Fate of old school site to be decided

PLANS for 200 homes in south Bristol are set for approval next week on the site of a former school.

The estate would be built in Hengrove off the Wells Road, where New Fosseway School stood until it was demolished.

The scheme includes houses and apartments, with 70 “extra care apartments” for the elderly, while 60 homes would be classed as affordable.

The site is owned by Bristol City Council and will be built by the council-owned Goram Homes. Councillors are set to vote on granting planning permission for the scheme at a development control B committee on Wednesday, December 7.

In planning documents, developers said: “The development of the New Fosseway site represents an opportunity to deliver muchneeded housing and create a place that responds to a broad range of social and environmental challenges faced by the city.”

The New Fosseway School was knocked down more than a decade ago, with the school moving to a new building at the Bridge Learning Campus in Hartcliffe in 2009.

Some residents have written to the council’s planning department objecting to the new scheme. They raised concerns the area is already stretched with congested roads and long waiting times for GP surgeries, pressures which they say would be compounded by the new housing estate.