Work finally due to begin on first Western Harbour development

Work to build 220 new flats on a prominent ‘gateway’ site on the edge of Bristol is finally due to get underway next month, more than two years after developers were given permission.

The former Ashton Rail Yard site lies next to the Brunel Way dual carriageway flyover ^[1], just south of the Cumberland Basin, and was a left empty and vacant for years during the 2010s, before it was sold off by Homes England to developers.

The site was cleared of its buildings, levelled and all the hardstanding taken up after councillors awarded developers Countryside Partnerships planning permission in April 2021, but no new homes have been built since. The developers involved said the site would ‘play an important role’ in the future development of the wider ‘Western Harbour’ project to build potentially thousands of new homes around the Cumberland Basin.

Now, Countryside Partnerships have explained the delays and said the work to begin building the flats will start in the autumn. Of the 220 new homes, 98 are going to be classed as ‘affordable’, and rented through housing association Clarion.

In March last year, Clarion announced it had signed a deal with Countryside Partnerships’ parent company Vistry to take on the affordable element in a £17.1m contract. Of the 98 ‘affordable’ homes, 62 will be on HomeChoice at ‘social rent’ levels – the lowest rent, and 36 would be available to buy under a shared ownership scheme with the housing association.

Clarion’s group director Richard Cook said they were able to increase the number of affordable homes above the 30 per cent council policy requirement, through their own investment. “We are delighted to be working with Vistry to breathe new life into this brownfield site and deliver vital affordable homes on the edge of Bristol,” he said at the time. “We are committed to providing the right homes in the right places, and this partnership will give local people an increased number of affordable housing options in a city fast becoming out of reach for too many.”

The new 'City Gateway' development on the old Ashton Rail Yard will see 220 new homes built next to the Brunel Way flyover
The new ‘City Gateway’ development on the old Ashton Rail Yard will see 220 new homes built next to the Brunel Way flyover (Image: Countryside Partnerships)

Vistry Partnerships West’s managing director Marc Thompson said the development of the Ashton Rail Yard site would ‘play an important role in the wider Western Harbour regeneration area’. “We’re very pleased that by working with Clarion, Bristol City Council and Homes England we have been able to increase the number of affordable homes we’re providing at City Gateway,” he said last year.

“We’re turning this former industrial, brownfield site into a high-quality new place to live, with a significant number of affordable homes for Bristolians. Once complete, it will play an important role in the wider Western Harbour regeneration area,” he added.

The development has been years in the making. After more than a decade of inaction at the old railway sidings site that for years had been a stonemasons yard, Travellers moved onto the land to squat it ^[3] in late 2018, in protest at the lack of homes being built there ^[4], criticising the Government’s housing and land agency for dragging its feet while Bristol began to be in the grip of a housing crisis.

(Image: Bristol Post)

Eventually, a deal was done with Countryside Partnerships to build flats on the site. Originally, almost 300 new flats were proposed ^[5], with buildings up to nine storeys high, but over the course of 2020 and 2021, these were amended in the face of opposition, down to 220 new homes in nine apartment blocks up to five storeys high.

The nine-storey plan was criticised by Historic England, who complained the buildings would get in the way of an important and historic view ^[6] of the listed St Mary Redcliffe church spire from the front lawn of the Ashton Court Mansion, and the development was then scaled back ^[7] from nine to five storeys.

In the end, the plan for 220 homes was approved, with half of them being classed as ‘affordable’ under planning terms. Access to the site, which is currently via a narrow bridge over the Portishead ^[8] railway line alongside Bedminster ^[9] Cricket Club, was also an issue the developers had to overcome, and they have created a new access road which crosses the Metrobus track from Paxton Drive.

That meant the construction of a retaining wall almost five metres high by the Phi Group as the new access road curves around the Paxton Drive flats, in work which was completed a couple of months ago

The development site has been renamed as ‘City Gateway’, reflecting its prominent position next to the Brunel Way A370 main road ^[10] between Ashton Gate and Hotwells at the south west entrance to the city. The site is also right next to Festival Way, the main pedestrian and cycle route from Ashton Court to the rest of the city, and will be familiar to anyone who has walked to or from the estate for the Bristol Balloon Fiesta.

Work had been delayed because of the challenge of decontaminating an area that had been heavily industrial for almost 100 years, but should now start soon, a spokesperson for Countryside Partnerships said. “Over the last 18 months, works have been underway on this heavily contaminated brownfield site,” they explained.

“The site has now been fully remediated and the deep drainage and access works have been completed. Groundworks for the residential properties will commence in the autumn,” they added.

The former Ashton Rail Yard in Clanage Road, Bower Ashton (Image: Google Earth)

As well as the 220 new homes, the developers will also be contributing £729,567 in Community Infrastructure Levy to Bristol City Council ^[11]. The 220 new homes are among more than 2,300 which are currently being built in the BS3 postcode area from Ashton Gate to Bedminster.

Bristol Live research earlier this week revealed ^[12] another 1,000 or so had planning permission but no work had started yet, another 1,000 were awaiting planning permission and another 3,000-plus were being proposed – bringing the total that are being built now or could be built in the near future to almost 7,500.

References

^{^} Brunel Way dual carriageway flyover (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} The 7,300 new homes being built in one packed corner of Bristol (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} moved onto the land to squat it (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} protest at the lack of homes being built there (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} almost 300 new flats were proposed (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} get in the way of an important and historic view (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} the development was then scaled back (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} Portishead (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} Bedminster (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} Brunel Way A370 main road (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} Bristol City Council (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} Bristol Live research earlier this week revealed (www.bristolpost.co.uk)