Kingsdown Conservation Group

Stick to the policy – keep the gardens

After two recent unsuitable applications – both withdrawn after widespread criticism - the UBHT hospital authorities have now put in a third one, this time to build four flats in the garden of the listed building at 42 Alfred Hill. (Ref: 08/02222/F)

We say: Bristol Council’s Policy is very clear, so let’s stick to it.

The Council’s recently completed Character Appraisal of the Kingsdown Conservation Area sets out a very clear policy: “The many mature private gardens in Kingsdown are an important complement to the general urban character, they also have biodiversity value….Many original gardens have been lost to development on their southern edges. Where they remain, gardens should be presered in order to protect the special interest of the area.” The accompanying map shows the garden as ‘private space under threat from redevelopment’.

You can find KCG’s full response here on the website. Please help to ensure that these plans are rejected. You can find the application details, and make your comment, at http://tinyurl.com/6s3td5

Or you can email the Planning Officer: north.planning@bristol.gov.uk to say that you object.

The deadline is June 18th – don’t forget!

Thanks to everyone who wrote in objecting to the two unsuitable building schemes that the United Bristol Hospitals Trust had submitted for planning approval (see earlier items, with pictures, below). The City Council Planning Department say they told UBHT that both applications would be refused, and UBHT then withdrew them.

UBHT may just be biding their time and waiting for the property market to pick up. We can, of course, expect new applications to be made in due course, and we hope that the Trust will then genuinely take note of the very sensible and reasonable views of local residents, instead of just ignoring them. That would save a lot of time and effort for all concerned, and might even lead to a scheme we could simply support.

Thanks again, but stay vigilant.

6KDP

The UBHT hospital authorities have applied for Planning Permission to build no less than 9 (!) ‘family houses’ on this site. They say their proposals will “bring together disparate elements and bring a sense of continuity to this hub of the Kingsdown Conservation Area”.

We say
We welcome development of the site, but 4 storeys is too high and the proposals would cram in far too many houses on the site. Describing them as ‘new 3-storey terrace houses’ is extremely misleading. The buildings should respect the domestic scale of their immediate neighbours.

These “family houses” have no gardens. Roof space is a very poor substitute for gardens or other amenity space. Children need somewhere to play safely and make noise. Either replace carparking with gardens or use site for key-worker housing.

UBHT have largely ignored the views of local residents, despite their (false) claim that ‘Members of the local community have been involved from the outset’, so we will have to make a formal objection to the council.

Please help to ensure that these plans are rejected. You can find the application details, and make your comment, here:

Or you can email the Planning Officer: chanelle.brodie@bristol.gov.uk to say that you object.

The deadline is May 28th – don’t forget!

The former garden would be just right for a modest new terrace to join up the old and the new ones on either side. Instead, this is what the hospital authorities want to build there:

Their Planning Application claims that the building ‘presents a unified facade to the road without being monolithic‘. It talks of ‘a bold, dramatic gesture at roof level‘ and ‘an eye-catching attractive element in the roofscape‘ They say that this new block of flats ‘echoes the wall opposite, creating an area of visual compression – a gateway…‘ and ‘will reinstate the street frontage and residential fabric‘. They also claim that ‘members of the local community have been involved with the design from the outset’ and ‘the site is not within the Conservation Area’. Both claims are wrong.

Kingsdown Conservation Group were emphatically not involved with the design from the outset, but we were shown the plans once they had been prepared. We said:
The building is much too big and its large blank walls right on the pavement would make Horfield Road even more of an unfriendly canyon
This is an important route into town used daily by hundreds in cars and on foot. The design should contribute to the appearance and safety of this route, not turn its back on it.
The building could be set further back on the site (for example, as a courtyard with a garden in front), and should not project so much above the two-storey houses on either side.
We question the provision of off-street parking here, the resultant loss of amenity space and the safety of car access onto this busy road with its fast traffic.

Further points made by local residents included:
ignores context and wrong scale. A 3-storey stepped form might be acceptable. The new pink and blue houses next door provide a good precedent in terms of scale and form. The large blank street elevation is extraordinarily insensitive.
The road facade is totally unacceptable.
Particularly agree with the KCG comments.
This garden is very pleasant. They are taking away a rather restful spot. The thought of 3 cars reversing into the fast-moving traffic is not good.
I welcome development of this ‘garden’
New houses next door have no off-street parking. This sets a good example.

What you can do: email north.planning@bristol.gov.uk before May 28th and tell them what you think of this scheme: ref: 08/01713/F 78-84 Horfield Rd, BS2 8EQ.

See this Evening Post article for news of how KCG and others have made the University scale down its grandiose plans to something closer to its own Council-adopted Masterplan….
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144913&command=displayContent&sourceNode=144913&contentPK=20406083&folderPk=83726

Saved for the time being by the Planning Inspector, who agreed a year ago with Bristol City Council’s refusal of permission to convert into flats. Kingsdown Conservation Group and others opposed the application, and we are delighted that the Inspector agreed. She said’ “… the proposed change of use would be unacceptably harmful to the vitality and viability of the local shopping parade….”

Well, at least no-one’s suggesting a 14-storey block now (as far as we know, anyway).

CLICK on the picture for a bigger version and other old clippings