Heritage campaigners have threatened the city council with a second battle in court, claiming its decision to approve 62 homes on a former Bristol Zoo car park was “unlawful”. Lawyers representing Clifton & Hotwells Improvement Society (CHIS) have told the authority they will launch a judicial review unless it reverses the planning permission granted in November for 55 apartments and seven houses in the local conservation area.
The letter by solicitors firm Leigh Day, which has been leaked to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, alleges flaws in the planning process. It attempts to pull apart the planning officer’s report to the development control committee, made up of cross-party councillors who followed its advice to give the go-ahead despite hundreds of objections.
CHIS claims the report failed to consider crucial information and expert opinion, assessed it wrongly or “misled” the committee by omitting it altogether. The decision two months ago was the second time that members had approved the scheme for West Car Park in College Road, formerly for zoo staff and an overspill for visitors, having done so previously in September 2021.
