We have Cabot Circus, a cathedral of consumerism, giving its own two-fingered salute to St Paul’s.
We have the Harbourside development, a Lego-like construction which has made much of Bristol appear to be modelled on a cheap Spanish package holiday resort.
And we have Finzel’s Reach opposite Castle Park, still unfinished and beset by financial problems.
Who says we can’t get anything built in Bristol?
Well the arena is decidedly short on funds, and the £200 million MetroBus project to create a network of rapid bus routes across the city to ease traffic congestion is also proving slow work.
And our professional football clubs for two more, who may well both see their plans for new stadiums scuppered due to nimbyism.
Following City’s aborted attempts to build on Ashton Vale, it’s deja-vu as the proposed Sainsbury’s on the Memorial Stadium goes to another judicial review (JR).
Bristol Rovers are planning to move to a new £40m stadium in Frenchay, but this relies on a supermarket being built on the club’s current ground, guaranteeing the Gas plenty of cash.
The campaign group TRASH – Traders and Residents Against Sainsbury’s in Horfield - this week submitted an application to the High Court for a JR into planning permission for the new Sainsbury’s (below)
A club statement said: ”Whilst we are massively disappointed that a JR application has been submitted, we urge supporters to stay calm as we work through this with our partners.”
Bristol seems to be stuck in nimby limbo.
It’s not Nimbyism to not want an inappropriate building built on either green belt land without suitable traffic / parking infrastructure, or in an area that cannot support and doesn’t need yet another massive supermarket. It’s common sense – something that Bristol council seem to be lacking, perhaps due to them profiting from unrestricted and inappropriate development?
This article is very confusing and actually puts Bristol Culture in bad light (which I regard a good site for staying up to date with what’s happening in the city).
First you talk about Cabot Circus in a negative light, which makes no sense as before Cabot, Bristol was never even in the shopping leagues but now is fast going up this table. Cabot has done a lot in bringing up that area and even the reputation of Bristol as a whole (I know from personal experience). And talk of consumerism as a bad thing, it’s not, it’s something that drives the economy forward and it’s irresponsible consumers and retailers and projects that give it a bad name.
And yes it’s very unfortunate that the stadiums are being disadvantaged by a minority of people against it and the lack of funding for the arena. Hopefully things will eventually get sorted out.
PS I for one quite like the Harbourside Developments and think the area looks quite attractive now, definitely beats what was there before.
Building this stadium is a disgrace. How can you built on such greenery? God save the trees
kinda with Kevin here, seeing as I seem to remember articles condemning the building of the Sainsbury’s near to Gloucester road, Britain’s most independent high street…
I don’t mind admitting I don’t give two shits about football, so I’m heartily against the proposal for a mahoosive Sainsbubs near Gloucester Road, as like in other areas (My home town Dunstable for example) building big supermarkets on the outskirts drains the life out of the high streets, and leads to empty units and small local business folks going out of business.
Best of luck to TRASH!!!