Bristol Zoo homes: Campaigners vow to carry on fighting

The gardens on the 12-acre site will remain open to the public, the zoo says

Campaigners say the "fight starts now" to overturn planning permission for almost 200 homes on a former zoo site.

Bristol City Council has granted planning permission for 196 homes to be built on the Bristol Zoo Gardens site.

The decision was welcomed by the city's mayor but was criticised by many who are opposed to the new development.

Campaigners said they were considering taking legal action against the planning decision, and warned the zoo to "buckle up for a long fight".

The Bristol Zoological Society charity, which owns the site, said the development would help to pay for its new location at Wild Place near Cribbs Causeway, reported the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS),

'All options on the table'

A spokesman for Save Bristol Zoo Gardens said: "All options are on the table and are being actively considered.

"In the meantime, we're delighted to see our petition signatories accelerating since this appalling decision."

One option facing the campaigners is asking a judge to overturn the planning decision.

They could apply for a judicial review, where a court will examine how the council came to its decision, and explore whether key factors were taken into account.

If the review is successful, that would lead to the permission being quashed — stopping the development.

Mayor welcomes homes

The Bristol Zoological Society closed the zoo in September 2022, due to falling visitor numbers, a lack of car parking, and changes in conservation practices.

Money raised from the development will help keep the gardens open to the public for free.

It will also help to pay for the expansion of the Wild Place Project recently renamed the Bristol Zoo Project.

An aerial shot of the proposed plans shows how the centre of the gardens will be retained

As part of the plan for new homes, the gardens at the centre of the former zoo site will remain open to the public for free year-round.

The planning decision was welcomed by mayor Marvin Rees, who said it would help ease the city's housing shortage.

He tweeted: "The conservation charity has a bright future at a site 10 times bigger, and the old Zoo Gardens will be opened for free for the first time.

"New homes are being built across Bristol, including 200 more on this Clifton site."

Mr Rees faced criticism himself for allowing the zoo's chief executive to write a guest post on his blog ahead of the meeting, setting out his arguments in favour of the plans.

Planning processes are meant to be non-political, with councillors not told how to vote by their parties.

'Extraordinary failure'

This was questioned at the start of the committee meeting on Wednesday by Green Councillor Ed Plowden, who said: "The thing that concerns me and I think many members of the public is that the mayor of Bristol is the strategic lead for the Labour party on planning, and yesterday chose to give his blog to the applicant."

The vote was ultimately split along party lines, with Greens voting against the development, and Labour, Tories and the one Liberal Democrat councillor voting in favour of granting permission.

Campaigners fear public access to the gardens will not be guaranteed, and have criticised the small amount of social housing in the development - 40 of the 196 homes will be classed as affordable housing.

Alastair Sawday, tourism publisher and Save Bristol Zoo Gardens co-founder, said: "This decision was wrong on so many levels.

"Wrong on planning, wrong on delivering public benefit, wrong on the amount of social housing, wrong on the supposed guarantee of public access to the gardens.

"Only the Green Party councillors challenged the lazy methodology on biodiversity gain and the extraordinary failure by a conservation charity to show leadership in environmental safeguards.

"We will not stop until this decision is reversed."