The future of the iconic Bristol Zoo Gardens site in Clifton looks set to be decided by councillors later this month, with the Bristol Zoological Society hoping to win planning permission to redevelop the site and build the 196 flats that they say will help pay for a new Bristol Zoo on the edge of the city.
The proposal is meeting strong opposition from a coalition of residents, campaigners, celebrities and city leaders, who want the council to refuse to give planning permission and send zoo bosses back to the drawing board. But is there an alternative? What else could the famous walled garden site in Clifton become?
When, on November 27, 2020, Bristol Zoo announced it was closing what was said to be the oldest continually open zoo site in the world, and instead focussing on its Wild Place location at Easter Compton in the South Gloucestershire countryside, Bristol was shocked. Thousands flocked to the zoo back in the summer of 2022 and there were tears shed on the last day the zoo was open to the public on September 3, last year.
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When the zoo revealed plans to develop the site and see blocks of flats built, there was opposition - mainly from local residents. While the Bristol Zoological Society insist there is no alternative to their plan - and they are the ones in charge - opposition to the zoo’s closure and opposition to the development plans has coalesced in to a campaign to ‘Save Bristol Zoo’.
That has seen public meetings, marches and rallies with some well-known supporters questioning the case put forward by the zoo for the need to close and leave the Clifton site, as well as a more straightforward opposition to development plans for flats on such a historic and green city site.
Bristol Live understands the plans will be debated and decided on April 26 at City Hall, and council officers are recommending the Zoo's proposal to build 196 flats be given planning permission. But if that doesn't happen and the plans are rejected by councillors, and Bristol Zoo’s bosses are forced or persuaded to go back to the drawing board and come up with alternatives, what exactly are they?
The Save Bristol Zoo campaign say there are many, and they are not ‘seeking or suggesting a definitive answer right now’, because they want to work with the zoo to come up with those alternatives. “We are not seeking or suggesting a definitive answer right now, but it’s clear from the most casual conversations that many ideas are out there and many wonderful things are possible,” said a spokesperson.
But if it’s not to be turned into flats with almost half the trees cut down and half the gardens left open to the public, then what are the alternatives?
Reopen Bristol Zoo
Part of the Save Bristol Zoo campaign’s initial launch was to challenge the reasons given to close the zoo. Covid interrupted everything, but the zoo said visitor numbers had fallen and costs had risen. The zoo itself, originally opened in 1836, is constrained by its own site, and not particularly conducive to keeping large or even medium-sized animals in the kind of enclosures people want to see in the 21st century.
The Save Bristol Zoo campaign say there is, or could be, a future for the zoo to reopen, saying it could be ‘reinvented, reimagined and reinvigorated if kept as a zoo.
“Our first preferred choice would be to keep it as a Zoo that’s run by the Zoological Society, with the animals’ welfare at its heart and which still makes a wonderful place to visit again and again, with open green spaces, play areas and cafés,” said a campaign spokesperson. “Connect it to science, research, conservation and education projects. Raise funds locally and relaunch it for the benefit of Bristol.”
This is something the Zoo itself says is not practical or possible. "We don’t believe the current 12-acre Clifton site is fit for purpose as a modern zoo," a zoo spokesperson said.
The ‘virtual zoo’
In the time between November 2020’s announcement and September 2022’s eventual closure, some big Bristol hitters came up with an alternative - which they described as an ‘augmented reality zoo’. The 'Our World Bristol' idea was to marry up two of Bristol’s leading sectors - the first is the fact that the city is a world-leader in wildlife documentaries. Something like a third of all wildlife film-making ever done anywhere in the world is based or comes out of Bristol.
The second is Bristol’s place as a leader in cutting-edge computer technology. Put the two together, the campaign announced in May 2021, and you could create something no one had ever seen before, a ‘virtual zoo’, where visitors could go in, put on a virtual reality headset, or step into a green screen and be transported to the jungles or the savannahs to be among the lions and tigers and bears.
Read more: The debate over 'Our World Bristol'
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The idea had a lot of backing, and remains one of the Save Bristol Zoo campaign’s proposals.
“Keep all the gardens, cafes and spaces but replace all the animals with virtual and augmented reality displays akin to what they’ve done at Florida’s Universal Studios, which has interactive Finding Nemo and immersive dinosaur experiences,” a spokesperson said.
A ‘lo-tech’ nature and gardens attraction
One of the tenets of the Save the Zoo campaign, and of the more focussed local opposition to the housing plan specifically points out that the gardens themselves are pretty special - an oasis in the built-up area of Clifton, albeit with the Downs across the road - that have been carefully manicured for almost 200 years.
“Make it more of a low-tech nature and gardens attraction with no captive animals,” suggest SBZ. “More like the kind of place the Royal Horticultural Society of the Eden Project might run. This would be popular, interesting and well-designed.”
Public gardens plus a work and culture hub
Another idea flagged by the SBZ campaign would see the gardens and cafes kept open and accessible to the public, but the other buildings converted into ‘business units for Bristol’s start-up companies, artist studios and performance spaces’. “This would be lower density than the proposed housing and would maintain the listed buildings,” said an SBZ spokesperson.
A new City Farm
“The whole site could be turned over into a giant city farm run by volunteers promoting green practices, permaculture and recycling,” an SBZ spokesperson said. “Have an on-site bakery and other food makers. Supply the café from produce entirely grown on site (except maybe tea and coffee). Sell organic eggs, bakery, compost, charcoal and more,” they added.
New owners who will keep it open
“Permit another institution e.g. Clifton College to acquire the site, using some of it for its own needs, providing some facilities e.g. sports or performance venues as public amenities but leaving the bulk of it as a permanent public space with gardens, cafés etc as now,” the SBZ spokesperson said.
In September 2021, CHIS - the Clifton and Hotwells Improvement Society - successfully applied to have the zoo registered as an asset of community value. This means that if it is put up for sale, the community get first dibs oin it and will have six months to raise the money to buy it.
What does Bristol Zoo say?
The zoo has been playing down the impact the Save Bristol Zoo campaign has been having, preferring to focus on its own plans for the new site by the M5 at Cribbs Causeway, and defending the plans for 200 flats.
The Zoo says it’s already gone through the options itself, and to continue its mission of conservation, it has to focus solely on turning the Wild Place at Easter Compton into a new version of Bristol Zoo - and to do that, it needs the millions that can only be raised from housing development in Clifton.
Read more: Bristol Zoo Gardens could be bought by local group to stop housing scheme
The zoo points out that all the alternatives listed below will cost money to do, whereas they need to get money coming in to develop and expand the Wild Place to turn it into the new Bristol Zoo.
“We thought long and hard about this decision as it is so important for Bristol,” said a spokesperson in December, when the zoo addressed the new campaign. “We explored other options for the Clifton site, which included other types of visitor attraction and different types of zoos. But our preferred option by far was to focus on our charitable mission ‘to save wildlife together’ through investment in the development of our Wild Place Project site. It is the right thing for conservation and animal welfare.
“But it wasn’t an easy decision and there were a lot of factors to think about. We don’t believe the current 12-acre Clifton site is fit for purpose as a modern zoo. The new zoo will allow us to improve animal welfare, in larger natural habitats and focus our resources on animals that really need our help.
“We are really proud of the quality of the proposals submitted for the Clifton site. The design brings much needed housing for Bristol, with 196 high-quality homes – of which 20 per cent will be affordable – located mainly in areas where there are already built structures.
“These plans will secure the site as a vital community asset, so everyone can enjoy its heritage for many years to come. Approximately 80% of the site will be retained as open space and the gardens will be accessible to the public for free, for the first time since the site opened to the public in 1836,” she added
“Historic England has called this ‘a significant heritage benefit’, saying there is much to admire in the proposed development which they feel, on the whole, is a sensitive response to its historic context,” she said.
While the date is not yet confirmed, and has been postponed already this year, it is understood the plans for Bristol Zoo’s site in Clifton will be debated and decided on by councillors on the planning committee at City Hall on April 26.
Read more:
- Relive memories of Bristol Zoo days with charming photo collection
- 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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