£1.5m bailout for plans to replace police station with homes

Council leaders have approved a £1.5m bailout to salvage plans to bulldoze a police station and build 104 affordable homes in St Jude’s.

Guinness Partnership housing association received permission a year ago to redevelop Trinity Road Police Station in Old Market, but costs have spiralled while property prices have fallen, jeopardising the whole scheme.

The organisation has managed to reduce a £7.1m gap in January through additional funding from Homes England, design changes and contractor costs but still faces a £4.1m shortfall.

So it asked Bristol City Council to pay for the £1.5m police facility, from a pot of money of developer contributions called the Community Infrastructure Levy, which cabinet approved at its latest meeting on September 5.

A report to councillors said Guinness’s board had committed to going through with the revamp if the local authority gave the money, and the housing association would continue attempts to reduce the remaining £2.6m gap.

How the redevelopment of the Trinity Road Police Station would look – image: Alec French Architects

Cabinet member for housing and Labour councillor for Horfield Tom Renhard told the meeting that the project would contribute significantly to the administration’s aspirations to deliver 1,000 affordable homes a year but that the redevelopment could not go ahead without the extra cash.

He said: “Guinness is preparing to commence development in 2023/24, however concerns around the viability of the scheme have arisen due to significant diversions between the cost of delivering the scheme and income from shared-ownership sales and rent.

“The site was formerly a police station and is currently owned by the police & crime commissioner who made the decision to sell the site because it doesn’t meet the police force’s operational requirements.

“However the land purchase contract with Guinness requires them to construct a new neighbourhood police facility.

“Guinness has been working closely with the council and Homes England to address the viability gap, reducing it down from £7.1m to £4.1m.

“This contribution of 1.5m will reduce the gap to 2.6m with Guinness doing further work to address the remaining gap.”

The plans will see the existing Trinity Road Police Station demolished to make way for 104 flats and a smaller station – image: The Guinness Partnership – photo: Betty Woolerton

The cabinet report said: “Guinness are committed to delivering high-quality long-term affordable housing for the city on this site.

“However, if Bristol City Council funding is not awarded, there is a strong possibility that they will not be able to deliver the scheme, because the viability gap will be too large.

“The inclusion of a new neighbourhood police facility is essential to the delivery of the overall development including the 104 affordable homes.

“The land purchase deal will not go ahead if a new facility is not provided.

“It will also benefit the wider community as the police facility will serve Bristol East.

“However, the cost of providing this is adding extra pressure on the viability of the scheme and the risk is that Guinness are not able to progress which would result in a significant loss of affordable homes being delivered in Lawrence Hill.”

Adam Postans is a local democracy reporter for Bristol

Main photo: Betty Woolerton

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