Purpose

We are seeking approval to accept and spend
£50k revenue funding from Homes England to fund a Cultural
Activation Strategy for the City Centre and Frome Gateway
regeneration areas.
The project aims to accelerate the delivery of new residential
delivery through clear definition of supporting S106 public art and
cultural activation projects. The regeneration service are seeking
to provide developers and investors with certainty of what is
required on major applications in areas of Growth and Regeneration
much earlier in the planning process to accelerate delivery. The
£50k funding to deliver the Cultural Activation Plans will
allow the City Council to confirm the public art
contribution/requirements for major applications in the City Centre
and Frome Gateway from the outset, reducing the time required
during the application process considering and negotiating the
consideration, thus accelerating delivery.
There is no match funding needed and the projects are required to
be delivered within grant funding envelope. The funding will be
spent by 31st March, in accordance with the grant funding
agreement.
This funding has been offered in addition to the £260k
revenue funding from Homes England (approved and accepted on 19th
August 2024) to fund another eight workstreams relating to the City
Centre, Frome Gateway, Bedminster Green, and Whitehouse Street
Regeneration projects.
The eight key projects, already accepted and approved on 19th
August, each aligning with BCC regeneration priorities and Homes
England interests, as detailed below:
Co-living design guide – City Centre:
•With student bedspaces capped at 750 in this area (Bristol
Shopping Quarter) as part of the emerging Local Plan (as well as
capped in other key areas across the city), it is likely that
developers will bring forward Co-living homes as an alternative
viable scheme.
•Bristol lacks any policy on the requirements for co-living
housing and therefore there is a significant risk that sub-standard
accommodation could be brought forward in the city centre under
this use type.
•A Co-living design guide is needed to set the city standards
for this relatively new residential use type to ensure that
appropriate standards of accommodation are delivered in urban
areas.
Converting tall building strategy and residential design guides
into policy – City Centre:
•Using the guides prepared in the last financial year, there
is the opportunity to create a consolidated Broadmead design guide
and city-wide family living residential charter that are adopted as
policy documents.
Community and cultural space strategy – City Centre:
•The DDP sets out the requirement for 10% of new ground floor
developments to be allocated for community/cultural uses at an
affordable rent. The purpose is to ensure community-focused
activities and organisations can still thrive as values go up in
the regional centre.
•A vehicle is needed to procure, operate and manage these
spaces. A Community Land Trust is a potential solution. Work is
needed to develop the parameters for this vehicle, map existing
community organisations and assets and develop a tool for linking
demand with supply.
•This mechanism must also ensure that the operation and
management is robust, inclusive and accessible to ensure units
aren’t vacant and instead offer a highly valuable asset to
this future neighbourhood.
Housing delivery strategy for the Depot site - Frome Gateway:
•A strategic plan is needed to set out the process (when and
how) to deliver homes (including min. 40% affordable homes) on
site.
•Meanwhile use strategy to be included as part of strategy to
ensure site supports other residential schemes to come forward and
ensures local community groups and businesses stay within the area
as part of this.
Design guide for public realm at Wellington St and Eugene St -
Frome Gateway:
•To develop the detail design of Wellington and Eugene Street,
as well as connecting new pedestrian bridge.
•Design is required to inform developers facing onto these
streets what they need to deliver as part of, and at the interface
with, the public realm.
Strategic transport assessment, Multi-Storey Car Park - Bedminster
Green:
•Fund an updated Strategic Transport Assessment to determine
whether there is a need for a multi-storey car park (MSCP) proposed
on one of the development sites, at a cost of c£4m.
•The MSCP is proposed to be funded from Plot 5 redevelopment,
but is having a significant impact on viability. Updated evidence
base could support viability and delivery of Plot 5.
Industrial Intensification feasibility and capacity study –
Whitehouse Street:
•The framework allocates a BCC-owned site for industrial
intensification to support retention of light industrial space and
local employment in the area, while reducing the requirement for
employment reprovision on residential-led, mixed-use schemes to
support viability.
•This is a new employment concept in Bristol, and further
feasibility work is required to understand design requirements and
cost for scheme
Central plaza design guidance – Whitehouse Street:
•The central plaza is a focal point of the regeneration area,
which interacts with 4 different land ownerships and active travel
infrastructure. Output to provide developers with clear design
guidance for this space and to ensure coherent design with
different sites coming forward at different timescales.

Content

Approval to accept and spend funding from
Homes England to fund workstreams relating to the City Centre,
Frome Gateway, Bedminster Green, and Whitehouse Street Regeneration
projects.