St Josephs development refused
We are pleased to report that a planning application to convert the former St Joseph’s care home on Cotham Hill into student accommodation was refused at planning committee last month.
If the St Joseph’s scheme had received permission, it would have meant an extra 126 students in our area. This would have contributed to an already harmful concentration of student accommodation and led to an imbalance in the community.
Clifton Down residents have always warmly welcomed students and we want this tradition to continue. But the sheer number of students is growing each year and many people feel it’s becoming overwhelming. Our community is not a campus.
Many of you have said how your sleep is frequently interrupted by student noise at night. You told us that you sometimes couldn’t work the next day because of lack of sleep. Babies and children are being kept awake. Elderly people are feeling intimidated.
Already this term we’ve seen streets overwhelmed by large groups of rowdy students, even on week nights. Following a particularly raucous Wednesday night recently, we put in a complaint to the University of Bristol and are awaiting a full response.
Serena, George and our neighbouring Green ward councillors for Cotham, Cllrs Poultney and Makawi, objected to the application. Serena, as a ward councillor for the site, referred the application to go to planning committee for consideration. All four councillors spoke against the application at the committee meeting.
A huge amount of work was done by community members too. Thank you to all of you who put in objections, prepared statements, and attended and spoke at committee. It just goes to show what can be achieved when a community stands up, speaks out and pulls together.
None of us are anti-development. We would like St Joseph’s to be reused. Hopefully, it can be turned into a more appropriate use.
20mph is plenty – watch this space
As we write, the council’s Transport & Connectivity Committee is due to consider recommendations to reduce the speed limit to 20mph on around 90 roads in the city. These account for one quarter of the deaths and serious injuries on Bristol’s highways.
These roads include the 30mph Upper Belgrave Road. Many residents on this road, which faces onto The Downs, asked us to help get the speed limit reduced to 20mph, following several nasty collisions and speeding incidents. We have spoken previously at the committee on this issue and put in representations to the recent public consultation.
20mph speed limits are well proven to bring significant safety benefits to everyone who uses the roads.
Serena is on the Transport & Connectivity Committee and George is intending to speak at the meeting at the end of October as a ward councillor. We’ll report back in the next column.
Our drop-in event
It was great to see so many of you at our drop-in event at Clifton Down Shopping Centre last month. We really appreciated people stopping by for a chat about local issues. A big thank you to Richard Ryan, the shopping centre’s manager, for kindly hosting us. We are planning our next drop-in event for after the New Year.
Ward surgeries
We’ll be resuming these this month at Redland Library starting on Friday 6th November from 12 to 1.30pm.
Get in contact
Serena Ralston cllr.serena.ralston@bristol.gov.uk
George Calascione cllr.george.calascione@bristol.gov.uk