People living in 166 flats proposed to be built on the banks of the Floating Harbour would have to be rescued by the emergency services in the event of a flood, council planners have been told. And building there, on the Caravan Club site at Baltic Wharf, would represent a risk to life, the Environment Agency experts have warned.
In the latest back-and-forth between Environment Agency officials and flood risk planning consultants, the Environment Agency has reiterated its objections to a council plan to build new homes on the site of the caravan park, a plan which has caused huge controversy in Bristol over recent years.
The plan would see the caravan club evicted by Bristol City Council and the site handed over to its house-building company Goram Homes. Goram’s plan is for blocks of flats totalling 166 new homes, with the ground level lowered and shops and bars on the ground floor.
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The plan has been years in development, and was first submitted more than two years ago, with the council’s development company asking council planners for permission to go ahead with the scheme. There have been 542 objections, including many about the loss of the trees that fill the present caravan club site - in fact, a group of women symbolically ‘married’ around 70 trees in September 2021 to highlight the fact the trees would be cut down to make way for the flats.
But it's the issue of flooding that has blocked the plan’s progress so far. In January, Bristol Live reported that the Environment Agency had issued its verdict on the scheme, saying they could not support it because of the flood risk. Goram’s flooding consultants tweaked the scheme but at the start of March, the Environment Agency (EA) returned to maintain their opposition.
In a statement submitted to planners, the EA said just because other homes had been built nearby back in the 1980s and 90s before there was proper consideration of flood risks, didn’t give this development a pass today. Attempts by Goram Homes to suggest that the site would be covered by a future over-arching flooding strategy for Spike Island and the Cumberland Basin - something that is gradually being written in to bigger plans to develop the Cumberland Basin into the ‘Western Harbour’ regeneration scheme - didn’t wash with the Environment Agency either.
“The Planning Position Statement published by Bristol City Council in July 2022 advises that individual developments should not rely on the Bristol Avon Flood Strategy being delivered to make a site safe,” an Environment Agency spokesperson said. “This is because at the current time there is not reasonable certainty that the strategy will be delivered in its entirety to make new development safe from flood.
"We are not able to change this position until we have sufficient certainty the strategy will be delivered. We are working with Bristol City Council on this, but until that time, individual sites will need to manage flood risk according to national planning policy and guidance on a site by site basis, without any reliance on potential future strategic infrastructure,” the EA added.
Last week, the highest tide of the year so far saw water levels in the Cumberland Basin overtop the harbour walls, showing just how low-lying the area is, especially with the Caravan Club site at the narrowest point of Spike Island with the Floating Harbour directly to the north and the River Avon New Cut across Cumberland Road to the south.
In a damning assessment of the idea of building 166 flats at the location, the Environment Agency experts pointed out that if the lower ground floor of the block of flats flooded, it would knock out the services housed in that basement area, and the people living in the flats would not be able to get out without having people come and help them.
“There is no such safe access or egress at this site and the Flood Risk Assessment relies completely on the occupants either successfully receiving and acting upon a flood warning or staying in the building until the flood passes,” the Environment Agency said. “This approach is inherently fallible, placing reliance on human intervention at every stage.
"Furthermore, it is contrary to the planning guidance. The applicant should propose a suitable access and egress route that will be safe during a design flood, without the need for a future strategy.
“The high depths of flooding experienced throughout the Lower Ground Floor level would pose a significant hazard and risk to life to any occupants of the proposed development and any emergency responders required to enter the site should anyone need rescue/assistance,” they added.
That Environment Agency feedback was received by the council at the start of March and if the EA’s objections are not overcome, the whole plan could ultimately fail to get planning permission. A year ago, after a series of appeals and counter-appeals, the Government minister responsible for planning ultimately refused permission for the Caravan Club of Great Britain’s proposed move away from the Baltic Wharf site to a proposed alternative on the opposite bank of the River Avon to the Cumberland Basin, at a site used until recently by Avon and Somerset’s police horse division, at the bottom of Rownham Hill.
The Government minister said those proposing the scheme had not overcome the Environment Agency’s objections, and lives of people in the caravans would be at risk in the event of a fast-rising flood.
'Site is suitable'
With the ball back in Goram Homes’ court, a fresh Flood Risk Assessment has now been completed by Hydrock, the Almondsbury-based consultants. They are sticking to their stance, and say that the plan for how the flats will be built won’t increase the flood risk, and the risk to people in the building itself can be minimised with temporary flood barriers at external accesses.
They also recommend the preparation of a Flood Warning Management plan, after the scheme has been given planning permission, which could follow the completion of the wider strategy for that area.
“This report therefore demonstrates that, in respect of flood risk, the proposed residential-led mixed-use development at the site is suitable in the location proposed, will be adequately flood resistant and resilient, remains safe for occupants in the ‘design’ flood risk event for the lifetime of the proposed development, will not increase flood risk elsewhere through the loss of floodplain storage. On the basis of the above, the Planning Application submitted for the site is concluded to meet the flood risk objectives of the planning frameworks and guidance,” they added.
The plan was due to be decided on at a meeting earlier this month, but was subsequently postponed. There is no date set yet for when councillors will discuss the proposal.
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