News / Society
Community bid for Montpelier squat
A community group has launched a bid to buy the Magpie squat in Montpelier and turn it into affordable housing.
The group is looking to crowdfund enough money to buy the site, when it goes to auction on Wednesday evening.
Led by designer Jon Tan and architectural designer Sam Fitzgerald, who work at the Mild Bunch co-working studio above Cafe Kino in Stokes Croft, the group hope to raise enough to buy the property so they can “make the best use of the site for the local community, not merely to maximise profits”.
is needed now More than ever
“We only noticed the site was going to auction last week,” said Jon. “However, we’ve long talked about the way property and land in Bristol is used for investment as opposed for homes.”
The pair put together the proposals and then shared them on Facebook on Friday.
“The idea is to try and crowdsource a community land-source for Bristol,” said Jon. “We’ve had hundreds of people asking for a prospectus…It’s been a crazy weekend.”
The Magpie squat occupies a corner plot on Ashley Road and Picton Street. Photo by The Mild Bunch
The site has had three previous failed applications to turn it into flats and houses.
According the the group’s prospectus: “The previous failed planning applications show that the local community and council does not want intensive or insensitive development on the site, but as this proposal demonstrates, there is still plenty of scope to build low-intensity, affordable, high-quality homes and small retail units that are sympathetic to the area and culture, but still make a profit for investors.”
If the group is successful the site, which was once used by the Salvation Army, will be turned into two or three residential flats and some smaller business/retail units.
Because of the tight timeframe the group are asking for a minimum thousand pound investment which will be returned if the bid fails.
Top photo: HollisMorgan
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