The owners of a Bristol shopping centre dubbed the ‘saddest in Britain’ have asked council planners if they can convert 10 of the empty shop units into flats. Developer Firmstone has asked Bristol City Council if it needs planning permission to make the conversion to the around half the empty space at the St Catherine’s Place shopping centre in Bedminster.
The company already has planning permission to build a total of 180 new flats on land in and around the St Catherine’s Place shopping centre alongside a major renovation of the shopping centre itself, as part of the Bedminster Green regeneration project. But it has been more than two years since planning permission was granted, and nothing has happened, with Firmstone acknowledging earlier this year that the development scheme was no longer economically viable for it.
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With the last few shops leaving over the course of the last 12 months - and Iceland closing earlier this year - only Farm Foods remained as a store that’s open in the shopping centre off East Street. That also closed at the start of June. Now, Firmstone has submitted two applications to Bristol City Council’s planners, asking if it needs to obtain formal planning permission for its new scheme.
It wants to change the use of the units numbered 13 to 17 - the units next to Farm Foods - and convert them into three ‘residential apartments’. The second application is similar, and covers the units numbered 18-22, the empty shops on the corner opposite the former Iceland store, which would be converted into five residential apartments. It would mean that instead of empty shop units, that part of the shopping centre would eight homes. There are already the original flats built on top of much of the shopping centre back in the 1960s.
The future of the overall plan to build up to 180 new homes in tower blocks around the original shopping centre building, and transform the shopping centre itself remain in long-term doubt. Bristol Live has repeatedly asked Firmstone for an update on its plans, but has received no response.
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Firmstone was awarded planning permission in April 2021, but nothing has happened, and last year and earlier this year, Firmstone asked city council planners to discharge some of the conditions associated with that scheme. Earlier this year, after Iceland closed, a spokesperson for Firmstone did say the situation was a challenging one at the shopping centre.
In April, the company told the BBC that the scheme they were awarded planning permission was 'less economically viable', and confirmed they had sold off parts of the site. Back in April, the firm said it was 'considering all options for the remaining site, which includes the vacant retail centre', adding 'in last couple of years, compounded by the pandemic, the retail landscape has changed with a move away from High Street shopping'.
Firmstone originally wanted to build more than 200 flats around St Catherine's Place shopping centre, and a 2018 plan included a much bigger revamp of the shopping centre itself, including creating a cinema there. But that was refused by council planners and refused again on appeal in 2020, so Firmstone returned with a more modest plan for a revamp of the shopping centre and 180 flats on top and around the shops.
In April, after Iceland closed and the shopping centre was dubbed 'the saddest in Britain' by The Sun, Firmstone blamed that refusal for the problems now, saying they were disappointed the original scheme was turned down, pointing out the more modest scheme was 'less economically viable'.
Meanwhile, work is well under way on the other two Bedminster Green plots to have already been given planning permission either side of St Catherine’s Place. On the other side of Dalby Avenue, the main structures of a purpose-built student accommodation complex which will house 819 students from September 2024 is being finished, while work is continuing to build a 16-storey block of ‘build-to-rent’ flats next door to St Catherine’s Place at Little Paradise.
The other two Bedminster Green ‘plots’ are yet to be decided upon at City Hall. Dandara’s scheme to build 330 new homes around the green space itself has been awaiting a decision by council planners for two years, while Watkin Jones, the student flat developer already building at Dalby Avenue, submitted an application last year for another PBSA for 432 students on Malago Road.
