Friday 20th February – in the afternoon 4pm to 7pm and Saturday 21st February – in the morning 10am to 1pm The next phase of the developers public consultation is in February. They’ll be unveiling the revised version of their redevelopment plan so make sure you go along if you can: Friday 20th February – in the afternoon 4pm to 7pm and Saturday 21st February – in the morning 10am to 1pm 26 January: 14/06330/N | Application for Prior Notification for demolition – removal of majority of buildings on the site. | Former Elizabeth Shaw Chocolate Factory Greenbank Road Easton Bristol BS5 6EL Granted
This is a Prior Notification application, submitted under the Town and Country Planning General Development Order 1995, Schedule 2, Part 31. This application is merely a notification to the LPA that demolition is proposed to take place. This type of application enables the LPA an opportunity (within 28 days) to ask for further details, should they be necessary, refuse permission due to lack of detail, or approve, subject to conditions (if appropriate).
The demolition statement indicates that following demolition of the buildings, the site will be left level and clear of all waste material, in preparation for the progression of a redevelopment scheme. The restoration of the site can be safeguarded and secured in the event of planning permission not being forthcoming, or if a contract for the redevelopment of the site is not signed.
Because the demolition is classified as permitted development under Part 31 Class A of the General Permitted Development Order 1995, the objections received to the principle of demolition are not valid and can’t be stated as a reason for refusal of this Prior Notification application. It is truly regrettable that the developer has chosen to submit this Prior Notification application following community consultations events and prior to a full planning application for re-development that could have included demolition. However, these factors can also not be reasons to reject this Prior Notification application. The buildings cultural, historic and aesthetic qualities do not play a part in the determination of this application. Indeed, it should be noted that in 2006, the buildings were formally considered by English Heritage for listing, but were not considered to be of adequate quality;
Pre-commencement conditions
- highway information shall be submitted to and approved, in writing, by the Local Planning Authority:
- Prior to the demolition of the buildings hereby approved, all of the buildings on site should be fully recorded by photographs and this information shall be submitted to and be approved, in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The recording shall be carried out by an archaeologist or archaeological organisation approved by the Local Planning Authority.
Reason: In the interests of recording the buildings prior to demolition in recognition of their cultural and historic significance. - The demolition shall only take place in accordance with the recommendations set out within the submitted Ecology and Bat Survey report (November 2014).
19 January 2015: a rather urgent plea about the imminent demolition of the Edwardian chocolate factory at Greenbank. It occurs to me that BIAS might have access to a drone or whatever they are called to make a last gasp aerial survey of this extensive site. Teachers at the nearby Whitehall Primary School are very fond of this imposing factory which is built on the old factory playing fields. Every year they tell the Year 2 children about the factory and hand out the chocolates! An associated building on the far side of the school is the old sports pavilion which, though once very handsome, now looks semi derelict. Hopefully this has a brighter, possibly residential, future. It amazes me that you can still read the Packers advert on the roof of the factory as you pass Stapleton Road station by train. Alas another bit of old Bristol about to bite the dust.
We have just discovered that Generator South West LLP (the owners/developers of the factory site) put in an application between Xmas and New Year to demolish most of the former chocolate factory. We know that not all local residents want to keep all or any of the old buildings, however this move pre-empts the planning process in a way that gives Bristol City Council planning department no grounds to refuse this application. This means it will almost certainly happen.
What YOU can do: please go to our website Website: https://sites.google.com/site/chocolatefactorybristol/home and read the updates we’ve posted. you can see the plans, and if you wish to, you can comment, whether it’s to formally object, support or even make a neutral comment about this application, at http://planningonline.bristol.gov.uk/online-applications/. Enter 14/06330/N in the search box. If you want to comment, click “Make a Public Comment and do let us know if you make a public comment whether via planning online, or anywhere else, about the demolition application; It will help us to make a better response to Generator and the planning department if we know what people are feeling. This must be before 29 January 2015. You can send us a copy of any emails or letters to greenchoc2@gmail.com and if you use Twitter then add us to any tweets on this subject (we’re @chocbox2 ). You can also comment on our Facebook pages: https://www.facebook.com/greenbank.chocofa or https://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbank-Chocolate-Factory-community-group/508731385860719
also: can you let us know whether you can see official notices about the demolition in the area around the site and let us know by emailing us at greenchoc2@gmail.com can you also let us know if you think there’s been activity on the site already (someone has reported noises to us) if you haven’t already done so have a look at the draft plans the developer last put forward for public consultation (these are on their website www.chocolatefactorybristol.com and you can see from the demolition plan that they must be making further changes to this design) keep checking your emails for more updates! We’ve been told by Meeting Place Communications that Generator will be holding another public consultation event soon to show their revised plans. We’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything.
Thanks for taking the time to read this 🙂
Choc Box 2.0 Community Association
May 2013: Generator South West LLP recently announced that it has purchased the former Elizabeth Shaw Chocolate Factory site in Greenbank, Bristol from the administrators of Square Peg Homes Ltd.
As you may well know, a number of previous planning proposals for the site have failed and, although no firm proposals have been drawn up at this stage, previous high density planning proposals for the site are not viable. Generator South West is committed to working with local stakeholders to embrace and understand local community aspirations, whilst delivering a viable solution.
Earlier this year, we launched a project website to help gather ideas from the local community for how they would like to see the site redeveloped. This website was publicised in the local press, via our dedicated Twitter feed and through the ‘Up Our Street’ newsletter published by the Easton and Lawrence Hill Neighbourhood Partnership. This can be found at: www.chocolatefactorybristol.com
We have been overwhelmed with the response from the local community and their ideas will now form the basis of discussion at two workshop events planned by Generator South West LLP, to which we wish to invite representatives from your organisation to participate in.
We are still very much at an early stage in the design process and therefore no design proposals have been formulated at this stage; however, this will provide an opportunity for the local community to help shape the proposals at this very early stage in the process. The planned workshop exercises will focus on three key elements: architectural design, land uses and site layout, with the outcome of these exercises feeding into the next stage of the design and planning process.