A community in Bristol has commissioned its own architectural images to show what it believes will be the impact of new buildings on a renowned site in Bristol. Developers submitted plans to Bristol City Council to repurpose St Christopher's Square in Westbury Park, a former Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND) school and residence of 70 years, into a new £85 million retirement community with 122 homes.
Residents have claimed their opinions have still not been listened to since the latest proposals for the development were submitted on March 1, their main concerns being the height of the buildings, the lack of SEND provision and higher levels of traffic due to more people living in the area. The developers behind St Christopher's Square maintain the fact they "have listened and implemented significant changes" based on community feedback.
Francesca Kay, a member of the St Christopher's Action Network (SCAN), said the architectural mock-ups were funded by members of the community, claiming the images highlight how the new development "completely overwhelms everything around it".
Also see: What Westbury-on-Trym's empty shops have become four years after 11 stood empty
Speaking to BristolLive on the designs, Francesca said: "We had those images commissioned because we really wanted to understand and show the community what the impact of these proposals are going to be like." She explained the group had the images commissioned using architectural software based on the measurements provided in the development plans. A spokesperson for the development has claimed the images produced by SCAN are not accurate.
"It will forever change the face of the Downs if this goes ahead," Francesca added. She said the community believes it's massively out of keeping with the Downs and the heritage because it's an eyesore. "We've got to solve the housing crisis but does this solve the housing crisis in a way that Bristol needed and what is the cost to the environment and to the much-loved Downs?"
The proposals for the site put forward by the FORE partnership include internal and external alterations of a Listed House building, conversion of lodges fronting Westbury Park, demolition of buildings and the erection of new buildings. The new site proposes to provide almost double the existing car spaces from 34 to 65 and create 52 cycle spaces.
In response to concerns expressed by local community group SCAN, Luke Martin, on behalf of the team behind the proposals for St Christopher’s Square in Westbury Park, said: “Since acquiring the site almost a year ago, we have spent time actively engaging with the local community, meeting with residents and community groups in person, via online webinars, and organising events to discuss our plans and listen to their views.
"During the consultation process, we received over 660 responses to our online questionnaire from a broad representation of local residents, business, and stakeholders. The feedback was constructive and we have listened and implemented significant changes to our plans including reducing height of some buildings, replacing an apartment building with cottages, and improving the positioning of the buildings to maximise green space and reduce the impact on neighbours.
"We have also discussed and improved the provision of parking to ensure that there isn’t an impact on the local roads. From the start, we have been committed to opening up this walled-off, inaccessible site, to create a place that benefits everyone.
Read more: Residents feel council is 'not listening' over plans to build 140 homes on Dovercourt Road
"We are looking forward to bringing this site back to life for events, social activities, and community-led activities that local residents can help organise. And of course, by delivering specialist and highly sustainable accommodation for older people, deliver much-needed homes in Bristol.”
Robin Hambleton, author, professor of City Leadership at UWE and member of SCAN commented saying there is quite a lot of concern in the community. "If not outright alarm," he added.
He continued: “We are not against development, we’re quite keen on development. We want to see sensitive and appropriate development of the site. We think it’s an opportunity for the city to be improved but the current developers don’t understand that. They’re going to damage the community rather than improve.”
He said the illustrations provided by SCAN show "in an accurate and dramatic way how totally out of scale this scheme is with the local character of the area.” In his view, he believes this proposal "would be completely unacceptable anywhere in Bristol".
The planning statement put forward by Pegasus Group admitted there would be a "minor adverse impact" on the heritage of the area, but it said there would be "significant benefit" to securing the optimum and long-term use of Grade-listed building Grace House. Robin said he thought the scheme the developers are bringing forward is "entirely inappropriate for the location" due to the scale and overdevelopment. "When a development tries to but too many houses on one site and it overloads the street."
"Personally I am still surprised that the developers have not listened to the city council and made any provision for the needs of special education and disabled children. I would say you need to provide for the SEND needs of the city. A lot of children are being sent of out the city because there’s no provision. I would say that it’s more of a priority than a retirement scheme as they’re proposing."
Don't miss: Controversial 'poor door' housing block approved after entrances made 'indistinguishable'
St Christopher's School was a special needs residential independent school for approximately 50 children and young people aged 7 to 25, who had severe and complex learning difficulties, or profound and multiple learning difficulties. Anita Bennett, Chair of family learning disability charity Rescare, is hoping for cross-party support around winning back the site as a cost-saving local asset and "creating a community-friendly St. Christopher's" to "save lives and entire families".
She said: "Having a child who can require up to 24-hour-a-day care means family disaster. Bristol has a chance to win back some of these purpose-built homes by simply rejecting these plans.
"Many SEND children are winding up in a revolving door of foster care or far away and inappropriate units. I know from bitter personal experience with my own daughter with Down syndrome."
SCAN member Francesca Kay added: "We knocked on over 800 doors talking to people about the very same thing. People were very sad about St Christopher's going and people really want to see a good socially wise development there that really benefits the community."
