Bristol City drop housing scheme to save 2018 World Cup dream

By Duncan Mackay

January 2 – Bristol City have dropped plans to build a housing estate in the shadow of their new £92 million 44,000-capacity stadium at Ashton Vale in the hope that the scheme will get the go-ahead so that they can host matches if England’s bid to stage the 2018 World Cup is successful.

The proposed new ground was among 17 stadiums in 12 cities chosen last month by England 2018 to be part of their bid but opposition to it has been led by Shadow Defence Secretary Liam Fox.

Bristol City Council had given the overall scheme the go-ahead but rejected part of the planning application that included 116 homes in an area called Southlands.

Now the club has submitted revised plans in a bid to get the stadium approved – dropping the Southlands section which it had hoped to use the houses to help fund the overall scheme.

The Coca-Cola Championship club said it now has pulled out of the development of 62 houses and 54 apartments as “a measure of goodwill” towards winning consent for the stadium.

Bristol City Council’s planning Councillors agreed in early November that they were “minded to approve” the scheme, but without Southlands.

Another area of housing - 137 homes on the former Moorelands allotment site - was not rejected by the council.

City have also scrapped a planned footbridge from the stadium site to Ashton Vale Road in the industrial estate.

Instead the club wants to put in a footbridge over the Portishead railway line from the stadium to Baron’s Close to give a direct pedestrian link from Winterstoke Road.

The Council’s Development Control South and East Committee will vote on the revised plans on February 10.

The scheme will then go before Communities Secretary John Denham for a final decision.

Meanwhile, the planning and regulatory committee of North Somerset Council is due to meet on February 17 to look again at plans for the access road to the stadium, which another of its committees vetoed last month.

Bristol City’s chief executive Colin Sexstone (pictured) said the club had been in talks with Councillors and planning officials from both local authorities to try to resolve all the issues.

He said: ”We have put forward our revised plans to Bristol City Council.

“We think we have met all the requirements that have been requested so we hope this will be approved on February 10.”

He said the club had decided not to press ahead with the Southlands scheme, which it had originally said could contribute £10 million towards the cost, because of the risk of delay to the main stadium project.

The discussions with North Somerset centre on the access to the Ashton Vale stadium from the entrance road to the Long Ashton park and ride site.

Sexstone said: “Our talks with North Somerset about the access road are ongoing.

“We have asked for a slight delay from January until February to make sure we can provide as much definite information as possible.

“We are working as hard as we can to meet with as many people as we can and give as many assurances as we can about our plans.”

The club has put the revised plans on show at Ashton Gate alongside the original application for a 28-day consultation period.

Sexstone said: “This is a very important year for Bristol and for the whole region.

“We hope we can persuade everyone that this stadium is in all our interests.”

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