Update #14
November 27th 2022
Yet more council experts have slammed proposals to turn St Christopher’s into a luxury retirement complex - calling them “inappropriate, unacceptable and overbearing”.
Two new reports add to the growing list of council departments and others across the city, criticising the insensitive scheme put forward for the former special school site in Westbury Park.
Firstly - Bristol City Council’s Conservation Panel has objected to the proposals and lists a catalogue of problems with the design, layout height and mass of the proposed development. Developers Fore & Socius have been told they haven't listened to previous advice or concerns.
Among many other issues, the report maintains the various proposed blocks of flats are too high and too close together - calling the buildings “overbearing” and saying there’s so little space between them it’ll impact tree growth due to lack of light.
They call for a landscape-led setting and say the very high tree loss is “concerning’ and the replacement tree plan is completely inadequate.
In addition, they have concerns about the setting of Grace House , the Grade 2 listed building at the centre of the site built to Steiner principles with “architectural and historic significance” and designed to be “open verdant green parkland-style setting”. The new multi storey blocks of flats are uncomfortably close and will lead to “an overcrowding and overbearing impact on Grace house”
They conclude that the plans are “unacceptable in their current form” and “inappropriate” for the character of the Conservation area.
This chimes with everything we at SCAN, as well as our friends and colleagues at the WPCA (Westbury Park Community Association), have been saying right from the start!
Secondly - Bristol city council’s Education department record a litany of ‘serious errors ‘ in response to a report by the developers behind the scheme.
To give you some context, as part of the planning process, the developers commissioned a review into whether the former school site was suitable to return to use as a place for children with special education needs.
Their report concluded that “there is a multiplicity of provision to meet their needs across the area and only a small proportion of children need a special school place” and that in the future “the overall needs within the City are likely to have been met”. In other words, there was no need for replacement provision on site as there were plenty of places elsewhere.
The council has now said it completely disagrees. Elements of the report are “wholly inaccurate,'' says the council and show a “limited understanding” of Special Education Needs & Disablities provision. The council’s response goes on to explain that there are in fact a rising number of children within Bristol who need special school places and to say there will be a surplus is simply wrong. There will in fact be a shortfall of places and funding in the near future.
This shows how little the developers are concerned with replacing crucial SEND provision on this site. We are calling again for SEND to be top of the list of priorities for any development on this site to honour the legacy of more than 70 years caring for our city's vulnerable children.
The plans are still being considered by planning officers. And we are waiting for it to be sent to committee - that probably won't happen now until well into next year. We will of course keep you updated.
But the weight of expert and public opinion continues to mount up against the proposals. And it’s clear this development needs to be thrown out.
