A simple plan for paving slabs led to a wider debate
The shops on Fishponds Road upon which the flats will be built(Image: Google)
Plans to build flats above a row of shops in Eastville have sparked complaints from neighbours about rubbish and drugs. Four new flats would be built in an extra storey on top of the shops on Fishponds Road, with the access through a narrow alley leading onto Heath Street.
Developers were granted planning permission for most of the plans back in 2021 by Bristol City Council. But they bizarrely had to get permission for “landscaping” in the narrow alley, separately. This only involved laying concrete paving slabs, and very little else.
Nonetheless, local residents have taken the opportunity to lodge complaints about fly-tipping and bins. Councillors on the development control A committee voted on Wednesday, September 24, in favour of granting permission for the paving slabs despite the wider concerns.
Green Councillor Lorraine Francis, representing the Eastville ward, said: “The tiny little alleyway is crammed full of bins. It’s going to be overlooking people’s properties. It’s not appropriate to build up another storey.”
The entrance to the alley (Image: Google)
Residents raised concerns about traffic and congestion, anti-social behaviour, noise and rubbish. But councillors on the committee couldn’t consider the wider plans for the flats, as these already had permission. Instead they had to focus just on the paving slabs. The committee voted unanimously to approve the plans.
Writing to the council, one resident said: “Should the gate to the flats be left open, it will provide yet another meeting space for drug dealers and addicts, rough sleepers and prostitutes that are already a nightly feature at the Fishponds Road end of Heath Street. The detritus, human waste, and vandalism that result from this are regularly reported.”
The plans claim that the alleyway would no longer be used by the shops, to keep the space clear for future residents. But if the bins were still left there, planning officers at the council could attempt to get the landlord to remove them, although there are long-standing concerns about the lack of effective planning enforcement in Bristol.
Labour Cllr Katja Hornchen said: “If there’s bins there at the moment, it’s very poorly kept. It’s actually a bit worrying that the landlord might keep it in that condition with new slabs underneath. But that’s not a condition I can look at, at this moment in time, which is rather sad.”