Rubble set to stay as plan for housing is rejected
Overgrown mounds of rubble will continue to cover the site of a former printworks in Bath for months to come after plans for 286 homes were rejected.
Councillors refused to compromise on plans for the key Bath Press site in Lower Bristol Road, which was cleared of industrial buildings under a previous scheme.
Facing ongoing viability issues that members said it should have foreseen, Aberdeen Standard Investments made a one-time offer to provide four affordable homes up from zero in the original plans but well below the 86 Bath and North East Somerset Council policy would require.
Ward councillor Colin Blackburn said the anger among residents was “palpable” and the shareholders should be “embarrassed” because the developer had overpaid for the site.
His Westmoreland colleague June Player said it was developers’ responsibility to make sure it can adhere to council policies on parking and affordable housing, but too often they claimed “exceptional circumstances”.
Dating back to the 1880s, the Bath Press site has been vacant since 2007. Demolition work got underway in 2017, leaving a pile of rubble, but the facade of the Bath Press building is being retained.
The latest application proposed 256 build-to-rent flats and 30 houses and 1,200 square metres of commercial floorspace. Aberdeen Standard Investment said other approved schemes “set a precedent for non-delivery (of affordable housing) where it has been proven not viable to do so”. It said it would withdraw its offer of four affordable homes if it had to appeal or resubmit its plans.
Due to the accepted viability issues, council officers did not recommend refusal on lack of affordable housing. Instead the application was rejected due to the failure to provide office space or a northsouth link and the lack of parking, a non-compliant 115 spaces. Councillors also objected to plans to demolish the landmark chimney that was set to be retained under the firm’s previous application.
Proposing refusal, Councillor Eleanor Jackson said: “We shouldn’t approve this just because we want to get something done. This is a key site. The developer could do better. We don’t want Bath to start looking like Birmingham. We want something unique. The chimney is an important memorial to the working people of Bath.”
Cllr Lucy Hodge added: “As much as we all want to move on from the mounds of rubble ... we shouldn’t compromise.”