Planning application lodged for new sauna at popular swimming lake in Bristol
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A sauna at a popular swimming lake is just one of the latest Bristol planning applications
A new sauna could be built at a popular swimming lake according to new plans recently submitted. Each week Bristol City Council receives dozens of planning applications seeking permission for a whole range of developments.
Over the past seven days, those applications also included converting offices into student flats and replacing a garage with a house. Here’s this week’s round-up of notable planning applications submitted to the council.
Every week dozens are validated by the local authority and we have selected some of the more interesting proposals. All planning applications submitted to the council have to be validated and are available for inspection by the public. Anyone is also allowed to submit comments about the applications — whether in support or objection.
The majority of applications are decided by planning officers at the council under delegated powers. However, some will go before elected councillors who sit on planning committees. No dates have been set for when the planning applications below will be determined. They can be viewed by going to the planning portal on Bristol City Council’s website.
Sauna at popular swimming lake
A new sauna could be built at a popular swimming lake. The exclusive Henleaze Swimming Club is notoriously hard to get into, with a very long waiting list for membership. One of the few places to safely swim outdoors within Bristol, the club is on Lake Road in north Bristol at a former quarry. Swimmers have been dipping in the lake there for just over a century.
The lake already has a sauna, but the club wants to build a new one near the existing changing rooms. The existing sauna would be kept, with the new one adding to provision rather than forming a replacement. The smaller building would be clad in timber, matching the wooded character of the area. Architects said the sauna would be more accessible and inclusive.
Objecting to the plans is the Bristol Tree Forum. Campaigners say the site is an important open space and should be protected from development, as well as being a site of nature conservation. Nearby trees could be affected by the building, due to the location of root zones.
Replacing a garage with a house
A garage off West Street in Bedminster could soon be replaced with a one-bed house. The garage is on Argus Road, while the new house would be two and half storeys tall. A previous planning application for the same site was refused by the council, as planning officers believed the proposed building would appear out of character with the rest of the surrounding area.
Planning officers said that filling in the gap with a three-storey building would “appear cramped”, as the current gap provided by the single-storey garage gives “relief within the rhythm of development”. Rents and house prices in this part of Bristol are rising rapidly as there is a shortage of housing, and further down the road there are plans for a seven-storey block of flats.
The garage sits in between a two-storey house on one side, and three-storey houses on the other side. A range of shops and restaurants are nearby, as well as good public transport connections with bus stops and two train stations. There would be one car parking space within a garage in the new proposed house, which is slightly shorter than the previous planned one.
Offices converted into student flats
Offices on Whiteladies Road could soon be converted into 20 student flats. The offices are towards the bottom of the road, in a four-storey building including a basement level. The building was constructed between 1855 and 1874, originally used as a pair of residential villas. The plans include adding solar panels on the roof and a heat pump around the back courtyard.
In planning documents, architects said: “The proposed installation of renewable technologies will not be visible from the wider Conservation Area. Therefore we believe this will have a neutral impact on the heritage assets of the Conservation Area and nearby listed buildings. It will have a positive impact on the long term sustainability and viability of this heritage property.”