Tourism Caravan club’s new home bid wins support
ACARAVAN club needing a new home in Bristol has found one councillors approve of, but it needs the government’s blessing because it is on protected land with a high flood risk.
Baltic Wharf Caravan Club will eventually be made to move from its council-owned plot at the harbourside to make room for a new development of flats near the Cottage Inn.
It has spent years looking for a new site and applied to move to green belt land near Ashton Court, where Avon and Somerset Police’s dog and horse training centre used to be based.
Bristol City Council rejected this plan in 2016, and an amended application was also set for refusal last week after officers concluded a touring caravan site was unsuitable for the land off Clanage Road.
But councillors rejected the official advice and voted overwhelmingly to approve the plans on October 14, saying it was important for local tourism.
The Caravan and Motorhome Club applied to demolish the existing buildings and replace them with three new buildings – an amenities block, reception and warden’s accommodation.
The planning committee heard the open part of the site would contain 62 pitches of which 58 would be “all weather” pitches of stone chippings.
A total of 57 lights throughout the site would make it more visible from the Clifton Suspension Bridge and Ashton Court estate, a planning officer said.
He said the development was “inappropriate” for the green belt, would “stick out” in the heritage landscape, and, of most concern, would be unsafe for campers because of a high risk of flooding in the area.
He said up to 62 caravans would have to evacuate northwards up a steep hill in the event of a flood, because the risk comes from the south.
The Environment Agency objected to the proposal over the flood risk, saying it “poses an unacceptable risk to life”.
But the club’s regional manager Marc Houghton said it manages other sites in high-risk flood zones – including the one at Baltic Wharf – and had an “excellent” track record in evacuating them without loss of life or damage to property.
James Durie, chief executive of Bristol Chamber of Commerce and Initiative at Business West, said the proposal would “rid us of a brownfield green belt eyesore” and boost the local economy by £1.5million a year.
Consultant John Baker, who is a member of Business West’s planning group, said the plans would not affect the openness of the Green Belt and refusing them on that basis was not “credible” or “defensible”.
Eight of nine committee members voted to approve the application, with the proviso that the club finds a way to reduce the harmful effect of the lights and retains two trees that it had planned to remove.
Because of the land designation and the objection from the Environment Agency, the council must give the government the chance to intervene before planning consent is issued.
The government “calls in” very few planning applications each year.