One of Bristol’s most prominent eyesore building sites won’t now be developed for the foreseeable future, after the firm proposing new shops and offices said their plan is no longer viable.
The Village site, on Clifton Down Road in Clifton Village, has been unused for years since a temporary ice rink was set up there, and the buildings on the site were demolished back in February 2021.
But development company THAT Group has now said it will no longer be able to do what it had planned, and construct a three-storey building of shops and offices in the prominent location. Local councillors have pledged to work with the company and said the news was ‘disappointing’.
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They are now calling for a Wapping Wharf-style cargo container development in the meantime, to at least get something happening on the boarded-up site. The former WHSmiths site closed down more than ten years ago, and the empty buildings were last used for a temporary ice rink way back in 2014.
The sign for that 'Clifton On Ice' rink remained for years, but plans to renovate or replace the buildings on site came and went until THAT Group won planning permission back in 2020 for what was a controversial development. They got as far as levelling the site back in February 2021, but nothing else seems to have happened there since, and in March this year admitted the whole project was facing delays - until today’s announcement that they were going back to the drawing board completely.
They announced it is ‘no longer viable’ for them to continue with the development they have planning permission for, and so are ‘no longer pursuing the scheme’, because construction costs have increased exponentially, so they are now reconsidering how best to use the site.
“This will be disappointing news for our residents as Clifton is a vibrant town centre and having a large empty site at its very heart is damaging,” said local councillor Katy Grant. “For the regeneration of high streets, and for general amenity for residents and visitors to Clifton, we can’t continue to leave this important site boarded up and empty – as it has been for over eight years,” she added.
Her fellow councillor Paula O’Rourke said she’d like to see some kind of meanwhile use. “While we understand the challenges and we will support THAT Group in revisions for their next planning proposals, we will be focussing on how the site could be developed for attractive and regenerative 'meanwhile' use,” she said.
“By this, we mean that we will be working with THAT group to bring the site back into temporary activity – we would like to see something like Wapping Wharf container-style units placed on the site while THAT group reassess their options,” she added.
