TRESA has submitted a statement (reproduced in full below) on the Bristol City Council planning website following the decision by Development Control Committee A to go against the officer recommendation and approve the hyper-dense planning application on the old Bart Spice site.
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TRESA is extremely concerned about the process in handling this planning application at Bristol City Council (BCC) Development Control Committee A on 24 August 2022.
The Local Government Association’s Probity in Planning guide indicates that members of a planning committee need to avoid any appearance of bias or of having predetermined their views before taking a decision on a planning application.
We believe the Chair of the committee, and possibly other members, showed predetermined views and bias against the report presented by officers at the meeting. The Chair of the Committee stated: “Only last month you briefed members, or officers briefed members and the applicant, and I didn’t seem to believe there was any major concern then. So I’m rather taken aback now we’re being presented with the recommendation for refusal.”
It appeared that the applicant had pushed for the application to be heard quickly, before addressing some important issues relating to safety and transport, and before all relevant reports were available to members of the committee.
The Head of Development Management indicated (from transcript of the meeting): “Unfortunately it’s a consequence of bringing this to committee quite quickly, which the applicants are entitled to bring it, to ask it for it to come to committee really quickly, that, you know, notwithstanding our best efforts in sending out consultations both internally but also externally to statutory consultees including new statutory consultants like the HSE on fire safety, that sometimes issues are raised quite late in the day and we don’t have the answers to resolve them. So I think that’s the situation we’re in with both the transport development management issues and also the HSE issues.”
As a consequence, we believe a number of important issues have not been addressed and councillors lacked relevant information to make a fully informed decision:
- The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) report raised safety concerns about the updated plans which appeared to confuse committee members.
- The Transport Development Manager (TDM)’s Report recommended refusal but was not available on BCC planning website until 6 September 2022, after the planning committee meeting.
- Avon Fire and Rescue Service had not commented on the new plans (their report, submitted January 2022, was on the previous plans).
- Crime Reduction Avon and Somerset Police submitted a list of concerns in February 2022, and no updated report on the current design is available on the planning website.
- The Flood Risk manager’s report of 8 August 2022 indicated “we still have outstanding comments as submitted on the 17/02/2022”.
- An updated comment from Bristol Waste was emailed to the officer but has not been uploaded onto BCC planning website. However, the TDM report of 12 August (not available on the BCC planning website until 6 September) recommends refusal because the alleyway is only approximately 1.3m wide, which would not allow refuse operatives to move large, wheeled bins from the refuse storage area to the adopted highway. (It is important to note that this alleyway is also an escape route.)
- There is no updated report from the Air Quality Officer who objected to the application in February 2022.
We believe these concerns about predetermination, bias, and unavailability of relevant documents may warrant a judicial review.
Following the 24 August 2022 Development Control Committee meeting, further plans from the applicant have been uploaded on BCC planning website. These plans show minimal changes that only partially address serious issues raised in the officer’s report.
TRESA has the following concerns:
- The passage between the building and the adjoining Royal Mail site is too narrow to move bins, and is now one of the main fire escape routes.
- There are single stairs serving many of the flats in Block C. (It is generally accepted the regulations will change on this soon, which may be why the application has been rushed.)
- A single means of escape from flats in Block C should have a maximum distance from flat to protected lobby of 7.5m (Building Regulations B1 3.27). The distance shown on plans for some of the southern flats is above that. There does not appear to be a proper lift exit area for those flats, although lift exit door positions are not shown on the plans.
- Residents in floors 6-11 of Block C will have access to only one lift. If that breaks down they will have to use the stairs. Other residents have to access another lift and stairway on their floor.
- Overall the application suffers from hyperdensity, and failure to comply with the Mead Street development brief in terms of excessive height and the planned pedestrian/cycling infrastructure.
We believe the following reports should be requested for the revised plans, and considered at a future Development Control Committee meeting:
- Health and Safety Executive
- Avon Fire and Rescue Service
- Traffic Development Management
- Flood Risk Manager
- The Bristol Waste Company
- Crime Reduction Avon and Somerset Police
- Air Quality Officer
We would also like to see due consideration given to the impact on the Mead Street Development Brief.
Given concerns about predetermination and bias, it may be preferable for the new plans and associated documents to be considered by Development Control Committee B.
TRESAcic
22 September 2022