B RISTOL L OCAL P LAN The city council wishes to thank all the people of Bristol who were involved in planning the future of our city by making comments on the formulation of this Plan. After five years of debate involving consultation, a public local inquiry and modifications, the Bristol Local Plan was adopted on December 16th 1997. The Plan consists of this written statement and a separate Proposals Map. For further information, please contact Strategic and Citywide Policy Team Directorate of Planning, Transport and Development Services Brunel House St George’s Road Bristol BS1 5UY Telephone: 903 6723 / 903 6724 / 903 6725 / 903 6727 Produced by: Planning content The Directorate of Planning, Transport and Development Services Technical Production Technical Services and Word Processing Bureau of the Planning Directorate Graphic & 3-D Design Unit of the Policy Co-ordinator and Chief Executive’s Office Printed by Bristol City Council Contract Services – Printing and Stationery Department, Willway Street, Bedminster GRA1865 20452 P&S Printed on recycled paper ADOPTED BRISTOL LOCAL PLAN DECEMBER 1997 P REFACE The Bristol Local Plan was formally adopted in December 1997 after a long and lively debate involving many thousands of local people and numerous organisations with a stake in the city’s future. Bristol now has up to date statutory planning policies covering the whole city. This Plan will guide development up to 2001 and form the basis for a review taking Bristol into the 21st Century. The Plan sets out to protect open space, industrial land, housing, shopping and local services and to promote the quality of life for all the citizens of Bristol. It puts in place strategies to regenerate key areas of the city – most notably the city centre, Avonmouth and South Bristol – and it establishes a set of policies by which to judge new development proposals. These policies seek to make sustainable development a key requirement and at the root of the Plan is the desire to tackle the city’s transport problems such as congestion and related pollution. The Plan’s innovative agendas on transport, shopping and housing were ahead of their time and therefore in part controversial when originally proposed, but national guidance on these issues now back Bristol’s stance. The Government inspectors who considered objections to the Plan at the public local inquiry were supportive of our approach: in about 80% of site objections the city council’s evidence was supported. Many of the proposals originally included in the draft Plan are now coming to fruition. In the transport field Park and Ride sites have been implemented, rapid transit studies for the Bradley Stoke to City Centre line are progressing, new cycleways have been constructed and many pilot schemes have started using electric and gas buses and providing computerised information on road corridors (Bath Road A4) regarding congestion, pollution and journey times. Strenuous efforts are being made to encourage greater use of public transport in place of the private car. Key regeneration schemes are under way: at Avonmouth, a major Honda development; in South Bristol a leisure complex at Hengrove Park and employment opportunities at Filwood; and in the city centre, a world-class mix of leisure, commercial, residential and retail development at Harbourside and Temple Quay. Furthermore, the first phases of a project to transform The Centre (the area outside the Bristol Hippodrome) into a major new pedestrian space will be completed by the end of the Plan period. Housing in the city centre is now an attractive option to investors, endorsing our defence of residential sites at the public inquiry. I am confident that by the end of the Plan period Bristol will have consolidated its position as an attractive regional capital offering an outstanding quality of life and enjoying a growing reputation in the UK and Europe. The Bristol Local Plan has been a collaborative effort involving many individual, community and business interests in the city. Although the Plan has been adopted, the challenge is not over. It is now important to ensure that the Plan is kept up to date and that the council and all those who contribute to development in Bristol carry forward the initiatives set out in this Plan into the first decade of the new millennium. Councillor Helen Holland Chair: Planning, Transport and Development Committee September 1998 ADOPTED BRISTOL LOCAL PLAN DECEMBER 1997 F URTHER INFORMATION English Polish If English is not your first language and you Jezeli angielski nie jest twoim podstawowym need a translation, we can get one for you. jezykiem i wymagasz interpretacji, skorzystaj z naszych uslug Bengali Punjabi Cantonese Somali Haddii Ingiriisku aanu ahayn afkaaga kowaad oo aad u baahan tahay turjumaad, annagaa kuu samayn karra Gujarati Urdu Hindi Vietnamese Nêu quí vi không thao Anh van và cân ban dich, chúng tôi se giúp quí vi môt ban Italian If you or someone you know needs any of the information in this document reproduced in Se l’inglese non è la vostra prima lingua e vi a different form (such as on tape, larger print occorre una traduzione, ve la possiamo fare noi or in Braille), please contact us at the address above or telephone the Strategic and Citywide Policy team on 0117 903 6723. ADOPTED BRISTOL LOCAL PLAN DECEMBER 1997 P LAN C ONTENTS C HAPTER P AGE 1. INTRODUCTION 5 TOPICS 2. MANAGEMENT OF THE E NVIRONMENT 17 3. NA TURAL E NVIRONMENT 33 4. BUILT E NVIRONMENT 61 5. MO VEMENT 83 6. EC ONOMY 123 7. SHOPPING 143 8. HOUSING 173 9. CO MMUNITY S ERVICES 193 10. LEISURE 205 AREAS FOR PROMOTION AND REGENERATION 11. CITY C ENTRE 219 12. AV ONMOUTH 243 13. SOUTH B RISTOL 253 I NDEX 265 ADOPTED BRISTOL LOCAL PLAN DECEMBER 1997 C HAPTER 1 I NTRODUCTION C ONTENTS P AGE 1.1 Agenda for the 1990s 6 1.2 Strategic Context 7 1.3 Bristol Today 8 1.4 Key Objectives 10 1.5 How to use this Plan 13 1.6 Monitoring and Implementation 14 1.7 Local Plan Process 14 5 ADOPTED BRISTOL LOCAL PLAN DECEMBER 1997 1.1 AGENDA FOR THE 1990S GLOUCESTERSHIRE Local Authority Boundary y r SOUTH a u t GLOUCESTERSHIRE s E n r e v e S WILTSHIRE BRISTOL NORTH SOMERSET BATH AND NORTH EAST SOMERSET SOMERSET N Figure 1.1: Bristol Location and Context 1.1.1 This is the first citywide Plan for twenty years. It brings together the planning policies for the city area in one document and provides the framework for investment and development in Bristol. It aims to maintain and enhance Bristol’s regional role and to take advantage of the city’s important national and European position. In establishing the city’s international status the Plan must balance the needs of those people who live and work in Bristol with future investment in the city. 1.1.2 The Bristol Local Plan’s legal basis means that its main concern is with land use and the physical and natural environment. However, recent Government advice recognises that it is not possible to separate these matters from the social, economic and natural aspects of the area being planned and, thus, running through the Plan is a series of themes which the city council considers vital to underpin the Plan and the future of the city. (i) Economy and Regeneration – to promote the city centre and other key areas across the city for environmentally sustainable economic development and regeneration which will influence economic recovery and lead to a more prosperous and vibrant city. Industrial and economic investment and diversification will be encouraged. In partnership with the universities and private sector, new approaches to regeneration will be implemented. (ii) Equality – to remove the barriers which prevent many people from being able to take advantage of all the facilities of the city, from gaining access to their fair share of resources and from achieving their full personal potential. These people include many elderly people, people from black and minority ethnic communities, women, disabled people and children. 6 ADOPTED BRISTOL LOCAL PLAN DECEMBER 1997 (iii) Quality of Life – to recognise and act upon local, national and global environmental issues by adopting and implementing a long term environmental strategy to ensure a cleaner, greener, healthier and safer city both for present and future generations. (iv) Movement – to make movement throughout the city easier for all users particularly cyclists, pedestrians and public transport users and reduce dependence on the private car by promoting an integrated transport strategy with new Rapid Transit links. (v) Identities – to reflect the different character of areas of the city, local people’s needs and expectations. Local areas vary across the city and they will have an important role in the future, by developing local services and reducing the need for movement. 1.1.3 Many of the policies and proposals contained in this Plan can only be carried out by partnerships between the city council, other public authorities, the private sector and voluntary organisations. The city council will do all that it can to bring the necessary partnerships together. 1.1.4 This Plan is vital to provide a clear policy framework within which development can be achieved. Development is needed which will tackle the key objectives of this Plan (see section 1.4.8).In particular to enable economic development and regeneration, to encourage employment opportunities, to address the housing shortage, to achieve environmental objectives and reduce congestion. There are also exciting opportunities in the city centre, Avonmouth and South Bristol to promote a range of land uses to benefit local people and the city as a whole.