Councillors have made a shock U-turn to reject plans for a cafe on The Downs, just three years after granting permission. Bristol City Council’s development management committee voted 5-4 against allowing the existing toilet block to be demolished and replaced with a glass and timber-fronted single-storey building, despite officers recommending approval and warning refusal would not withstand an appeal.
Members said they feared the development, near the Sea Walls off Circular Road, could be a “slippery slope” and set a precedent at the beauty spot. They were also concerned that the new building’s “footprint” would be much larger than the existing 1950s loos. The application, from The Downs Committee, was resubmitted because the existing planning consent from March 2019, for an almost identical cafe, education booth and replacement toilets, expired three weeks ago.
It attracted 58 objections, including from ward councillors, the Open Spaces Society and CPRE, The Countryside Charity, and 16 letters of support. Committee member Green Cllr Lorraine Francis told the planning committee on Wednesday evening (April 6): “We are getting into a situation where green spaces are being commercialised.
