News / Housing
Plans submitted for new homes on former swimming pool site
Plans have been submitted to build new homes on the site of a former swimming pool in Bristol.
Housing association LiveWest wants to build 29 houses and apartments where Filwood Swimming Baths stood for more than 40 years in Knowle West.
All the properties are intended to be “affordable” through a mix of social rent and shared ownership.
is needed now More than ever
Developer LiveWest has submitted plans to build 29 homes on the former Filwood Swimming Baths site in Knowle West. Photo by Stride Treglown
The brownfield site on Filwood Broadway has been undeveloped since the pool was closed in 2005 and then demolished.
But the land also includes a well-used ball court, which LiveWest is proposing to remove.
The design team for the development claim the court is decommissioned and closed to the public. But it is still accessible.
The plans would see the loss of a well-used ball court. Photo by Charlie Watts
Questions have also been raised as to why the proposed development is not mixed-use.
In the Knowle West Regeneration Framework and Bristol Local Plan, the old pool site is allocated for housing, business and retail.
Others have suggested the land is an ideal location for a supermarket or the proposed south Bristol “youth zone”.
But the design team say it would be unfeasible to accommodate a retail or business unit on the site, as the goal is to maximise the number of residential units.
Some would like to see business and retail space incorporated into the plans. Photo by Stride Treglown
An online public consultation about the plans took place earlier in the year.
Then, the proposed development was described as “bland, unimaginative, and uninviting” by the Filwood Broadway Working Group.
The proposals have since been tweaked, with the number of dwellings reduced from 33 to 29 after concerns were raised about “overdevelopment”.
The design team added: “The scheme meets the need for affordable housing, makes a positive contribution to the distinctiveness of the local area, and will play an important part of Filwood Broadway’s revitalisation and wider redevelopment.”
https://twitter.com/cath_slessor/status/1270328360951046148
The proposed development is one of many in Knowle West, with the old cinema, also on Filwood Broadway, due to be demolished to make way for housing.
There is until November 26 to comment on LiveWest’s planning application for the former swimming pool site: pa.bristol.gov.uk/online-applications/.
Charlie Watts is reporting on Knowle West as part of Bristol24/7’s community reporter scheme, a pilot project which aims to tell stories from areas of Bristol traditionally under-served by the mainstream media
Main photo by Charlie Watts
Read more: Community allotment and forest school to close
Listen to the latest Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast:
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
