![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_TCBR150425StChristophersBRI_03jpeg.jpg\")
The site of the former St Christopher’s School in Westbury Park, Bristol(Image: SCAN)<\/p>\n\u201cWe care deeply about what happens on this special site”The site of the former St Christopher’s School in Westbury Park, Bristol(Image: SCAN)<\/p>\n
A former special needs school campus, which includes five large villas overlooking the Downs and a listed building, is up for sale – and community groups with \u00a310 million to spend on it have around six weeks to make their move.<\/p>\n
The former St Christopher\u2019s School campus is perhaps the single most valuable property sale in Bristol in recent years – and could easily fetch an eight-figure sum when it is sold.<\/p>\n
The site includes five large villas on Westbury Park, the eastern edge of Durdham Down, as well as the listed Grace House and a host of other buildings spread around nearly five acres of land in one of the most upmarket parts of Bristol.<\/p>\n
Agents Savills are marketing it with a \u2018price on application\u2019 tag, but the site has previously been valued at \u00a310 million.<\/p>\n
However, the entire site has been designated as an ACV – an Asset of Community Value – which means community groups have six months of opportunity to buy the site if they can come up with the money, before it is opened up to any other private buyer.<\/p>\n
Those six months end on May 28, and so far no community group or organisation has submitted a bid. In the meantime, potential buyers – including residential developers, care home companies and special needs school charities – have been looking around the site.<\/p>\n
The vast site in Westbury Park was St Christopher\u2019s School until it closed suddenly in 2020 at the centre of an abuse scandal<\/a>. Since then, a plan to create 116 luxury retirement apartments with a combination of converting and building was refused in August 2023 after a huge backlash from local residents, which saw more than 1,500 objections.<\/p>\n They have formed a community action group called SCAN – the St Christopher\u2019s Action Network – and successfully persuaded the council to give it the Asset of Community Value tag. Not only does that give any community buyer first dibs on the sale, but will also be a factor when whoever does buy it comes to apply for planning permission to change it.<\/p>\n SCAN said it hopes whoever does eventually buy the site has sensitive plans that won\u2019t, as they see it, over-develop the area. A spokesperson said they want any potential bidder to consult with the community from the beginning and \u2018respect the unique characteristics of the neighbourhood\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cWe care deeply about what happens on this special site. We want it developed and brought back to life, but it must be the right kind of development that does not threaten the environment, cause traffic chaos and overwhelm this conservation area with oversized buildings,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n READ MORE: St Christopher\u2019s School in Westbury Park up for sale again<\/a>READ MORE: Bristol special school earmarked for luxury flats could be saved<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe last owner made some disastrous mistakes with their plans and we don\u2019t want a repeat of that. A low rise, low density and low impact scheme is what is needed.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, we are looking to cooperate with interested bidders who genuinely want to work with and for local people. Please put our community at the heart of any bid,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n \u201cWe trust any future bidder will recognise the importance of the ACV status – St Christopher\u2019s gave more than 75 years of service to SEND children and families across Bristol. We want the city and the community to benefit again from this site….. so the new developer will need to honour this legacy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are in talks with a number of organisations and groups to find a way of bringing back SEND provision on site. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to create a scheme that offers real social value – let\u2019s not throw it away,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n SCAN said it has visited the site – along with bidders from \u2018across the residential, care and SEND spectrum\u2019. \u201cThe site is in a bad state of repair and several buildings, including the Grade II listed building Grace House, have been severely neglected,\u201d SCAN claimed.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, the green and peaceful ambiance of the site remains – and this needs to be protected from overdevelopment,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe care deeply about what happens on this special site”The site of the former St Christopher’s School in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,748,18959,2266,393,4884,9419,10003,20077,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-37616","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-clifton","11":"tag-education","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-places","15":"tag-property-news","16":"tag-redland","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114374529726919446","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_TCBR150425StChristophersBRIJPG.jpg\")
The site of the former St Christopher’s School in Westbury Park, Bristol(Image: Google Earth)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_TCBR150425StChristophersBRIjpeg.jpg\")
The site of the former St Christopher’s School in Westbury Park, Bristol(Image: SCAN)<\/p>\n