Future of large Bristol car park and old bingo hall confirmed as developers' plans approved

Galliard Homes is planning to build 390 homes off of Barrow Road in Lawrence Hill, 39 of which will be affordable, with new community space created too.

Near the St Philips Causeway flyover, the site was home to a Mecca Bingo hall built in a former warehouse, which was then converted to a gym and is now a padel centre. Local residents however are concerned about the impact of parking on nearby streets and busy GP surgeries.

Councillors on planning committee A at Bristol City Council voted unanimously to approve the development on Wednesday, December 17. They heard from the developers how more than £2 million will go towards improving the local area, including a potential new resident parking zone.

George Baffoe-Djan, head of land at Galliard, said: “Just a few minutes walk from Lawrence Hill station, this site is extremely well connected for local services, public transport and cycle routes. Excluding the 39 affordable homes, we will contribute £2.2 million in CIL [community infrastructure levy].

“There are objections, mainly from customers of the neighbouring climbing centre, concerned they may lose some on-street parking. We’ve agreed to pay £100,000 towards a residents parking zone, which might be the best solution for the actual local residents.”

The homes will be spread among two rows of terraced houses, as well as three blocks of flats up to 16 storeys in height. Much of the site at the moment is a car park, which suffers from anti-social behaviour such as drug dealing, according to a local councillor. Residents living nearby objected to the plans, mainly due to fears about parking pressures on their roads.

Writing to the council, one resident said: “Transport links really aren’t that good. Thinking that new residents won’t own cars is farcical — they will, and the developer really can’t stop them whatever platitudes they offer. Parking in the area is already difficult, and this development will have a catastrophic negative effect, for existing local residents and also for local businesses.”

Many of the flats will only have windows on one side, leading to a lack of daylight. But council planning officers said this had to be weighed up with providing a high density of housing, which means more flats can be built on a smaller site than, for example, semi-detached houses.

Labour Councillor Katja Hornchen said: “It looks quite exciting because it’s an unloved area of Bristol. I cycle past there quite a lot and this should help with some of the area being lived in and being used, and it’ll probably make it safer.”

Despite being next to the Bristol and Bath Railway Path, a major route for people walking and cycling, there will be no links from the development to the path. That’s due to a railway in between the site and the path, owned by Network Rail but not actually used at the moment.

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