News / avonmouth
Developers in council row offer choice of six more affordable homes or costly appeal
Developers have offered Bristol City Council a choice of providing six more affordable homes or an expensive appeal.
A site near Temple Meads has been left empty for years after planning permission was granted for 221 flats as they try to cut how many will be affordable.
Donard Homes blamed delays in the planning process for the cut in affordable housing at the former Bart Spices site, on the corner of York Road and St Luke’s Road in Bedminster.
is needed now More than ever
Construction costs have risen sharply recently, making building in Bristol the eighth most expensive in the world.
Last month councillors on the development control B committee faced pressure to permit Donard to reduce the number of affordable apartments from 66 down to just 25.
They instead asked council planning officers to get back round the negotiating table with developers.
The results of those negotiations means the same committee now has a choice next week of permitting 31 affordable flats, six more than were on offer before, or denying permission for the development to go ahead.
If that happens, the developers are threatening to appeal that denial.
Property developers often appeal to the government’s Planning Inspectorate, if councils decide to reject their planning applications.
When planning inspectors side with developers, that leaves councils forced to pay expensive bills for the costs of the appeal, and developments go ahead.
A report to the development control B committee, ahead of the meeting on Wednesday, August 27, set out the response from Donard Homes.
This revealed that they have approached 50 housing associations to try and increase affordable housing, however “none were interested”.
This would have involved them getting government grants from Homes England, and using that money to buy some of the flats from Donard.
As an alternative, the developers are offering to use their own money to increase the number of homes by six, from 25 apartments to 31.
This said: “The applicant will have no other choice but to appeal if Bristol City Council refuse this Section 73 application.
“Taking this application to appeal will however result in substantial time and financial costs to both the applicant and the council.
“The applicant is prepared to offer an alternative, additional provision of affordable housing, which we hope would avoid the need to go through the appeal process and its associated costs and delay in much-needed homes.
“These further units would, effectively, be funded by the applicant avoiding the costs associated with the appeal process.”
As well as reducing the number of affordable housing, the developers have added extra fire escapes since changing their plans.
But concerns about the quality of the buildings remain, and planning officers said the committee could refuse permission for several reasons.
They recommended the committee approve the plans, although they gave options for refusal too.
Many of the flats would only have windows on one side and so receive “limited light levels”.
The tall buildings, stretching to 11 storeys, would block the view of the colourful houses on the top of the Totterdown escarpment and “fail to integrate positively with the city skyline”.
And some pavements next to the apartments would be too narrow, jeopardising the safety of pedestrians.
The site used to be home to Bart Spices, before the firm relocated to Avonmouth.
Donard Homes bought the land in early 2021, then applied for planning permission to build flats in December later that year.
The council finally approved the application in May 2023, despite concerns about a lack of daylight and fire escapes, given the promise of affordable housing.
Main photo: Donard Homes
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