Carriageworks developer committed to plans

The regeneration of one of Bristol’s most notorious eyesores could once again be stalled, after London-based developers said they were “committed” to seeing their plans through.

Fifth Capital told Bristol24/7 it was “on track” to submit a planning application to redevelop the derelict Westmoreland House and adjacent Carriageworks on Stokes Croft in the next few weeks.

Local campaigners had hoped that a compulsory purchase order (CPO) by Bristol City Council for the site would finally allow the building to be redeveloped by the preferred developers Knightstone. 

However, campaigners for the Carriageworks Action Group (CAG) have been told the CPO cannot go ahead, because Fifth Capital have informed the council of an imminent planning application. The council must now wait for the plans to be submitted before it can assess them for suitability. Only if they are rejected can a CPO be considered again.

Fully committed

Fifth Capital, which has a controlling interest in the site, with an option to buy from owners Comer, has plans for flats, commercial and community space, but it has not revealed how much affordable housing would be included in the scheme.

A spokesman for Fifth Capital said it was fully committed to putting in a planning application and “the ambition was for the next few weeks”.  

He said it was a difficult site to develop, but public exhibitions of its proposals have been held and, if the plans were approved, it would expect to start building at the earliest in autumn 2015. The building work would take about two years.

“Fifth Capital is absolutely committed to designing and building a scheme that does justice to the Carriageworks and Westmoreland House site,” the spokesman said.

“We know that there is a lot of passion about the site’s future, and that it has a long history of dereliction and failed attempts to bring forward development. We have put together a strong team and feel that Assael Architecture have created a really good set of proposals. We are new to the site, but this is an opportunity for a fresh start and we are committed to seeing this project through.

“We are pleased that, whatever the other concerns are, there seems to be agreement that these are impressive designs that celebrate the historic character of the site, and that local people have found that there is a lot they can support.”

Robust stand

However, Julian Mellor from CAG said the community wanted to see the council taking a “robust and assertive stand” to ensure the site does get redeveloped.

“There are significant concerns about Fifth Capital and we think the Knightstone scheme is by far the best options and the council should be doing everything they can to promote the scheme,” he said.

A Bristol City Council spokesperson said: “The regeneration of this site is a council priority and therefore we will be closely monitoring the application. We are waiting to receive the planning application from Fifth Capital before deciding how to proceed.”

Liberal Democrat councillor Anthony Negus said that “while Bristol City Council should be seen to be moving forward on this…so the buildings do not end up in cold storage again,” they must be realistic. He cautioned that the council does not want to get caught up in an expensive legal battle with the owner of the site Comer, while trying to establish the value of the site for CPO.

He said they had been in the same situation before with Comer. When they had come close to a CPO the company had produced a planning application.

Muddy the water

“Fifth Capital are not there to produce an answer, they are there to muddy the water and, even if they do make a bonafide planning application, it could be a long time before the value of the site can be established,” he added.

Mike Day, Director of Development for Knightstone Housing Association said his organisation was “still very keen and committed” to the project, but faced a number of challenges. 

He said Knightstone cannot get access to the site to complete a survey “as we have been barred by the owners”, Fifth Capital have legal interests in the site “precluding us from progressing our ideas without the council undertaking a CPO,” and “putting in a planning application would be likely to cost upwards of £400,000″.

“With the amount of uncertainty around the site and the fact that we’re a not-for-profit organisation, we are unable to make this financial commitment until the way ahead is clearer,” he added.