SCAN is a group of residents, businesses and community stakeholders campaigning to bring about sensitive and appropriate development of the former St Christopher's School site in Bristol. We formed in September 2021 and have been actively engaged in encouraging the whole community to get involved with the development of the site and have their say before it’s too late!

We are opposed to the current proposals put forward for this unique site because we believe they threaten heritage, the environment, road safety and are simply too overbearing. The proposals also fail to offer any affordable housing or replace vitally need SEND provision.

This beautiful five-acre site is situated on the edge of the Downs and is part of the Downs Conservation Area. The main entrance is on Westbury Park with the plot also bordering Royal Albert Road, Bayswater Avenue, The Glen and Belvedere Road.

Until it closed in 2020, St. Christopher’s was a much loved & valued school for children with complex needs and had served Bristol’s most vulnerable for more than 70 years. This green lung at the heart of the Westbury park community contains many mature trees that have been there for decades and are home to a variety of wildlife including bats, foxes, woodpeckers and owls.

A consortium of international property developers and care providers (including the FORE Partnership, Socius and Amicala) want to build a large “extra care” retirement complex. As well as converting the Victorian villas facing the Downs, the developers want to build a collection of multi-storey apartment blocks up to 5 storeys high with 116 new apartments.

We believe this is an entirely inappropriate over-development that fails to respect the unique heritage of a wonderful site that lies within a Conservation Area and contains a listed building.