Victory for campaigners as council terminates development partner from major regeneration site

The future of one of the biggest sites being developed as part of a South Bristol regeneration project is back up in the air again after the council terminated its agreement with the developer it chose to build new homes there seven years ago.

Bristol City Council had signed a partnership deal with developers Dandara back in September 2017 to develop land the council owned around Bedminster Green, but plans put forward by the developer to build more than 330 flats there have still not yet been decided by the council.

Now, the council has decided to terminate the agreement it had with Dandara, putting the site back into council control. Local residents who had been battling against the plans to build large blocks of flats around the green between the railway line in Bedminster and Malago Road are celebrating, and calling on the council to engage with them to come up with better plans.

Council leader Tony Dyer, who is one of the ward councillors for this part of Bedminster, said the council were going to ‘explore alternative delivery options’ for the land, which forms three sides of the Bedminster Green tree-filled space, with council owned car parks, buildings and industrial units around the green earmarked for development for almost a decade now.

Dandara originally wanted to build 339 new homes there, in buildings up to 12 storeys high, but the plans were controversial because they would surround the open space at Bedminster Green with high-rise buildings, and mean many trees would be cut down.

The developer changed their plans a year ago, saying the change in the economic conditions meant their original plans weren’t financially viable. Dandara reduced the number of ‘affordable’ homes that would be let through the council’s HomeChoice system, and converted the rest to be entirely ‘build-to-rent’, with the developer managing the building and letting out the flats themselves to private tenants.

But while council planning officers and council planners have given approval to the other four of the five ‘Bedminster Green’ plots - Dandara’s plan for ‘Plot 5’ at Bedminster Green was left in the ‘undecided’ section of the City Hall planning department for almost four years. The application itself is still undecided but is effectively dead in the water now, because the council has taken away Dandara’s agreement to build on the land in the first place.

Cllr Dyer said: “Unfortunately, despite lengthy discussions between the council and Dandara, now that the time period for the legal agreement has passed, we have made the decision to end our agreement to redevelop Plot 5.

“We thank Dandara for all of their efforts on the site to date and support them in their work to redevelop other sites across the city. We remain committed to the residential-led redevelopment of the site. As we consider the future of Plot 5, we will take on board the feedback we have received and look to explore alternative delivery options that are appropriate to the site and its surroundings,” he added.

The Plot 5 plans met widespread opposition from local residents in Windmill Hill and Bedminster, and from across Bristol because of the impact on the trees on Bedminster Green. Howard Purse, from the Windmill Hill Action Group, welcomed the termination decision, saying he was celebrating the news. “This is a golden opportunity to get Plot 5 developed in a way that will provide a mix of housing, nurture community and improve the area,” he said. “The question now is how do we engage in the process of working towards a solution that will create a thriving community in a place that promotes health, happiness, and well-being?” he added.

Dandara were also the council’s ‘development partner’ on another of the Bedminster Green sites across the other side of Malago Road - at a new 16-storey development now called Stafford Yard. Cllr Dyer visited the site recently and publicly welcomed the news that the 316 new rented homes there would be finished and ready for their first tenants in the spring of next year.

Dandara has created 295 ‘build to rent’ flats there, with another 21 classed as ‘affordable’ homes through a housing association.

The other three Bedminster Green plots are in various stages of development. The 819-room purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) at Dalby Avenue is completed and saw the first students arriving in September this year, while the builders of that are due to start work on another PBSA for around 450 students further down Malago Road early in 2025. Plans for 180 flats next to a revamped St Catherine’s Place shopping centre have collapsed and haven’t happened, to the point that the shops in the shopping centre have been converted into apartments and the decaying shopping centre frontage at East Street remains.