Plans for 435 rental flats in blocks up to 15 storeys opposite Bristol Temple Meads station approved

Bristol City Council development control committee unanimously approved the proposals for the former Robins & Day Peugeot dealership next to the Bath Road Bridge roundabout.

The permission, which was recommended by planning officers, follows two years of negotiations between the local authority and developers Dandara over the buildings’ heights and the number of affordable homes, with a condition guaranteeing 43 of the apartments will be let out at social rent rates to people on the housing waiting list.

There will also be commercial units on the ground floor of the site on the corner of Clarence Road and Temple Way, along with improved pedestrian and cycle routes, landscaping and play areas.

The plans received just five objections, including from Bristol Civic Society.

Cllr Paula O’Rourke (Green, Clifton) told the meeting on Wednesday, September 18, that the application was not perfect and she had concerns about how many flats would have windows on only one side.

But she said: “This is a landmark building spot, especially when you read in the [officer’s] report that when the new entrances to Temple Meads are put in place, this will be what people see, so you really want it to be something that people will look at and go, ‘Wow i really love it’.

“It’s very sustainable and these are homes that we need.”

The BristolWorld newsletter is just waiting for you to sign up - get onboard here

Cllr Zoe Peat (Labour, Avonmouth & Lawrence Weston) said: “I like it quite a lot. There will be a certain amount of noise and air pollution but that’s unavoidable.

“My only reservations are around protecting the affordable housing.”

Cllr Caroline Gooch (Lib Dem, Westbury-on-Trym & Henleaze) said: “I’m quite impressed by the development and the developer as well.

“It does look good. I would agree it would be good if we could have a mix of affordable housing.”

She said it was a shame that some views of the Grade I-listed St Mary Redcliffe church spire would be blocked and that some flats near the ground floor would not get much sunlight.

Cllr Gooch said she also feared the proposed residential courtyard could become an “unpleasant and hostile place” because of a lack of sunlight during the winter.

Historic England’s representation said the harm to the setting of the church and other nearby listed buildings was “less than substantial, and towards the lower end of the spectrum of impacts”.

But it said national planning policy stated that the “more important the asset, the greater the weight that should be given to its conservation”, although the organisation added that it would be satisfied if the committee deemed the public benefits outweighed the “minor harm”.

Cllr Guy Poultney (Green, Cotham) said: “It’s important to acknowledge that I will be voting for this on the basis of the affordable provision.

“I’m convinced by the officer, and I wholeheartedly concur with the authority’s approach, that genuinely affordable and fewer [homes] is better than actually not very affordable but more, if it’s about meeting those floorspace targets.

“However, the remaining over 90 per cent are not providing an ability for people to get on the property ladder, they’re not providing an ability for people to get out of the rental sector at all.

“Rental properties of this kind can massively exacerbate existing wealth inequalities and we need to bear that in mind.

“This is building for growth, it’s not building for homes people can actually buy. That is important to balance.”

He said the amount of affordable homes negotiated by planning officers was almost unprecedented and very impressive.

“But I want to bear in mind that we are required to give great weight to the importance of those heritage assets,” Cllr Poultney added.

An amendment proposed by Cllr Peat added a condition that there must be an appropriate mix of types of affordable homes.