Current News and Update
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St Christopher’s
A planning application for the development of the St. Christopher's site was registered with Bristol City Council in mid March 2022. The Community Association opposed the application on a number of grounds, most notably the overdevelopment of the site with large apartment buildings up to six storeys high being proposed on the backland area of the site close to surrounding houses. We also opposed it on parking grounds as the number of parking spaces proposed could lead to overspill parking on surrounding roads. A further objection related to the inadequacy of the community engagement programme undertaken by the applicant and the failure to address the many concerns expressed by the Community Association and many others.
There were over 700 objections to the planning application made in including several from respected national bodies: a number of City Council officers / teams also expressed major concerns.
Faced with all the criticism of the original application the applicant submitted revised plans to Bristol City Council in December 2022 in an attempt to address the many fundamental objections to the original plans. Proposed changes included a reduction in the total number of units from 122 to 116, reducing the height of villa B from six to five storeys, changing the footprint and positioning of villas A, B, C and D, removing the vehicular access to the site from Bayswater Avenue and removing fewer trees.
After being withdrawn from the City Council’s Development Control Committee in late May 2023 the application was finally considered by #the Committee at their meeting held on 9th August 2023. After presentations made by people and groups supporting and opposing the application, and discussion on various aspects of the proposal, the Committee unanimously refused the St. Christopher’s planning application on the grounds of overdevelopment and loss of trees.
The applicant had until the beginning of March 2024 to lodge an appeal against the refusal but no appeal was lodged. At the time of writing (April 26th 2024) there has been no news about the future intentions of the site owners.
The site was granted protected status as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) by Bristol City Council in March 2024 following an application made by SEND Alliance, a group established primarily to attain this status for the site. ACVs are land or buildings formerly in community use that might potentially be developed in future, in this case primarily for a use delivering special needs education provision.
With ACV status, if the site is put up for sale or ownership changes, the community is given six months to bid for the site, after which it can be placed on the open market. The community will normally have to offer the full market price because ACV status does not provide any automatic right to sell to the ACV group if other bids are higher.
More details about the planning application and the 9th August Committee meeting, including the full reasons for refusal, can be found on the Planning Issues page
The planning application can be found at :-
https://pa.bristol.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=R8HHLODN0DG00&activeTab=summary
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Daisy Chain Nursery Premises, Etloe Road
The Daisy Chain Nursery in Etloe Road has closed and the children have been transferred to Torwood House in Durdham Park. The premises (Vining Hall) are now being marketed for rent by property agents Burston Cook who suggest that the premises “will suit other commercial uses including offices, educational, medical, leisure, etc”.
As the premises fall under the very broad planning use class E they can be used for a wide range of commercial activities without requiring planning permission for a change of use. This will, no doubt, be of concern to local residents in terms of possibly greater traffic generation and parking impacts of an alternative use of the premises.
We will report further as news comes to hand.
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The One Stop Shop, 116 Coldharbour Road
In June 2023 the owners of the One Stop Shop at 116 Coldharbour Road (Tesco) submitted an application proposing externally illuminated fascia signage and ACM panels and numerous vinyl window adverts.
There were over 30 objections to the advertisement application on a number of grounds – mainly the loss of a prominent long established frontage, the unacceptably brash design of the proposed window panels and fascia completely out of keeping with the character of the Coldharbour Road shopping area, traffic impacts from delivery vehicles etc. To compound matters Tesco implemented the proposed changes at the same time as they had submitted the application.
In March 2024 the Council refused the application for the following reasons: “The proposed signage, by virtue of the quantity, poor quality materials, insensitive method illumination and overall design would result in an inappropriate and unnecessary amount of low-quality commercial branding in a prominent location that would detract from the appearance of host building and the visual appearance of the street-scene. Furthermore the proposed window vinyls by reason of their size and number would cover the majority of the shopfront, resulting in a blank façade to the main shopfront and a predominantly dead frontage".
It is possible that the owners will appeal against this decision in an attempt to retain the current shop appearance. Alternatively, the owners could make changes that address the visual impacts listed in the Council’s refusal or they could just stick it out, gambling that the Council do not have enough staff to take enforcement action.
Either way there is no requirement for the owner to reinstate the historic window frontage as it was and the shop will continue to pose a road safety threat by virtue of the large delivery lorries that service the shop.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Notice Boards
The Community Association have two notice boards, respectively positioned close to Westbury Park School gates and outside Henleaze Library. Both notice boards are in a poor state as they are rather flimsy and therefore vulnerable to inclement weather. While we have little hard evidence at hand, we suspect that few people actually pay much attention to the boards especially as, over the years, fewer items are posted by the few of us who remain active. We have increasingly relied on direct email postings to WPCA members to advertise events and to provide updates on planning applications and other matters of communal interest. We are therefore thinking of removing both notice boards which have become rather embarrassing eyesores.
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Electric Car Charging at Waitrose
Several local people with electric cars have complained about the charging points at Waitrose. The problem is that the main rank of charging points is all for the slower/cheaper charging regime and that can take several hours. Unfortunately, parking is only possible there for 90 minutes, so a few people have already been fined for overstaying that limit. Some people have been told at the shop reception that they could register their car number when using a charger and they could stay beyond 90 minutes. Our advise is to check first with Waitrose customer services should you plan to overstay the 90 minute limit when charging your car.
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The new City Council Area Committees
In January 2024, the City Council approved a new constitution to apply from May 2024 when the new committee-based council structure will start, replacing the mayoral system. As part of the new structure there will be nine Area Committees responsible for distributing Community Infrastructure Levy funds (CIL) and Section106 funds - both raised through planning agreements). The Area Committees will also have a remit to be consulted on and to refer matters raised about local services such as road safety, parks and waste management. Westbury Park will be served by the Area Committee covering Bishopston and Ashley Down, Redland, Stoke Bishop, and Westbury-on-Trym and Henleaze wards.
The new Area Committees will be required to hold two meetings a year in local venues, and potentially a further two meetings online, which will be open to public participation. The new Area Committees will be required to have a public forum as part of their meetings. At these, members of the public will be able to put forward petitions, statements and questions to the members of the Committee. This will mean that there will be at least two local opportunities a year for the public to raise issues of importance at a public forum with their councillors.
With the establishment of these new area based Committees the existing and entirely voluntary Bishopston, Cotham and Redland Community Partnership (BCR CP) has decided to wind up as its role will largely be replicated by the new Council led arrangements.
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Website updated on Friday, 26th April 2024