Paradise lost Car park and homes approved in double blow for elderly
AMULTI-STOREY car park is set to be built in south Bristol, right next to a sheltered housing complex for older people.
The controversial car park in Bedminster was approved by city councillors, right after they signed off on plans for a high-rise housing complex on the other side of the same street.
Both developments were fiercely opposed by residents, with elderly people in the sheltered homes at St Catherine’s Court saying they were worried the exhaust fumes from the car park would damage their already frail health.
But developer Dando told councillors their 316-home high-rise scheme on Little Paradise would “not work” without the 90-space car park they and the council planned to build opposite.
Members of a Bristol City Council planning committee said that, while they sympathised with residents, the car park came with too many benefits to ignore.
The car park would “consolidate” parking in the wider Bedminster area, cutting the overall number of spaces by 38 while keeping the net number of disabled spaces intact and raising the number for electric cars, the meeting heard.
The removal of three council-run car parks and other parking spaces under wider regeneration plans for Bedminster would achieve the net reduction in spaces.
Clad in perforated metal, the new three-storey car park will replace an existing ground-level one on Little Paradise, and stand higher than its neighbour St Catherine’s Court just six metres away and the Victorian terrace homes on Church Lane opposite.
Around half a dozen residents spoke against the proposal, expressing concerns related to noise, lighting, anti-social behaviour and “life altering” traffic pollution.
Bill Jeffrey, one of the elderly residents of St Catherine’s Court, told the committee the plans for the car park were “a disgrace”.
“There’s pensioners in here, and we’re all against that car park being built,” he said.
“There’s people dying in here. We got two people in hospital now because they can’t breathe properly.”
But East Street traders welcomed the plans, as did the cabinet member for planning, Nicola Beech.
Cllr Beech said: “As part of the wider regeneration of Bedminster Green I’ve always supported the consolidation of parking across that area in order to make sure that there is adequate parking for East Street but also an overall trend of reduction in parking within the Bedminster Green area.”
Dandara’s development manager Zoe Sharpe said: “Our application for new homes which you’ve just approved will only work if you also grant permission for the new car park.”
The housing scheme, with tower blocks rising to 16 storeys in height, will incorporate a block of 21 affordable flats on land currently used as a council car park.
A planning officer said the impact of the new three-storey car park on air quality will be “negligible”.
It will provide 66 spaces for the general public, 18 for disabled drivers and another six with charging points for electric cars.
There was provision for another 14 of the 90 spaces to accommodate charging points in the future, a planning officer said.
There were 103 objections to the car park and 16 comments in support. Councillors voted eight to two in favour of the new car park.