A Masterplan for the Urban Living Opportunity Area in the North Fringe
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Investment Fund - Feasibility and Development Funding Application Form SCHEME : A Masterplan for the urban living opportunity area in the North Fringe 1. Lead Organisation WECA 2. Partner organisations South Gloucestershire Council Bristol City Council Local Members Development industry reps Network Rail Great Western Railway - Station Facilities Operator Bus operators Business reps Highways England UWE 3. Scheme contact details Name: Laura Ambler- (INTERIM Sophie [email protected] Donaldson in support until recruitment of Strategic Masterplanning Lead officer) Telephone: 07436 629 434 01454 868384 4. Scheme Type – mark with an X Transport Non-Transport Housing Enabling Business Support Skills Other (please specify) Strategic Masterplanning 1 Feasibility and Development Funding Application Form 5. Is this investment linked to any others within the early investment or wider Investment Fund programme? If so please set out the relationship and linkages. The ‘North Fringe’ area is the engine of the West of England economy. Filton Enterprise Area (FEA) alone accommodates almost 50% of South Gloucestershire’s employment and is home to an agglomeration of globally significant businesses in the likes of; - Aerospace design, research and manufacture - Defence - Advanced manufacturing - Emerging materials technologies (working closely with the National Composite Centre located at the Bristol and Bath Science Park) - Information technology, maximising the potential of superfast broadband - Micro-electronics research and design With allocated employment space to provide for up to 12,000 further jobs to 2026, masterplanning work needs to be in place to support the ambition to retain and grow these key sectors. West of England funding already supports a series of vital projects in the area, notably; - CPNN – The development of the former Filton Airfield site as a new neighbourhood with high-quality, innovative housing design and community integrated with employment opportunity - CPME – Development of quality bus infrastructure to connect the North Fringe with Bristol Parkway and with the wider transport network - Metrowest 2 – Increased frequency of rail services and extension of the line to Filton North and Henbury - Umbrella – A globally-significant R&D Testbed connecting UWE and the Bristol & Bath Science Park with ambition to extend to FEA. This is directly engaging key sectors and research programmes in the North Fringe - SGS STEAM Campus – A new college campus supporting the skills development required for the locally-dominant sectors The North Fringe is also seeing unprecedented growth for South Gloucestershire in the Leisure and Tourism industry. An offer is emerging which is unrivalled in the nearby city centre locations in terms of new and unique experiences. Cribbs Causeway will be home to a new indoor ice rink and a Sky-dive centre whilst a mere 5 minutes’ drive away at Almondsbury is the first inland surfing venue in the northern hemisphere to use Wavegarden Cove technology providing over 1,000 waves an hour. Planning applications are also now coming forward for the Bristol Arena as a conversion of three aircraft hangars on the former Airfield site. With a potential capacity for 17,000 people, this would also be a significant leisure attraction. The North-Fringe is preparing for rapid expansion across multiple sectors. There is now an opportunity to coordinate this with the need to consider increased housing densities linked to the strategic transport offer through a comprehensive masterplan approach as well as providing an infrastructure evidence base towards achieving our journey to net Carbon Zero. It will focus on infrastructure potential through corridors in the North Fringe and to and from it, from Bristol and the tech arch from the Science Park. It will include consideration of strategic transport infrastructure, digital connectivity and heat networks. Project Linkages (housing and strategic transport). Future development - Urban Living requirement The JSP included a minimum of 2,900 dwellings to be delivered in urban/brownfield locations 2 Feasibility and Development Funding Application Form which would have required increased density and new approaches to development design, in suitable locations, including the North Fringe. Despite current developments with the JSP timeline, national planning policy (NPPF: Feb 2019) is explicit in requiring planning policies and decision to make the most efficient use of land in sustainable town centres and transport nodes. In any event, the next Local Plan for South Gloucestershire will need to demonstrate that urban living principles are being planned for in appropriate areas of the North Fringe. The delivery of housing growth will rely in part on the effective planning of all public services, including strategic transport improvements. The need for future development in the North Fringe is highly likely to remain and this masterplanning evidence base will help inform future development plans as they progress. Metrowest (Phase 2) and Cribbs Patchway Metrobus Extension (CPME): Significant new public transport infrastructure to support the large housing developments underway in the North Fringe include two new stations on the Henbury line (close to the Brabazon hanger in CPNN and at Henbury) and a new Metrobus route from Bristol Parkway to Cribbs Causway shopping centre. The new strategic transport infrastructure will support the Filton Enterprise Area and will link back to the Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone as well as the potential new Arena at Brabazon and other visitor attractions like the Concorde Museum. It is also likely to support increased densities at the Filton Airfield development provide communities with direct access to the local regional and national rail network and build significant new levels of resilience into our local transport network. Parkway Rail Station: Bristol Parkway is a significant gateway to the West of England. Over a million passengers currently use the station every year and it is a key interchange station as well as having significant local demand. It is the only WoE rail station that has been electrified and combined with the recent new platform and signalling, giving increased capacity and reliability, it is forecast to have consistent and significant growth in future years. In December the timetable at Bristol Parkway changed. There will be more trains and journey times to London will be reduced by between 5 and 18 minutes with some trains running non-stop to London. The new timetable will allow GWR to run more trains and longer trains, adding up to 30% more capacity to the mainline routes. The new fleet of IET can call in electric mode meaning a cleaner and quieter station. Station forecourt improvements to accommodate east/west CPME through the station, including new Metrobus stops will be completed in the coming months. The rail station and further improvements to sustainable access and urban realm will be central to a strategic transport led master plan for urban living in the North Fringe. Abbeywood, Henbury, Patchway and Filton North rail stations: Filton Abbey Wood is located close to significant areas of population and employment including UWE and the MOD (11,000 jobs). New development will increase demand and a new platform has been added which will in the future serve those trains running to metrowest stations on the Henbury line. Patchway station is on the Cardiff - Bristol route and close to significant areas of employment in Filton and at CPNN and significant housing. The station is now fully accessible following the installation of lifts; and cycling and walking routes to the station are being improved. 3 Feasibility and Development Funding Application Form Henbury station - developing a new railway station to serve Henbury is a key part of MetroWest Phase 2. Previous studies have identified that there are two options for the location of a new Henbury station to be developed as part of the Cribbs/Patchway New Neighbourhood development. Filton North – This station is also a key part of delivering Metrowest phase 2, with the station's reopening set to provide transport links to the proposed arena and it integral to the development of the new Brabazon neighbourhood on the former airfield site (part of the Cribbs/Patchway New Neighbourhood). The existing and new stations will support the potential for urban living and will be within the scope of the North Fringe Master plan. Key Future project linkages: • Mass Rapid Transit • 25 Year Rail Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) • Highways England/WECA Strategic Study Other projects underway: • Strategic park and ride • Bus infrastructure • Minor station improvements 4 Feasibility and Development Funding Application Form 6. Total Funding required for this phase of works A. Spending Profile (£) 19/20 20/21 21/22 Total Investment Fund £10,000 £400,000 £90,000 £500,000 Match Funding £120,000 £155,000 £275,000 Housing Capacity Fund (HCF)* *shared with Yate/Charfield Cost Breakdown (£) Investment Fund (£) Match Funding (£) In house staff costs (WECA £20,000 £ Strategic masterplanning Director and HoS)) lead costs through existing IF award. S.Glos staff costs £162,830 £230,000 Third Party Support £317,170 £45,000 Other (please specify) Other (please specify) Total £500,000 £275,000 7. Please describe the scheme to be developed (including its objectives and expected impacts) and the proposed activity to be undertaken through this investment. Details of the scheme to be