We submitted our planning application for the comprehensive regeneration of Silverthorne Lane in Bristol's Temple Quarter in August 2019. This followed nearly two years of pre-application work with officers at Bristol City Council.
When we received comments back from the Council just prior to Christmas 2019, some technical issues had emerged which we were not aware of during pre-application discussions with the Council. As a result, our development team worked with planning officers and statutory consultees on revisions to the proposals to address these issues, which related to areas such as heritage, design and flood-risk.
A number of significant changes were made to the plans as a result of this process. These amendments include a reduction in the height of buildings, particularly on plot 6, and raising floor-levels in response to feedback from the Environment Agency, who identified some issues with flood attenuation on parts of the site. We also revised the layout in order to extend the new canal-side walk along the length of the Feeder Canal, linking Avon Street with the existing foot bridge to Feeder Road. We have agreed with Bristol City Council that our development will provide funding for a new improved foot and cycle bridge to replace the existing poor-quality structure.
You can view a presentation providing an overview of the very latest plans here .
Despite the difficulties presented by the Covid-19 situation nationally, work has continued to finalise the plans ready for determination by Bristol City Council's Development Control Committee. It had been our hope that the application would be determined at the committee on Wednesday 27 May 2020. However, further work is required to overcome outstanding concerns from the Environment Agency, so unfortunately there will be a further short delay while we work with planning officers and the Environment Agency to resolve these issues. We anticipate that this will take a couple of weeks, although progress will be dependent on the Environment Agency's workload. Reassuringly the Environment Agency are aware that this is a priority project.
We understand and share the frustration that the delay in determining this planning application will cause for parents who are anxious to see the school delivered as soon as possible. To this end we have done everything we can to ensure everything is lined up for work to commence as soon as possible once planning permission is received.
We will provide a further update in the next couple of weeks once issues with the Environment Agency have been resolved and we are confirmed for Development Control Committee. In the meantime, please do get in touch if you would like any further information.
