Giant new Bristol youth club given green light

A giant new youth club has been given the go-ahead to be built near a Bristol housing estate.

The Youth Zone is expected to open in 2025 and will include a five-a-side sport pitch and a two-storey building.

Bristol City Council's planners unanimously backed the development close to the Inns Court housing estate in south Bristol.

OnSide, the charity behind the plans, said the planning approval was a "huge step forward".

The site, near the roundabout between Hengrove Way and Hartcliffe Way, will include disabled and minibus parking, an access road and a single-storey storage building.

The club is expected to be open for more than 40 hours a week, offering a range of activities for children and young people, and employability training.

Conservative councillor Richard Eddy said: "This is a great scheme and it's good to see some youth services covering the sticks and the suburbs.

"I'll be supporting this with bells on."

Labour's Fabian Breckels added that giving the scheme the green light was a "no brainer for me".

"We're paying the price for the loss of youth provision across the city that's happened during the austerity years," he added.

Alistair Dale, chief executive of Youth Moves, which will operate the club, said the decision was "amazing news".

He added that it would help them "reach so many more young people".

Some residents in Knowle West had previously objected to the plans because of the loss of open space but nobody living nearby spoke against the plans during the development control meeting.

According to the ALocal Democracy Reporting Service, the site had previously been allocated for new housing, and a planning report indicated that the application would still need government approval to go-ahead.

However, no reference of this was made during the meeting or latest planning report, so it is unclear whether this is still the case.

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