Alternative plan for Bristol Zoo Gardens site to be unveiled at public meeting

An upcoming meeting promises to present an alternative plan for a “reimagined Bristol Zoo” more than three years after the historic site in Clifton closed its doors.

Campaigners from Save Bristol Zoo Gardens are holding a public event on Wednesday which will hear from former Bristol Zoo employees who will speak about the site’s closure and potential future.

Bristol Zoo Gardens shut in September 2022 after 186 years and has since been the target of campaigners who want to stop the site from being developed into housing.

Zoo bosses told Bristol24/7 that legal challenges and campaigns have resulted in high financial costs for the charity, delaying construction plans and forcing cost cuts and redundancies.

Tom Jones wants to save and reopen Bristol Zoo at its Clifton site – photo: Tom Jones

Zoo shareholder Tom Jones is the founder of Save Bristol Zoo Gardens which describes itself as a campaign “which advocates for a reimagined zoological garden that preserves the site’s heritage and ecological value and continues to serve the community and people of Bristol”.

A meeting to unveil the group’s alternative vision was due to take place in April 2024 at Bristol Beacon but the concert hall cancelled it at the last minute.

Speaking about the latest meeting, which is taking place at Bristol Improv Theatre in Clifton at 7pm, Jones said: “This is the event that Bristol Zoological Society’s current leadership never wanted to happen.

“I have spent three and a half years campaigning to save Bristol Zoo Gardens.

“In that time, I have written a 100-page evidence-based report challenging the closure of Bristol Zoo.

“And with the help of industry experts, I have developed a professional alternative plan that would see the site reopened as a reimagined Bristol Zoo Gardens.”

The plans for the former zoo site in Clifton include building 196 new homes – image: Bristol Zoological Society

Jones continued: “Since April last year, I have been subjected to legal intimidation and threats from Bristol Zoological Society’s lawyers, who have tried to bully and silence me to stop me exercising my democratic right to campaign and say things publicly about Bristol Zoological Society’s current leadership that they don’t like.

“This work has been suppressed for too long.

“I understand that a lot of people have lost interest in the Bristol Zoo issue and have reluctantly accepted that the Zoo has gone for good, but this is simply not the case.

“At the very least, I would like people to know all of this has happened, that it is still going on and that there is alternative future.

“Everyone – public and media alike – deserve to hear another side of the story.”

The last day at Bristol Zoo was September 3 2022 – photo: Barbara Evripidou

Bristol Zoological Society, the conservation charity which runs the relocated zoo rebranded as Bristol Zoo Project, wants to sell the site with planning permission to build 200 homes and a public park.

A recent legal challenge against the development brought by the a different campaign group called Save Bristol Gardens Alliance through a judicial review was rejected by the High Court in December.

In a statement to Bristol24/7, chief executive of the society Justin Morris said: “We took the difficult decision to close Bristol Zoo Gardens as the Clifton site does not work as a modern conservation zoo.

“We believe zoos need to change, which is why we want to build a new zoo at Bristol Zoo Project, which is much larger, to provide excellent animal welfare in larger natural habitats.

“We want to focus on conservation and the threatened animals that most need our help. The campaigners are trying to stop this.

“We cannot state clearly enough, the impact and financial toll of these legal challenges and campaigns.”

Dr Justin Morris is the chief executive of Bristol Zoo Project – photo: Bristol Zoo Project

Morris added: “In recent years we have faced a concerted campaign by individuals who have purposefully delayed the sale of Bristol Zoo Gardens, preventing us from accessing the proceeds and harming our charity and work.

“This means we have had to delay plans to construct new visitor infrastructure at our bigger site, Bristol Zoo Project, delaying new parking and access for cyclists and pedestrians. We have also had to cut costs dramatically and make roles redundant.

“Responding to the campaigners’ lawyers has cost our charity more than £300,000 – vital funds which could have been spent on conservation and education.

“This money could have paid for 35,000 disadvantaged children to visit the zoo for free as part of our Access to Nature Programme or funded six years of our field conservation work in Bristol and the west of England, protecting highly threatened native species.”

Main photo: Save Bristol Zoo Gardens

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