian benches from the gardens, which were created for the zoo between 1850 and 1880.
In announcing the auction, Justin Morris, the Bristol Zoological Society’s chief executive, said: “This is an exciting time for us as a conservation and education charity, as we embark on plans to build a new conservation zoo at Bristol Zoo Project.
“We know the former Bristol Zoo Gardens holds a special place in the hearts of so many people who visited or who were associated with it in some way, which is why we have taken our time to ensure any items of particular historical or sentimental value were preserved. With the launch of these auctions we hope people will take the opportunity to join us in celebrating our long history while also helping to fund the future, by securing their own piece of the gardens,” he added.
“All of the funds raised from the online auction and gala event will support our charitable work and new conservation zoo at Bristol Zoo Project.
“Work is now well underway with the creation of a new Central African Forest habitat which will become home to our troop of Critically Endangered western lowland gorillas, led by Jock. The group will be joined by other highly threatened species including cherry-crowned mangabeys, slender snouted crocodiles, African grey parrots and a number of different species of African freshwater fish,” he added.
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