A draft vision to transform the area around the Cumberland Basin in Bristol has been released, proposing that half of all new housing there will be designated as 'affordable'.
The plans for Western Harbour also include a conversion of a bonded warehouse to a mixed-use cultural hub serving the whole city. Bristol City Council has also now confirmed that Riverside Garden Centre, which feared Western Harbour would force its closure, will be accommodated for in the amended plan.
Community feedback has inspired the vision to build on the area's heritage and will guide the master planning process later in 2022, according to the council. Both the garden centre and pump track will be worked into the plan.
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This new vision comes after initial proposals set out plans to close up or even demolish the garden centre in Southville due to new proposed road layouts - two out of three of the initial ideas were believed to show a new main road being built through the centre's car park.
Despite being included in the original meetings to discuss the plans, Bristol Live reported in 2019 that those who run Riverside - a social enterprise - said they weren't told of any further development until many of their staff, who lived locally, received letters through the door about the consultation.
Since then, the council has gone back to the drawing board and started the consultation process from scratch last autumn, spending £150,000 to do so. The council advertised for a company to come in and spend six months running a 'city-wide inclusive engagement with Bristol citizens and stakeholders' to get views on what the council and mayor Marvin Rees were already calling 'Western Harbour'.
At the time, it was also reported that the project could see as many as 3,000 new homes built at the western end of Bristol's floating harbour, in and around the Cumberland Basin and on the south side of the River Avon New Cut at Ashton Meadows and the end of Coronation Road.
The vision from the council and the mayor was to radically change the road network with new river and harbour crossings, do away with the 1960s ramps and open the area up to build a new harbourside suburb of Bristol in the leftover space.
Until April 22, Bristol City Council says that Bristolians who visit, work in and travel through Western Harbour - and those who don't yet - can share their views on the commitments identified within the draft vision.
The new consultation documents acknowledge that in previous consultation, respondents have said that they do not want high-rise flats in the area, despite it being a cornerstone of the mayor's housing policy to build the homes Bristol needs and make them affordable.
The report states: "What people don't want: Hi-Rise Housing as a Sign of Greed Over Community Good. While the general sentiment towards affordable housing is positive, despite the bold height of the bonded warehouses, there's a strong sentiment away from hi-rise flats, the gentrification they represent, and the perception of a subsequent loss of community."
The council says that it has "deliberately taken a long-term, step-by-step approach to the regeneration of the area, acknowledging the significance it holds to people from across Bristol and the need to ensure any plans reflect what Bristolians want it to be".
It also says that the area's "connection to the River Avon would be at the heart of any new development, providing access to nature and recreation, tranquil spaces and boosting the river as a wildlife corridor".
A spokesperson said: "The consultation and additional public feedback on the draft will help to refine a final vision. These commitments will then – subject to endorsement by Cabinet – help to guide and shape masterplanning starting later in 2022, which will set out in detail where the new homes, jobs and infrastructure that Bristol needs could go."
Just last week, however, Bristol Live reported how councillors expecting to examine fresh proposals to revamp the Cumberland Basin were presented with "nothing to scrutinise" but "kids' drawings".
At a council meeting on Monday, February 28, they were given a short report and shown 15 slides, mostly containing photographs from the series of “visioning days” held in the autumn, when the local authority went back to the drawing board after losing residents’ trust over its intentions.
The slideshow also included a “vision” for the future Western Harbour comprising four guiding “principles” but no detail and a few sentences “distilled” from the feedback at the events called listening labs and creative workshops, which involved actors and activities including Plasticine modelling. Councillors expressed fear that the consultation would be a meaningless “tick-box exercise”.
In full, between September to December 2021, the engagement programme ran a total of:
10 Creative Workshops in person
2 Creative Workshops online
7 Listening Labs online
2 in-person sessions at Riverside Garden Centre and at Docks Heritage Weekend
2 Walk and talks
2 Visioning Days
1 month-long exhibition
And, online, the council received 599 comments on the Harbour Hopes Map and 81 online 'Place Principles' (ideas or guides to be followed when making changes at Western Harbour).
On this latest draft, Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees said: “This vision gives us a clear understanding of the kind of place Bristolians want Western Harbour to be. The ideas and principles set out in the vision are ambitious and far-reaching.
"We are committed to making Western Harbour an example of how transformative, positive change can come forward that supports community life, while meeting the challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and changes to how we live, work, and play in our cities.
“We know how important this area is to local people and to the wider city. To make sure the vision reflects community hopes and aspirations, we have spent months engaging with and listening to the community to get to this point. These conversations have shaped the draft vision for Western Harbour, and now we want more feedback from the public before any more detailed decisions about the future are made.”
Writing in a blog post, he said: "It’s clear that there are certain things you want us to prioritise: the future role of the bonded warehouses, accommodating the much-loved Riverside Garden Centre and the Pump Track; the importance of public space, and ensuring that new homes include a high proportion of affordable housing for the city."
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