Response Table Pring and St Hill/Malago Road Plot 01. Point raised by residents attending 1. What provision has been made for the older generation 2. What communal outdoor space has been provided Response Apartments are one of the most sustainable homes for the older generation. One floor living, with entrance level living space, bedroom and bathroom, meets the Lifetime Homes criteria. There will be the required number of car parking spaces for people with compromised ability, to meet the latest space standards. Lifts to all floors, will meet appropriate disability legislation. The local area has a number of outdoor parks and spaces within easy walking distance. These include the City Farm, Victoria Park, St John s Church and Dame Emily Park. The development itself has communal roof terraces on the lower roofs, these will have a combination of surface finishes, such as decking, and planting which include native hedgerow, grass and trees along with street and ground floor level pockets of communal space and commercial spaces that would be suitable for community use. In addition there is 1449sqm of space around the buildings, excluding roads communally accessible and landscaped. The developer will be to make a Communities Infrastructure Levy payment (CIL) introduced in the Planning Act 2008 is intended to contribute toward the delivery of infrastructure in the area. This development will pay a CIL contribution in the order of 980,000 to Bristol City Council. Up to 15% of this amount can be influenced by requirements in the immediate local area. All apartments have balconies or external or direct access to outdoor space with the exception of 2 ground floor flats on Block C. Supporting Information
3. Pressure on housing in the area 4. Why not have green roofs, such as Forest Towers, rather than Photo Voltaic Tiles Family housing dominates in the Windmill Hill, Southville and Bedminster area. Building new apartments enable more homes to be provided, modern living space attracts downsizers and frees up family housing and creates new communities, e.g.: the Robinson Building. The three proposed buildings have 40% of green roof space see yellow outline on the image to the right. The PV s are requirement to meet Council Policy that states that 20% of Energy Consumption on new developments must come from renewable sources - the PVs are shown as a red outline on the image to the right. As previously stated, the development itself has communal roof terraces, with planting to include native hedgerow, grass and trees. 5. Removing trees on Malago Road The loss of trees on a site further along Malago Rd, beyond Hereford Road was mentioned by residents living opposite the site. This is not something in the control of Rollo Homes who are retaining the trees on the land they own. This comment refers to another development planned further along the Malago Road. 6. Loss of views, particularly from Windmill Hill By contrast, this site retains the tree line along the railway embankment and is planting an increased number of trees including 14 new trees along the Malago Road/Hereford Street frontage, with a further 7 trees lining the vehicle entrance to the site. Whilst residents acknowledged the need for housing in the area, the height of the buildings was a concern raised by many residents, particularly those from Windmill Hill. The loss of views particularly from Mendip Road and the impact this could have on house prices is a concern to residents. A full Visual Impact Assessment has been completed as part of the planning application. Here we have aimed to explain some of the key points and rationale on the height of the scheme. Here is a link to the impact assessment: http://planningonline.bristol.gov.uk/onlineapplications/applicationdetails.do?activetab=documents&keyval=oi6 KHEDNH5400
The site is located at the lowest part in the bottom of the valley and as a consequence has less impact on views than other schemes in the area that have already been granted planning permission, the 16-storey St Catherine s Place is just one example. Residents refer to a previous planning permission for a scheme of 185 beds, over six storeys. This planning permission was granted in 2006 and since this permission lapsed, there have been changes which the developer has had to take into consideration; new National Space Standards, increased land values and increase in social housing provision, all aspects that impact on the viability of a scheme. The revised design reduced the building height at the western part of the site, opposite Malago Road flats, this also improved permeability through the site from distant views. It is acknowledged that there will still be an impact on views in two locations predominantly during the winter months when trees are not in full bloom: Leading down from Porlock Road to Cotswold Road the development will close of views toward Brandon Hill but maintain the panorama to Clifton, the Suspension Bridge and Leigh Woods. Image shown to right. The Windmill Hill area, adjoining Polden House - views toward Brandon Hill maintained, but there will be a partial impact on views toward Clifton, the Suspension Bridge and Leigh Woods. Images shown to right. It is acknowledged that it will have an impact on the changing skyline of Bristol as well as redefining the neighbourhood. Image above: Windmill Hill land adjoining Polden House Image above: Steps Leading down from Porlock Road to Cotswold Road
7. Pressure on local services - doctors, dentists and schools The CIL contribution from new developments makes a contribution of 960,000 which is based on 19,245sqm GIA @ 50 per Sq. M, this money should be used to support local services. The commercial units would be suitable for a Dental practice and a new Doctors surgery has been planned on one of the Bedminster Green sites, however initial research in to local practices suggests the NHS will not fund any further surgery s locally as there are still some 3,000 patient spaces available at Marksbury Road. The one and two bedroom units proposed for the site are not, as residents correctly said, aimed at family homes, they will provide good quality homes for younger people and downsizers, allowing for larger family homes in the area to be freed up for families. 8. Fire implications for residents Given the tragic events of Grenfell Tower, it is understandable that people wanted to question fire and safety implications of the 10-floor apartment blocks. The design has certainly taken fire safety in to account and at 10-storeysall levels of the project are accessible by a turntable ladder. The developer has confirmed the buildings will exceed the required standards for smoke control and has been designed for fire brigade access as covered in Part B of Building Regulations. The buildings are all brick built and do not have the same issues as building that have been clad in materials, however, at the moment almost all architects and developers have a heightened awareness of this issue and are looking at all insulation materials.
9. Car parking on site Residents raised concerns about the lack of parking on site. It was explained that BCC would accept no parking on the scheme as the location is ideally located for travel by bus, train, bike and walking. There are a total of 87 car parking spaces, the maximum number that will be provided, including 1 city car club space on Hereford Street. 10. Social Housing Rollo Homes have stated that they have been in discussions with a social housing provider since commencing the application, but until they have a final scheme and a Viability Study, would reserve judgement on the social housing element of the development. The current scheme shows an increase from zero to just under 10% social housing, spread throughout the scheme. The feedback at the engagement event confirmed that social housing is a concern to people and 10% was not seen as a sufficiently high number of units. This has been supported through feedback following the event. At the event the team tried to explain that Social Housing is just one element that has an impact on viability. Viability There are a number of key changes to the site that also impact on viability: 1. The scheme has been reduced by 11 residential units to 206 units. 2. Rollo Homes has included 20 social housing units on the scheme in response to requests, reducing the private units to 186 just one more than the number of homes in the previously agreed planning consents. 3. The scheme has been moved back from Malago Road by around 6-metres to enable a metro route and green corridor to be designed. 4. Landscaping across the site has been increased with significant tree planting to improve the public realm
5. Provision has been made to reserve land for the Metro Bus route enabling improvements to local and city-wide public transport. 6. There is now provision for community space within the scheme and 330SqM of commercial space creating active frontage at street level, aimed at small business and community use. 11. Inability to obtain mortgages or Insurance on units above 4 th Floor level Whilst not a planning issue, a resident attending the drop in event specifically said that potential residents would not be able to get either a mortgage or insurance on their property above 4 th floor level. Post event this has been researched and whilst there was one internet based money web site that mentioned specific incidence, the property advisor for the site confirmed that this has not been an issue on any recently built schemes around Bristol most of which are in excess of ten floors. 12. Ownership and landscaping along the Malago River Work on the Malago is intended as part of the landscaping proposals, however this will need significant consultation with the Environment Agency and ongoing conversations with BCC. This can t happen until a decision is made regarding planning, so the ideas shown are an indication of the proposed landscaping and environment along the river bank. It would be usual in these circumstances for the land owner to be responsible for the bank and water to the middle of the river. The landscaping of the scheme is regarded as a significant element of the finished development and in the longer term, maintaining the bank would be the responsibility of the management company for the development along with the landscaping maintenance across the site