More than £5 million could soon be spent on drawing up a masterplan for the Western Harbour redevelopment. Bristol City Council is hoping to spend the cash to plan the redevelopment of the area around the Cumberland Basin, building potentially thousands of homes.
Plans to redevelop the Cumberland Basin, towards the western end of Bristol’s floating harbour, stretch back five years. But details remain scarce about exactly what the council wants to do with the area, apart from replacing or repairing the crumbling road bridges.
Council chiefs have now asked the West of England combined authority for £5.6 million to make progress on the Western Harbour project, according to a financial update report going to the cabinet, on Tuesday, February 7. It’s unclear if this funding bid has been accepted yet.
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The cabinet report said: “The council has submitted a bid for £5.6 million funding from the combined authority for the development of the Western Harbour masterplan and infrastructure delivery plan project.”
The cash will be spent on developing a masterplan for the area, consulting with the local community, and writing up a business case for an infrastructure delivery plan. This delivery plan will include repairing or replacing the Avon Bridge, a key road that is coming towards the end of its life.
Last summer the council’s vision document was criticised for a lack of detail. The council said it consulted extensively on the 16-page document, which included five pages of poetry but few details of what would actually be built in the area.
The redevelopment project also featured heavily in the recent by-election for Hotwells and Harbourside, with Liberal Democrat candidate and former MP Stephen Williams warning tall apartment towers could mean the area becoming “Manhattan-on-Avon”. The area is also at risk of flooding, with this risk expected to increase due to climate change.
According to the council, planning applications are due to be submitted in 2025, with work starting on the ground in 2026 and taking six years to complete. Previous plans for the project, including building new road bridges, proved unpopular among locals.
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