fishpondsvoice
8
November, 2016
n NEWS
Blackberry Hill 'must include homes MAJOR concerns are being voiced about the proposed 305 homes on the former Blackberry Hill Hospital site in Fishponds. People living in the neighbourhood are worried about the traffic and parking impact on Manor Road and Snowdon Road and the surrounding area, while many residents are angry that there is not yet any commitment to affordable housing on the site. The formal planning application from developers Galliford Try is now live on the city council website and campaigners are urging people to go online and make their views known. The objectors say the council’s policy is for 40 per cent of homes on all major new developments to be affordable to help address the chronic housing shortage in Bristol. But the developers say they already have to pay £2.3 million
for improvements to the area, which, coupled with the cost of refurbishing the Grade II listed buildings, means they cannot afford to provide social housing on the site. The former mental health hospital closed in 2005 and
the site is owned by the Homes and Communities Agency. The housing development plans were delayed while a part of the site known as the Laundry Field was designated a Town and Village Green, preserving it for open space.
Originally, social housing company Curo Homes was a partner in the project and was due to provide the affordable housing part of the scheme but it pulled out a year ago, saying the proect was not viable. Galliford Try and the HCA argue in their application that the scheme will bring “substantial benefits”, including upgrades to the road network, that outweigh the need for social housing. Frome Vale ward councillors Lesley Alexander and Nicola Bowden-Jones plan to meet the HCA this month to press the case for affordable homes. Ms Bowden-Jones said: “Bristol is in the middle of a huge housing crisis, caused largely by spiralling house prices and rents. This new development has no intention of building houses that ordinary Bristolians can afford to rent or buy, and will only add to the cost of housing by benefiting
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