News / KNowle West
Rundown high street could get £12m boost
A rundown high street in south Bristol could receive a major investment to help with its long-awaited regeneration.
Council chiefs have backed plans to submit a bid for Filwood Broadway in Knowle West to get a £12m cash boost.
The money, if the bid is successful, would come from the government’s Levelling Up Fund.
is needed now More than ever
Filwood Broadway, a once-thriving high street, now has few shops – photo: Charlie Watts
The council hopes the additional funds for Filwood Broadway will finally help deliver regeneration plans for the area approved in 2012.
But the Filwood Broadway Working Group (FBWG), a group of residents concerned with the future of the street, say it needs a new masterplan.
Filwood councillor Zoe Goodman told the council’s cabinet meeting on Tuesday: “I call on the council to work with the local community, including its active group, on the co-design of Filwood Broadway as a whole, so that residents get the centre they deserve and not a rushed, piecemeal development.”
The council hopes £12m will help it deliver delayed regeneration plans for Filwood Broadway – photo: Ellie Pipe
The current plans for Filwood Broadway include demolishing a former art deco cinema to make way for 30 homes and some community/commercial space – but there is a campaign to save the building.
There is also a planning application to build 29 homes on the site of the former Filwood Swimming Baths – which would see the removal of a multi-use games area (MUGA).
There are also proposals to relocate Filwood Library elsewhere on Filwood Broadway, with the council saying its existing site could be suitable for housing.
Previous regeneration plans included proposals to replace the former Broadway Cinema with a supermarket – photo: Charlie Watts
On Tuesday, Tom Renhard, the council’s cabinet member for housing, added that he has offered to visit Filwood to meet with the FBWG to go through their concerns, including the lack of a supermarket in the area.
The council initially had a budget of £1.35m to improve the public realm of Filwood Broadway, and it has been working with the FBWG to deliver this.
But in April, £705,000 was added to the budget, including up to £300,000 for a new MUGA at a yet-to-be confirmed location in Knowle West.
Charlie Watts is reporting on Knowle West as part of Bristol24/7’s community reporter scheme, a project which aims to tell stories from areas of Bristol traditionally under-served by the mainstream media
Main photo: Charlie Watts
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