Campaigners trying to save the Bristol Zoo site from being redeveloped have slammed its chief executive Dr Justin Morris as ‘astonishingly complacent’ about the strength of feeling in the city over the closure of the zoo.
The Save Bristol Zoo group was responding to an interview with Bristol Live on Monday, ahead of next week’s crunch council planning committee meeting, which will decide on an application to build 196 new homes around the zoo site, and create a public gardens from the rest.
Bristol Live revealed on Monday that planning officers were recommending that application be given permission, which would effectively seal the fate of the closed-down zoo and back the charity’s vision of moving to an expanded new zoo at its Wild Place location on the edge of Bristol.
Read more: The seven options for Bristol Zoo as decision day looms
Dr Morris told Bristol Live the campaigners calling for the zoo to reopen, or for an alternative future for the site, were ‘naïve’ about the future of zoos in the 21st century, and added the Victorian zoo site was ‘not fit for purpose’. He also said the campaigners’ motivation was based on not wanting the new houses and apartment buildings in that spot in Clifton.
That has infuriated the Save Bristol Zoo Gardens campaign, who accused Dr Morris of withholding reports which outlined a range of options for the zoo site, and said he was ‘complacent and reckless’ with the historic and famous Clifton Zoo Gardens.
The Save Bristol Zoo campaign has been backed by prominent Bristol figures including Prof Alice Roberts and former mayor George Ferguson, and campaigners have held public meetings, marches and rallies to support their call for the zoo to be saved or turned into a different kind of visitor attraction. The main thrust of their campaign is to say the zoo did not need to close - something Dr Morris has strongly disagreed with.
A spokesperson for the Save Bristol Zoo campaign said: “Dr Morris is astonishingly complacent if he thinks nearly 10,000 petition signatories and more than 1,000 planning objectors are merely objecting to luxury flats.
“His assertion that the Zoo has a viable plan to preserve public space at the Zoo merely demonstrates that whilst Dr Morris may have acquired some knowledge about Zoos since leaving the Natural History Museum in 2018, he is breathtakingly innocent of the commercial drivers and profit motive of housing developers. His ‘public space’ will vanish as quickly as the concrete is poured.
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“Dr Morris really should not be allowed to get away with such nonsense. It is he that is ‘naïve’ if he truly thinks that the small profit he is likely to make from asset stripping Bristol Zoo will be anything other than a drop in the ocean in the hopeless money pit that is Wild Place in South Gloucestershire,” he added.
As well as the 196 new homes around the edge of the zoo site, the bulk of the gardens will be made accessible as part of the plans. Dr Morris told Bristol Live that a management committee for the whole site would be set up to maintain the apartments, but also keep the gardens and open them to the public. The make up of that management committee would include the zoo charity itself and local residents, as well as the developers who build the apartments.
The planning application will go before councillors next Wednesday. A report by planning officers at City Hall recommends it is given permission - although councillors can over-rule that recommendation.
Dr Morris said: “We are really confident in our plans and the quality of the design proposals we have submitted. As well as delivering sustainable, much-needed homes for Bristol, our plans for Bristol Zoo Gardens secure the site as a public park, a community asset, so everyone can enjoy its beauty and heritage for many years to come,” he added.
Read more: Bristol Zoo redevelopment 'set for green light' as boss defends closure
Part of the planners’ report includes a response from Historic England, which initially expressed concern at the redevelopment of such an iconic, historic and listed Victorian gardens attraction. But now Historic England has changed its view, based on changes the zoo made to its plans last year.
“The ability for visitors to enter the site, free of charge, post-redevelopment, is a significant heritage benefit,” said Historic England. “Generally, Historic England finds much to admire in the proposed development, which we feel on the whole is a sensitive response to its historic context,” they added.
In the 143-page report to councillors, planning officers make it clear they back the project, and say it is ‘not unreasonable’ to have closed the zoo already.
“Whilst operated by a charity, the use of the site was commercial in nature,” the report said. “The Planning Statement suggests the existing use cannot be retained due to viability reasons relating to falling visitor numbers, a lack of car parking, and expectations for animal welfare. The Zoo has closed, this may well have been a result of a commercial decision as many stakeholders have suggested, but as per the ‘Background’ section, the reasons for closing the Zoo provided by the Applicant indicates that this decision was not unreasonable, and there is a need to reuse or redevelop the site,” the report added.
Planning officers also told councillors that an idea by local residents to make the zoo site an ‘Asset of Community Value’ has not worked either. “The site is listed as an Asset of Community Value, which suggests the site provides an important community facility. The (zoo) Society has served notice of the intent to dispose of the site, to which no responses were received from community groups seeking to register an interest to purchase the site. In accordance with the relevant legislation, this means the Society is free to sell the site.
"This evidences that within the six weeks’ notice period, no eligible community groups registered an interest to buy the site, which does suggest a lack of interest from community groups to reuse the site for community purposes but falls short of evidencing that there is no need or demand for any other suitable community facility that is willing or able to make use of the site, given the short notice period,” they added.
Overall, the planning officers will tell councillors the plan should be given planning permission, because while the proposal does damage the setting of listed buildings, and the design of the new homes doesn’t fit with the council’s policies, it’s outweighed by the fact Bristol needs new homes and can’t demonstrate it has found enough sites for what’s needed, and opening up the gardens to the public for free is also a benefit of the proposal.
Read more:
- Relive memories of Bristol Zoo days with charming photo collection
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- Bristol Zoo's new look revealed for the first time in CGIs
- Christopher Jefferies criticises Bristol Zoo plan for 'horrendous' housing
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