Southmead plan receives £7m from Bristol City Council

A community-led proposal to redevelop the heart of a city suburb is set to receive £7m in council funding.

Bristol City Council has backed the regeneration plans for the Southmead area, home to more than 12,000 people.

Three hundred new homes and a new community centre will be built and Arnside and Glencoyne Square will also be transformed.

However, some open public space will be lost, along with Southmead Youth Centre.

Southmead councillor and cabinet member for housing Helen Godwin praised the scheme, which she said stemmed from the work of two residents who "essentially knocked on every single door in Southmead… and asked every single resident they could get hold of what they wanted to see in the community".

Plans for the first 120 homes, and the new community centre at Glencoyne Square, received planning permission in May 2020.

Bristol City Council cabinet members have now approved spending £7m on the new centre and the temporary moving of Southmead Library.

The money will come from the authority's Strategic Community Infrastructure Levy funds.

The council has agreed to sell the library and youth centre buildings to supermarket chain Aldi.

The chain had threatened to close its Southmead store if it could not expand, which would have jeopardised the regeneration plans according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Southmead Library is set to move into another council-owned building temporarily while the community centre is being built and will then be based at the community centre.

Because of funding issues, the council said there was no plan to replace the youth centre, which includes a private combat gym that now faces closure.

Ms Godwin said: "When so many of our high streets are really, really struggling, and especially after this year, the idea that somewhere like Southmead is getting this injection of money that will lead to real tangible improvements for every generation that lives there is really exciting."

The ruling Labour administration signed off the project on 28 February.