CAMPAIGNERS will learn within weeks whether their challenge to a planned housing development on the former Bristol Zoo site in the heart of Clifton has been successful.
The Save Bristol Zoo Gardens Alliance went to the High Court last month for a two-day Judicial Review of the city council’s decision to grant planning permission for 198 luxury flats.
The campaigners raised more than £10,000 for a judge to hear their case. They challenged the council on three grounds. They believe that as a protected open space, the zoo gardens cannot lawfully be built on and the reasons for agreeing to do so were inadequate.
Their other two grounds of challenge are about the environment: how the calculations of the harm the development would cause to biodiversity, and the carbon emissions it would release, were made.
Save Bristol Gardens Alliance wants to see alternative schemes developed for the heritage zoo gardens, which closed in 2022 after 186 years.
The campaigners’ hope is that if the judge upholds any of its challenges, planning permission will be overturned.
Bristol Zoological Society sold the zoo site to fund its new Bristol Zoo Project at Cribbs Causeway, which is a much larger site and meets modern standards.
It says the Clifton site was no longer fit for purpose but the planning consent would ensure that the gardens, given to the people of Bristol, will remain open to the public.
But the campaigners argue that there is no lasting guarantee of public access,
The Honourable Mr Justice Mould KC is expected to give his decision in June or July.
Photo: Canopy National Tree Coalition