Aerial photo of 59-68 Feeder Road

59-68 Feeder Road St. Philips

The aerial view shows the green line of the Feeder Canal running through middle of the picture and the white outline of Bristol University’s new Temple Meads Campus top leftish with the Arena, as was. In the centre is the outline of this proposed development.

This is an application for outline planning permission to demolish the site and build up to 760 student bedrooms, 30 affordable dwellings and up to 1200sqm of ‘flexible’ commercial floor space. The site is now a second-hand car sales compound and a scrap yard whose owners want to sell. If the developer can justify the loss of employment use, the Society supports redevelopment. Bristol University’s new campus has generated much developer interest in the area. The Council has started a scoping study for the redevelopment of St. Philip’s Marsh.

The Society welcomes the commitment to build affordable housing, but we are concerned that most of the space would be student accommodation. There are at least four other major student accommodation projects planned locally. The Society supports the emerging planning policy that requires the inclusion of new homes within student accommodation of more than 100-bed spaces to create mixed used developments. We have also suggested a larger proportion of the space is given to commercial use in a neighbourhood that will soon have a growing residential population. Using the ground floor for non-residential purposes makes sense in an area at risk of flooding.

Although this is an outline application the Society has suggested improvements to the concept of the design and the surrounding public realm. You can find them in the full response to the planning application.

John Frenkel
johnfrenkel5@gmail.com

Bristol Civic Society’s full statement [PDF]

 

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