PLANS to build new affordable homes next to Hillfields Park have been revived.
Bristol City Council has started an online public consultation about its plans, ahead of submitting an outline planning application.
The area near Hillfields Park Community Centre has been blighted by fly-tipping for several years.
Five years ago it was one of several small derelict sites in Bristol identified as potentially suitable for community-led housing projects.
In 2021 the council made Hillfields Family and Community Trust, which operated the nearby Hillfields Community Hub, the preferred bidder to develop the site. The charity proposed building 11 affordable homes, holding consultations and appointing architects and a project manager to help draw up plans.
Funding for an upgrade to the access road was committed in 2022 but the project never reached the planning application stage, and last year Hillfields Family and Community Trust dissolved as a community organisation.
The hub was taken over by another charity, Hillfields Community Garden, earlier this year and is currently the subject of a fundraising campaign to carry out vital work so it can reopen as Hillfields Park Community Centre.
The housing project – on land occupied by the area’s previous community centre, which has been demolished, and the former Hillfields FC clubhouse – has now been revived by the council.
It has set up an online public consultation on the plans. The consultation started in April, although the council didn’t make a public announcement and details have emerged via the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
It runs until May 29.
The plans include improving the access road for the site, neighbouring community centre and nursery.
‘Small-scale affordable housing’
On the consultation site the council said: “We want to enable the delivery of a small-scale affordable housing scheme on the site of the demolished community centre and the currently derelict former football club, which is prone to anti-social behaviour including incidents of fly-tipping, break-ins, and vandalism.
“We want to ensure that any new housing scheme incorporates the needs of existing and future residents, by providing good quality and well-designed housing.
“The intention for the site is to provide new affordable housing for residents of Bristol, and we will work with any future delivery partner to ensure the amount of affordable housing delivered meets local requirements.”
Pedestrian footpaths to Hillfields Park would also be improved. At the moment there is a lane to the park from Thicket Avenue, but this is poorly lit and obscured by overgrown plants.
Tall trees on the site would be kept where possible, to reduce overlooking and the impact on the park.
The homes are likely to be two or three storeys tall, along a terrace.
The access road, which is currently narrow with a sharp bend, would be made wider, allowing drivers to pass each other and turn safely, and avoiding the need for bin lorries to mount the pavement.
Includes reporting by Alex Seabrook, Local Democracy Reporting Service
Top picture: An image of the scheme released by the city council, with the proposed housing ringed in red, existing homes in Gorse Hill and Thicket Avenue agbove and to the right, and the Hillfields Park Community Centre building below left.