Campaigners demand review into Broadwalk shopping centre decision

Campaigners stood outside City Hall to protest plans to knock down the Broadwalk Shopping Centre on Tuesday.

A group of protestors stood outside the entrance to City Hall holding banners comparing councillor Richard Eddy to Vicky Pollard from Little Britain, calling the planning decision “a joke” and asking “what profits were made when Knowle was betrayed?”.

Broardwalk Redevelopment Community Group is demanding councillors review a planning decision which would see the shopping centre in south Bristol replaced with 850 homes.

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Read more: Fury as plans to knock down shopping centre approved shock u-turn

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Group member and Knowle resident, Laura Chapman, told Bristol24/7 they were looking at “every approach” to overturn the decision.

The group has not had a chance to address full council since the original planning meeting.

“If there is any doubt whatsoever that this Broadwalk issue is small, or that it will pass in time, we will put to bed tonight any idea that Knowle and Bristol in general are not still furious about what’s happened,” she said.

“It reeks of all the corruption that is happening in central government.”

The group has also launched a legal case against the decision, but must wait until the secretary of state, Michael Gove, has responded to their appeal.

Broardwalk Redevelopment Community Group member Laura Chapman is leading the fight to overturn the decision – photo: Rob Browne

“We’re hoping to work with the council in this interim time to see if there is a middle ground or an investigation that can happen.”

“If neither of those routes do come to a reverse decision then we are ready to launch our legal action.”

Laura said the campaign was “really hard” with little planning experience, but was hopeful that the decision would be overturned.

“It feels like we are on the right side of history.”

On September 6, emails between councillor and head of the development committee, Richard Eddy and developers, were revealed through an FOI request.

“It revealed some stuff that we could not believe, the depths of the lobbying and how up to their neck in it, members of the council are,” said Laura.

Councillor Lisa Stone, who was one of the first councillors to call the decision into the secretary of state, said the people of Bristol “deserved better”.

“I don’t know why people have changed their mind, but it feels quite remarkable that a few weeks beforehand they had all unanimously decided the plans weren’t great for the area… and then a month later, they completely changed their mind.”

“We need it to go back to the planning committee and we need it to be re-debated.”

A petition launched by Broardwalk Redevelopment Community Group needs 3,500 to be debated at full council.

Suzanne Audrey, who has launched a separate petition calling on full council to reconsider its planning processes, told Bristol24/7, “the process was wrong, whatever people think of the actual decision.”

“It seems to me that things go on in the background that we don’t know anything about.”

Alastair Sawday, who spearheaded a campaign to save Bristol Zoo Gardens but lost after the council voted to turn the gardens into homes, also joined the protest in support of Broadwalk campaigners.

“We are both groups fighting the same sort of battle against a planning system that is just not up to purpose,” he told Bristol24/7.

“It’s not very democratic, it’s incompetent, mediocre and lacking any vision.”

Main photo: Rob Browne

Read more:

• Green councillor resigns from planning committee over Broadwalk ‘scandal’
• ‘The sooner this shopping centre is demolished, the better it is for all of Bristol’
• Legal case launched against Broadwalk shopping centre decision

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