Two new streets of terraced homes will be built in one of Bristol’s biggest property hotspots, despite the objections from local councillors.
Planning officers at City Hall gave permission for the new development of 106 new homes near the Tobacco Factory in Southville using delegated powers, after deciding the proposal did not need to be voted on by councillors.
Work is due to start within weeks on the two new streets, which will run across from Greenway Bush Lane to Raleigh Road, on the site of the former Amerind Grove nursing home village. The nursing home closed suddenly the autumn of 2022, after Bristol Live revealed its owners had secretly been marketing it as a development site for a year.
Initial plans had hundreds of homes in blocks of flats similar in size to, or bigger than the Tobacco Factory itself, but the site was eventually bought by local developers The Hill Group, who proposed a much more scaled back development.
The two new streets will be almost all terraced townhouse homes for sale on the open market. To try to get around the long-standing issue of on-street car parking in Southville, each home will have its own driveway, with a narrow roadway which no one can park on. The roads themselves will not be adopted by the local authority, so won’t be public land, but will be open at either end for regular traffic.
Of the 106 new homes given permission, 32 will be classed as ‘affordable’, and will all be flats or maisonettes in a separate, five-storey block in the north east corner of the development, close to the St John Ambulance training centre on the corner of Raleigh Road and Upton Road.
Of those 32 ‘affordable’ homes, 15 will be one-bed flats, ten will be two-bed flats, there will be one three-bed flat, five three-bed maisonettes and one four-bed maisonette. Three quarters of them – so, 24, will be let at social rent rates through the council’s HomeChoice system, while the remaining eight will be available to buy under a shared-ownership deal.
The report by a council planning officer deciding to approve the scheme outlined how the two new streets will not become public. “The development incorporates two new roads linking between Greenway Bush Lane and Raleigh Road,” they said. “The roads proposed will not be adopted by the Local Highway Authority. Concerns had been raised that as a result of the council not adopting these roads, the development could in essence become a ‘gated community’. In the interests of ensuring these roads would be publicly accessible, the applicant agreed to a post-occupation condition that would both prevent permitted development in the erection of barriers at either ends of the roads as well as a commitment to ensuring access is maintained 364 days of the year,” they added.
But local councillor Christine Townsend (Green, Southville) objected to the proposal, mainly on the grounds that the new homes were being designed so that people moving into them could have their own car – or even two cars.
In March last year, she wrote to oppose the scheme, because it would essentially add 100 more cars to the local traffic congestion in the North Street area of Southville and Ashton Gate.
“This project makes a lot of looking to build for the future but this includes ensuring the facilities for excessive private car ownership – EV points do not and will never compensate for the space private cars need to be either stored or used on the public highways,” she said.
“Nearly 100 private cars will be added to the ward and roads of Bristol at a time when such objects are needing to be reduced in number so space can be repurposed for climate recovery and people rather than hunks of metal.
“This site must be one of the most sustainable in the city. It is within a minute’s walking distance of one of Bristol’s, and therefore the country’s most vibrant high streets, a theatre, comedy club, schools, cycle and pedestrian facilities, bridge over the New Cut, bus stops on main road routes, independent shops inc. hardware store, cafes, bars, restaurants, charity shops, convenience stores with late night opening, a supermarket, bakery, deli – I could go on – but the point is if someone needs private car parking spaces for their lifestyle then this is NOT the location for them,” she added.
“The location of where a family wish to live has been the topic of a decades-old programme on national TV such is the importance, the prices of these houses will be such that those looking to move in will be well placed to buy elsewhere if private cars are such an integral part of the life they wish to lead. This proposal does not even include a car club for residents, a big mistake, private car ownership and use is actively encouraged and catered for with two spaces provided for the largest homes – unbelievably short sighted as this is apparently informed by what estate agents are telling this developer in terms of selling.
“Be this as it may, developers that claim to be producing sustainable future proof developments need to get it into their heads that inner-city living is heading towards non-private car ownership with car clubs for the occasional journey and the public realm for safe and shared space for human beings, nature and dealing with the impacts of climate change, not pieces of metal.
“I also object to the new roads across the site being accessible from both Greenway and Raleigh. The fact is if cars can use it as a rat-run that is exactly what it will be used for, it doesn’t matter what colour the road is, any signs that are erected, bends or obstructions apparently designed to ‘deter’ private car drivers using the road as a cut through, if it is possible for a car to be driven through then this is exactly what will happen and therefore this must be rectified and permanently prevented.
“Our previous councillors spent years getting the rat-run literally metres away from this development site closed to bring about increased safety for the primary school aged children and their families and now this developer is proposing to add two rat runs in their place,” she added.