WORK to redevelop a former Fishponds factory as part of a major housing development has begun.
Graphic Packaging International, which moved out of its old base in Filwood Road last year, has erected hoardings around the site, which workers are now clearing.
An application to demolish the buildings, some of which date back to the 1930s, has been lodged with the city council and, if approved, bulldozers will be sent in before the end of the year.
It is the first activity on the ground connected to plans, announced 18 months ago, to redevelop a huge area of land in the centre of Fishponds, where more than 1,000 homes are expected to be built in a project named Atlas Place by landowners.
Graphic Packaging International applied for permission to build 255 new homes on its former base in August last year, around the same time it moved its operations and 230 staff to a new home in Yate.
The American-owned firm said the Fishponds factory was “no longer fit for purpose” and it needed to move to expand.
It wants to build 160 houses and 95 flats on the site between Filwood Road, Goodneston Road, Enfield Road and Lodge Causeway, 38 of which would be classed as “affordable”.
The plans are still marked as “pending consideration” on the council’s website – but behind the scenes, work has been going on to fine-tune the application.
Cycleways added to plans
A GPI spokesperson said: “We’ve been working closely with Bristol City Council’s officers over the past months on some of the technical details of our planning application.
“One of the key things we’re pleased to have agreed is that we’ll now be providing cycle ways along both Goodneston Road and Filwood Road, which is great news for improving safety for cyclists, encouraging sustainable and active ways to travel about the city.
“Residents would have seen that GPI moved out some time back, with the site now secured with fencing to ensure it is safe.
“We are looking to agree to a public arts project where local groups, possibly schools, can get involved in creating artwork that can be mounted onto the fencing. We hope to have more news on this shortly.
“We are proposing to start the demolition on December 1, but will update the community once we have confirmation of when this will happen.
“Of course, our demolition team will do all they can to minimise noise and disruption.
“We appreciate the redevelopment of our site will prompt some concerns among local residents, but – once complete – the site will provide lots of much-needed homes, including affordable, in a carefully landscaped and designed development that we think will be a huge improvement for our neighbours, compared to our dated industrial buildings and all the HGV traffic our operations require.
“The grant of planning permission will also provide much-needed funding for the creation of a fourth paperboard manufacturing line at Yate, which will generate an additional 70 jobs in the factory and numerous indirect jobs at Bristol docks and in the logistics industry.”
One objection has been lodged by an unnamed resident to the demolition plans, on the grounds of excessive noise, dust, animal welfare and safety.
The Fishponds Planning Group recently made a new comment on the development, noting that an Atlas Place “vision document” added this year “makes very broad statements but lacks detail”, and raising concerns that the height of buildings on the GPI site could be increased once neighbouring sites are given permission.
NHS call to finance new GP capacity
The NHS Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board has called on any planning permission to include a commitment to funding either a new surgery or expansion of nearby GP practices, to cope with the extra residents.
The GPI site is the only one of the three Atlas Place sites, between the Bristol & Bath Railway Path, Lodge Causeway and Forest Road, where a formal planning application has been submitted so far.
Last year Central Fishponds Ltd said it wanted to build 900 homes on its Filwood House & Verona House site, but has not made a planning application.
The third developer, Castel Ltd, has yet to publish any plans.
Since the GPI factory closed, Goodneston Road has become home to several people living in vans alongside the building.
Council officers have visited the site, after people living nearby complained that faeces and urine had been left on the pavement.
The factory was previously owned by ES&A Robinson, a business whose roots in Bristol went back to 1844; GPI is the latest in a series of owners to take over, including Dickinson Robinson Group and Rexam.