We’ve taken an exciting next step in the regeneration of Bedminster Green and have submitted a planning application to restore a section of the River Malago that will allow us to bring back wildlife and reduce the risk of flooding in the area.

Restoring the river is one of the many benefits the regeneration of Bedminster Green will bring to the area, along with building much needed homes in our growing city, making it easier to travel and heat homes more sustainably, and helping to revive the local high street, East Street.   

The planning application also outlines proposals to restore heritage features, create a seating area on the green that will overlook the newly emerged river, and install an accessible path and boardwalk to improve access to the edge of the Malago. The project will run between plots 1, 3 and 5 of the Bedminster Green regeneration area along Dalby Avenue/Malago Road, Hereford Street, Whitehouse Lane and Clarke Street.

We have declared climate and ecological emergencies, committing to do as much as we can to combat climate change and bring back lost wildlife in Bristol. A big part of the river restoration project is about enhancing the channel and banks of the Malago to a more natural condition to encourage biodiversity. This will include widening the river corridor, altering the flow speed to allow vegetation to grow, and removing and treating invasive non-native species to allow native species to thrive.

On top of being a wonderful new feature for the community to enjoy, restoring sections of the river will help to reduce flood risk in the local area. We’ll do this by lowering ground levels in the green, installing a grid across the entrance to where the river goes back underground under East Street to trap debris and prevent blockages, and making the channel narrower to improve the speed of flows to prevent stagnation.

Our proposals also deliver improvements to the heritage of the river and will facilitate the repair of historic river channel walls. The river restoration will restore the existing penstock structure, which is a metal sluice gate that’s part of Bedminster’s industrial heritage.

If the planning application is approved, construction work will take place in phases from 2023 and will be coordinated with the other Bedminster Green development works. When complete, it will help to restore the river and heritage features, reduce flood risk in the area, and create high quality green space for existing and future residents of the proposed homes in the surrounding Bedminster Green and Whitehouse Street developments to enjoy for years to come.

The planning application can be viewed on the council’s website using the reference number 23/00611/FB.

Bristol’s historic harbour must become an asset for the benefit of our whole city, one which is financially sustainable, accessible, and contributes to our wider aims of climate resilience and biodiversity.

To keep our harbour afloat, we’re reviewing its operations, updating the governance, and also looking for opportunities to invest in our offer and make it accessible for all communities. The harbour review will correct decades of neglect to its physical infrastructure, as well as the way it has been run. It’s true that, since the floating harbour was built in 1809, little has been done to maintain it – particularly since the docks closed to commercial shipping in 1975. Recently we’ve invested millions in repairing the sluices at Underfall Yard and made progress on the harbour walls but, unfortunately, despite being an iconic part of Bristol, the harbour has become a financial drain on the city. Under the current model, the harbour has a shortfall of around £500,000 – meaning that it impacts on the same budgets used for frontline council services.

Recently, the fees and charges have been benchmarked to rates in comparable harbours in the UK. Two other pieces of work which relate to the Harbour Review work will come to cabinet in March. They are steps forward towards a sustainable future of the harbour. These are:

The funding of the Capricorn Quay project – making 32 more berths available for boats, we are investing in new pontoons and washroom facilities. We are also harnessing WECA’s green recovery funding to expand the project, to further strengthen the biodiversity of our harbour and waterways.

Beginning the process to update the Bristol Harbour revision order – agreeing to submit an updated order through the Marine Management Organisation who manage the application on behalf of the Department for Transport after a 42-day period of public consultation. This will update the last Order completed in 1998. It’s expected to take 18 months to process.

More details will be released in due course as part of the normal cabinet publication process.

I can also update on the Western Harbour as we continue to work through WECA to fund the master planning. We’ve asked Historic England to review listings in the area to ensure that they are up to date before any design work is underway. This will include the historic locks. Our heritage is important for our city and we need to fully understand it before we think about designing for the future. 

Last year we were pleased that thousands of people offered their ideas and insights on the future of the Western Harbour. This culminated in a new vision for the area which sets out our commitments around culture, community, economy, and environment. Recently Goram Homes published their updated pipeline of potential sites for development, including A Bond and B Bond.

The vision is a great platform from which to positively move forward.  We know that we need to breathe new life into the regionally important road network here and ensure flood defences are fit for the future.  By doing this we can create the opportunity for new homes and jobs in a sustainable location, whilst celebrating the area’s heritage.

We agree with the sentiment of the petition presented to Full Council last night.

Councillor Nicola Beech, my cabinet lead for strategic planning, resilience, and floods, who spoke on the petition for the Labour Group at Full Council, launched a consultation on the Local Plan in November 2022. We continue to oppose plans to build homes on Brislington Meadows, the Western Slopes, and Yew Tree Farm, and policies out to consultation reflect our position while also including new policies on biodiversity. These sit alongside our plans to plant 16,000 new trees in Bristol this year, adding to the 80,000 trees planted in our city since 2015 (averaging to 10,500 per year), announced during National Tree Week.

The aforementioned sites were allocated for development under the previous administration, following public consultation – which is how planning policy is set. To influence future policy, far more than signing petitions, it is essential that people respond to share their views before Friday 20 January. More details are available in Nicola’s blog. Yesterday we launched a consultation on Temple Quarter, where we will work to deliver 10,000 new homes and 22,000 new jobs.

My administration has rightly made building new homes a priority for us, because it’s a priority for our fellow Bristolians. After the disruption of Brexit and the pandemic, last year Bristol built 2,563 new homes – exceeding our ambitious manifesto targets; 474 of these new homes were affordable – the most in the 12 years since Labour were last in national government; and 90% of these new homes were built on previously developed land – again demonstrating our commitment to building new homes in an environmentally responsible way. Another 3,500 new homes were under construction as of 1 April, 2022. This is fantastic news for Bristol as we continue building a city where nobody is left behind.

Our city is just 42 square miles. Our population grew by more than 10% in the decade to 2021, to 472,000, and is set to rise to 550,000 by the middle of this century. 15% of our residents – some 70,000 people – live in areas that are among the 10% most deprived in England. 19,000 people are on our housing waiting list. Over 1,000 households are living in temporary accommodation. In this context, we need to continue building in (on brownfield) and up (at higher density). Otherwise we risk being unable to minimise our sometime need to build out (onto land which has not previously been developed). Recently we have been disappointed that many of the councillors which this petition lauds, and some people already sitting comfortably in their own homes, have continued to oppose building new homes for Bristolians on brownfield sites including former car parks, former airfields, former shipyards, former schools, and former depots. Too often the crucial question, “if not there, then where?”, goes unanswered by them.

Unfortunately some single-issue campaigns often fall short of engaging with our city in the fullness of the reality of life here. We face a housing crisis, at the same time as ecological and climate emergencies, the national cost of living crisis, recovering from the pandemic, and other major pressures. There is no magic button to turn off any of these to focus on a favourite – they must all be considered and tackled at once. This is why we have prioritised an approach which delivers social and environmental justice hand-in-hand, using the UN’s interdependent Sustainable Development Goals as our framework. And we continue to shape global policy through Global Goals Week, COP27, and my TED Talk on cities and the climate crisis. You may be among the more than 1.5 million people who have watched the latter.

We are determined to start 2023 by continuing to deliver on what matters to Bristolians. My administration remains focused on carrying on tackling our city’s challenges and getting stuff done to give Bristol the best possible future. For more on our vision for our city, with new jobs, new homes, clean energy, new schools, and mass transit, watch Bristol 2032.