Legal case launched against decision to knock down Bristol shopping centre

Campaigners have launched a legal case against a recent decision to grant permission for plans to knock down the Broadwalk Shopping Centre. Developers want to build 850 homes on the site off the Wells Road in Knowle but are facing huge opposition from the local public.

A crowdfunding campaign organised by Knowle resident Laura Chapman has raised more than £7,500 to fund the legal challenge. This week a barrister funded by the campaign sent a “blistering email” to Bristol City Council bosses, setting out key issues with the decision.

A judicial review has not been launched just yet, this has to wait until the council formally issues a planning notice that permission is granted, which could take a few more weeks. The decision could also be “called in” by the Department for Levelling Up for extra scrutiny.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Laura Chapman said: “We went into this thinking ‘this stinks’. So many of the councillors who sit on the committee were tweeting about it, and it was on party lines. We spoke to lawyers who specialise in planning and they were all aghast at what happened.

“If you look at the statistics, very few judicial reviews are ultimately successful. But our barristers are going to fight on 10 key reasons. Normally you would only find one or two, so the fact that we have 10 says volumes about how many procedural errors there have been.”

Planning permission for the development, known as the Redcatch Quarter, was initially refused by the development control A committee in May. But when the same councillors came back in July to confirm the reasons for their refusal, some had suddenly changed their minds and decided to approve permission for the scheme after all.

Developers are planning to build 850 homes as part of a huge mixed-use scheme. Some buildings could reach 12 storeys tall, and the development would include a dentist surgery, and a cinema and theatre community space. Initial concerns of a lack of affordable housing — only 80 homes — were later overcome after new promises of more affordable housing.

But the sudden U-turn raised suspicion among campaigners, who are planning to ask a judge to inspect how the decision was made. A judicial review could eventually lead to the planning permission getting quashed, which means the approval decision in July would be scrapped.

Ms Chapman said: “It’s been so stressful. We’re just a couple of residents, we don’t have any background in planning. For two years we’ve had to train ourselves and research to become experts in planning policy. And now we’ve had to become experts in judicial review law. It’s been a big learning curve.

“We’ve had amazing support from the public, and local legal professionals have helped to reach out to guide us along the way. People have rallied around the crowdfunder. It’s a big ask and it’s a huge amount of money to raise, but within a week we had raised £5,000. That shows us the community really wanted us to do this, there’s a lot of depth of feeling there. We’ll take it as far as we can.”

She added that the controversy had become “so much bigger than Knowle”, as the U-turn could be repeated for future unpopular developments. Campaigners now want the council to close off what they say is a “loophole”, known as the cooling-off period.

This is when a development control committee in Bristol votes to refuse planning permission, contrary to what council officers have recommended. Instead of refusing permission then and there, the application will come back to the committee a few weeks later, so officers can write legally sound reasons for refusal.

Campaigners are planning to hold a protest on College Green at 5pm on September 12 against the decision to grant permission for the Broadwalk plans.

More than 2,000 petitioners have also now said they have “lost confidence in Bristol’s planning system”.