Kingsdown Conservation Group

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!

This important and encouraging City Council document is now available online here

It sets out the Council’s view of the history, development and current character of the area (including a newly-incorporated triangle on Horfield Road). There are lots of photos, and discussion of individual streets and buildings, views, opportunities threats and some fascinating maps. KCG has contributed a lot of the material, during the several years (!) that we have been talking to the Council about the document and its predecessors.

You can buy a hard copy from Heather Porter in the Planning Department, but it costs £15 so we are hoping that the Council will give us a few that we can lend to KCG members.

The Green Man came to Kingsdown at the beginning of May:

Graham Syrett has sent this quick update on the past month:

There have been five burglaries: Cothamside, Fremantle Square, Victoria Walk, and Springfield Rd, and the latest, this weekend at West End. Entry was ained, by a front door being kicked in, a front door lock forced, and windows smashed on the other three occasions. Two/three white males seen at two of these incidents.

A garden shed was broken into in Kingsdown Parade and a bicycle stolen.

The was an assumed attempted robbery in Somerset Street, when a large black male followed a resident into her garage ,as she was parking the car, between 10.30 - 10.45 pm. She screamed loudly, and the male left the area.

Graham Syrett reports: Six thefts occurred from motor vehicles, three in Sydenham Road, and one each in Marlborough Hill, Montague Hill, and Somerset St.

A problem is occurring in Fremantle Square as numbers of adults, believed to have moved on from Kings Square, have begun congregating at various times of the day and evening on the grass area, drinking alcohol, littering and apparently generally taking over the area.

If you have any further evidence or information regarding this, please let Graham know:samuelthecat@msn.com

A week of events celebrating hope, creativity and community @ the Ark, Cotham Road South

As part of this week, co-run by St Matthew’s and BCF, there will be a community art exhibition in the ‘Ark’ building that will be open from 10-5pm every day.

If you are an artist, or are involved with a community art project, and would like to exhibit work that expresses something of the themes of the week, then please contact Vicky Wright or Ruth Price for further details.

Vicky Wright - vicky.wright@bristol.anglican.org
Ruth Price - pricepure@googlemail.com

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.

Helen Phillips writes:

Just a reminder that there is another Grown at Home gathering , again here at No73 KP (our kitchen is still empty and good for demonstrations) on Tuesday 6th May 7.30 - 8.30.

I’ve been sowing some seeds at long last and have some spare and I thought others might too. If you would like to bring any spare seeds or tiny seedlings along to swop or give away, it might make pricking out easier and less painful ( I always hate throwing away any tiny seedlings because I have no more window cill space left ) and maybe then I won’t keep seeds past their sell by / sow by date.

We could also discuss web sites which give sensible and useful advice and look at various seed catalogues for ideas, now we might know what we want to grow.

Afterwards there is a Kingsdown Homegrown meeting to gather new ideas or suggestions or just to comment on this year’s forth coming event  - to which everyone is invited.

KCG members may recall that we have not taken a formal view for or against the RPZ, because there was no clear consensus among our membership when the Council last published detailed proposals three years ago.

However, it is now very much a hot topic again, and we are grateful to Roger Mortimer of the Redland and Cotham Amenities Society, who has kindly given us permission to make available his recent short paper. In it he sets out some of the key questions that need to be answered before residents can take an informed view about whether the proposed RPZ will be of benefit. Download the paper as a Word document here.