Bristol shopping centre revamp refusal goes to appeal

Developers Firmstone want to revamp St Catherine's Place in Bedminster

A planning appeal is to be held over a council's decision to reject a revamp of a rundown shopping centre.

Last January, Bristol City Council turned down a £50m project to develop St Catherine's Place in Bedminster.

Since then the developer has submitted a scaled-down plan but this has not yet been considered.

The planning inspectorate will first consider whether the original plans for 205 homes, shops and a cinema should be approved.

Councillors agreed with a recommendation from officers in January that the development was too big, poorly designed and would have been detrimental to the existing community.

But in its statement of case to the government inspector, the developer Firmstone stated: "The proposal is urgently required to provide Bristol with housing delivery and economic regeneration.

"It delivers a suitable balance in terms of environmental impact, future living conditions and constitutes sustainable development in an environmentally, economically and socially acceptable form."

The original planning application was refused

The council's statement of case to the inspector said: "The benefits of the scheme were not considered to outweigh the adverse impacts of the appeal scheme.

"As such, the inspector is asked to respectfully dismiss this appeal."

Firmstone's new plans, which will not be considered by the planning committee before the appeal, are smaller and now include 180 new homes. Also, there will be no cinema and fewer shops.

The four-day public inquiry will be held from 25 January, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.