Skip to content

FAQs

We have addressed some of your most common questions.

The Frome Gateway project is a long-term development project that will shape the comprehensive regeneration of an area of St. Jude’s, Bristol. The project aims to manage the transformation the area into a thriving mixed-use and sustainable neighbourhood including new homes, employment, community and cultural space, to help accommodate Bristol’s growing population and economy. You can read more about the project here.

The project area is to the edge of the St. Jude’s neighbourhood in East Bristol – a map of the area can be viewed here.

In 2019 we started a conversation with local residents, businesses and community groups in the area to better understand their aspirations for the future of Frome Gateway. The key outcome of these conversations was the creation of a set of ‘Place Principles’ which were developed by the community and set out main challenges and opportunities for the area.

After a pause because of the COVID-19 pandemic, our conversations with local people re-started in 2022. The main purpose of our work between January and May 2022 has been a two-way flow of information between stakeholders and the project team. We have been listening to users, residents and interested parties to find out what is important to people about the Frome Gateway, what they like, and what could be better. Simultaneously, we have been re-introducing the project and sharing the degree of involvement and influence the community will have on the various design elements of the Regeneration Framework (Insert link to scope of community influence).

To facilitate this information exchange we arranged a number of community events, including two re-launch workshops, Story of Place mapping and site walkabouts. We also launched our project website which includes key project information and an interactive map for people to share content, experience, and ideas.

The second stage of the project began in June 2022 and focused on sharing what we had learnt, how we had understood it, and how it was informing the project. Through a series of engagement events and opportunities, we worked with the community, landowners and developers to refine the regeneration framework proposals.

In the third stage of the project…

We are now in the consultation phase…

After consultation has been completed we will…

You can read more about engagement to date here.

Bristol City Council is bringing forward this project in response to a number of factors:

  • Growing interest from the private sector to bring forward new development in this area - Landowners and developers are looking to invest in the area and bring forward residential-led developments. By creating a Regeneration Framework to guide long-term change in the area, we can ensure that developments are considered more fully in relation to each other and in their wider context. We can also make sure that areas experiencing significant change are supported by the physical and community infrastructure required to enable growth and provide benefits for the existing and future community.
  • Changing planning policy - Frome Gateway has been identified as an Area of Growth and Regeneration in the council’s emerging Local Plan. This is due to its proximity to Bristol city centre and the presence of underused land which provides the opportunity for comprehensive regeneration in a sustainable location. By building in a central location, we can protect green spaces around and outside the city, as well as making it easier for people to walk, cycle or catch public transport to jobs, leisure and retail centres.

Regeneration Frameworks integrate city planning, transport and design thinking to establish a long-term vision and strategy for change for an area. They tend to be prepared for areas where a lot of change is anticipated over a long period of time (e.g., 10-15 years). Regeneration Frameworks are made up of a series of principles or regeneration objectives to guide long-term change and are supported by plans and diagrams to show proposals for future movement networks, land use and density, and public and open spaces, for example.

By bringing key stakeholders, landowners, developers and the community together around a single long-term vision for change, Regeneration Frameworks help avoid lots of planning applications being submitted without consideration of the wider vision for the area, which can result in piecemeal development that fails to deliver a coherent and high-quality new area. For example, by having a Regeneration Framework in place, regeneration projects are better placed to ensure that the right number of affordable homes, active travel (walking and cycling) links and community spaces are planned for in a joined-up way between different developers and areas of land within the Framework area.

The framework will allow the council to make the most of these opportunities the development:

  • Supporting the local and city economy - new development will help support the local and city economy, including Stapleton Road, as well as delivering a range of other uses including work, community, and cultural spaces, which are vital to building vibrant communities.
  • Responding to climate and ecological emergencies – Better quality houses, public spaces and walking, cycling, and public transport connections will help to make it easier for residents to live more environmentally friendly lifestyles and help us to prepare for the impacts of climate change including greater occurrence of flood events and heat waves.
  • Directing local investment to reduce inequality – there is a recognised need for investment in this area which better supports local communities to access jobs and training, better quality housing, improve health and wellbeing, and reduce inequality.
  • Solving the housing crisis – Bristol needs to build homes in response to the housing crisis. Bristol’s Draft Local Plan commits the city to deliver at least 33,500 new homes by 2036 to support Bristol’s growing population and meet this housing need.

By taking this area-wide and holistic approach to managing change, Regeneration Frameworks can help us to overcome and respond to complex challenges which extend beyond individual landownerships. For example, building resilience to future flood risk because of climate change will be a particular design challenge at Frome Gateway which will require us to consider options for managing this holistically across the whole regeneration area rather than individual sites trying to deal with this issue alone. Another very important consideration is the transition from the existing to the future mix of uses of the site, and how we can ensure we are protecting employment space which is plays a critical role in the community and the city.

Once complete, the Framework will be taken to Bristol City Council’s Cabinet for formal endorsement after which point it will become a material consideration in the planning process. When planning applications come forward in Frome Gateway, the Local Planning Authority determine applications based their adherence to guidance set out in the Framework alongside other considerations such as planning policies in the Local Plan. The Framework will also guide the council’s decisions on the future use its own landholdings in the area.

Large projects of this nature are complex can take a long time for physical changes to be delivered. This project is aiming to co-ordinate the regeneration of the Frome Gateway area over the next 10-15 years. The first step in the project is developing the Regeneration Framework, which we are now consulting on. We are aiming for formal endorsement by Bristol City Council Cabinet in early 2024.

The project is being led by the Regeneration Team at Bristol City Council. The intention is that the Regeneration Framework is co-designed, bringing together the expertise of the local community who understand what it is like to live and work in the neighbourhood, with the expertise of designers and other technical experts from the council and other organisations who will translate local aspirations into an achievable and deliverable plan for the area. Landowners, developers and statutory bodies (such as the Environmental Agency) will be involved in this process to help co-develop the future vision for the area and ensure what is set out in the framework is realistic and overcomes site-specific challenges and opportunities.

There have been various stages of engagement over during 2022 and 2023, including design workshops, exhibitions and a period of formal public consultation. We will deliver a mix of in-person and online engagement events to maximise opportunities for people to participate. You can find out more about our programme of engagement events here.

It will be the responsibility of individual landowners and developers to develop detailed designs and planning applications for their respective sites, in line with the framework. Individual planning applications will be subject to further community and stakeholder engagement as they come forward and we will work with landowners and developers to ensure proposals are individual sites within the framework area are publicised as much as possible to the community.

It’s important to us that the Regeneration Framework is informed by the views of the local community, to make sure it’s responding to local need. We have been working hard to design the project in such a way that provides meaningful opportunities for the community to engage with and influence the framework, because we recognise the local community know what it is like to live and work in the are better than anyone. We are proposing to do this through a co-design approach which brings together the expertise of the local community with the expertise of designers and other technical experts from the council and other organisations who will translate local aspirations into an achievable and deliverable plan for the area.

However, it is important to remember that long-term regeneration projects like this are complex and have many influencing factors. When producing Regeneration Frameworks, it is crucial that we are guided and advised by the expertise and specialist knowledge of a range of stakeholder groups, including the local community (who know the local area better than anyone else), as well as urban design, master planning and technical professionals. Regeneration Frameworks also need to integrate considerations such as planning policy, strategic city objectives and initiatives, landowner aspirations and development economics and viability (to make sure proposals are deliverable).

To help build openness and transparency about the elements of the Regeneration Framework the community has most influence on, we have produced a ‘Community Scope of Influence’ document.

The best way to stay informed on what’s happening is by signing up to our project mailing list. We will also keep this website up to date throughout the course of the project.

The Regeneration Framework is available for feedback: follow this link to see the proposals.

At this stage we do not know how many new homes will be built, however the Draft Local Plan says that this area could accommodate at least 1,000 new homes (which must include a mix of types, sizes and tenures).

The number of affordable homes will be determined by planning policy.

We understand the local need for affordable family homes and we seeking to develop local lettings policies to help with this.

At this stage we are unable to confirm the profile of workspace which will be created.  Draft Policy DS5: Frome Gateway in the Local Plan Review sets out that workspace which provides a range of employment uses will be part of the future mix of uses. We are committed to working closely with businesses to involve them in shaping plans for the area. The future mix of uses will be determined through the design process and influenced by a number of different factors, including consultation with the community and local businesses.

If you are a local business, we will have sent you a letter in the post in December 2021 with a link to a business survey to complete so that we can get to know your business better. You can also get in touch with our Economic Development team by contacting either of the following officers:

Bristol City Council’s Economic Development and Property teams provide support for businesses in the city who are looking for premises, including by helping with searches for appropriate premises. You can contact either of the following:

As this work commences and we better understand what the appropriate future economic mix of the site looks like, we will have a better understanding of what the impact on individual existing businesses will be and will be able to tailor and adapt the support we can provide.

Yes, it will be important that we work with landowners and interested developers in the project area to help inform the development of the regeneration framework as it’s produced. In December 2021 we posted letters to landowners and known developers in the area to ask them to register their contact details with us, so we can involve them in the process. If you haven’t received a letter and you want to register your details with us, please contact Marc Cooper, Project Manager of the Frome Gateway regeneration (marc.cooper@bristol.gov.uk)

Service provision is considered at both plan making and planning application stages. Bristol’s Local Plan will be developed with the full input of city stakeholders including health, education and other service providers to ensure growth and regeneration is supported by supporting facilities.

As part of the development of the Regeneration Framework we analysed the need and capacity of community infrastructure. There appears to be no need for additional schools. We continue to work with the local NHS integrated care board so that GP and other healthcare provision meets the needs of the existing and new populations. 

As part of the planning process, developers are required to help fund the cost of improved or new infrastructure through the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) or Section 106 planning obligations.

The council has prepared a ‘Framework Flood Risk Assessment’ FRA (2020) to inform the preparation of this Regeneration Framework. It highlights that much of the area is prone to flooding meaning that those sites won’t be able to be developed for housing without flood mitigation measures in place. We’ll be working closely with the Environment Agency to explore options to better protect the area from flooding. While we are at a very early stage of this long-term project, we fully expect that as part of any proposals for the area, developers will need to show how they will reduce flood risk as part of their designs. 

Bristol City Council is working with South Gloucestershire Council, Wessex Water and the Environment Agency to secure partnership funding through the Frome Catchment Innovation Programme (read the press release here). This project will explore the potential for improvements along the River Frome catchment, including within the Frome Gateway regeneration area, to increase resilience to flooding, support biodiversity, and improve access to the river for the local community.

While we are at a very early stage of this long-term project, we fully expect that as part of any proposals for the area, developers will need to show how they will reduce flood risk as part of their designs.

We know how important local green spaces are to residents and we are not proposing any development on Riverside Park. Through the regeneration of the area, we aim to improve the quality of the park so that it can be better used and enjoyed by all. We also have the aims of increasing resilience to flooding, supporting biodiversity and enhancing access to nature, and so as part of the Frome Catchment Innovation Programme (see question above), options to do this will be explored at Frome Gateway. While it’s too early for us to know, this could mean changes to some parts of the park as it meets the river.

Through the engagement programme, the community will be given the opportunity to share their thoughts and hopes for the future of Riverside Park.

We’re aware that there are many different initiatives underway in the area, including the River Frome Reconnected project, the City Centre Regeneration Framework and the Clean Air Zone.

Plans for the regeneration of the Frome Gateway area will be developed with these in mind to ensure changes are cohesive and co-ordinated.

There are a number of landowners in the wider neighbourhood who are keen to progress development projects or are already in the process of doing so. We are aware of schemes currently being prepared such as Dove Lane, Unity Street, Soap Works, Trinity Police Station.

As part of the framework development process, we will explore how these various proposals interact, to ensure that regeneration of the wider area is coherent and benefits Bristol’s citizens.

This project has been initiated in part because of growing interest from landowners and developers within the regeneration area to bring forward land for redevelopment.

Through our landowner and developer engagement work, we aim to work in collaboration with landowners and developers to provide meaningful opportunities to engage with the process, and to build long-term relationships with them so that we can work together towards delivering our shared ambitions for the area.

Through this engagement we will actively encourage landowners and developers not to submit premature planning applications in advance of the framework being complete and endorsed by Cabinet.

However, the Council is not able to stop developers or landowners submitting a planning application while we are producing the regeneration framework and there is a risk this could happen.

We are trying to make contact with landowners in the project area so we can involve them in the process. If you are a landowner/developer with an interest in the area and you haven’t received a letter from us, please contact Marc Cooper, Project Manager of the Frome Gateway regeneration (marc.cooper@bristol.gov.uk).

The needs of young people have been highlighted as a priority in early engagement. Whilst there are a number of organisations that provide youth activities/facilities locally (including the Horn Youth and Riverside Youth Project), the emerging local view is that change in the area should aim to provide job and apprenticeship opportunities for young people living in the surrounding communities and to improve local facilities for young people, children and families.

As part of the development of the regeneration framework, we are exploring options for these facilities and new/improved community spaces as part of the wider proposals for the area. A bespoke Employment Land & Skills Strategy has been produced as a key evidence base informing the Regeneration Framework, which makes recommendations for overcoming local barriers to training and employment.

We understand the importance of providing good quality public open space in the heart of the city. We recognise that current open space provision in the area is low and that some of the local spaces are difficult to access. The regeneration framework outlines how new development can contribute to the enhancement of existing public open spaces like Riverside Park and Peel Street open space, and how the regeneration of the area could provide new public open space.

Early engagement has highlighted that many people consider the area to be/feel unsafe due to poor lighting and drug use as well as busy roads and fast-moving traffic. Workshops have already been undertaken with pupils at one of the local primary schools to understand these concerns more fully from a child’s perspective. We are also keen to engage with other groups and individuals to further understand concerns. This information will then be used to inform the design of new development and public realm to ‘design-out’ opportunities for crime. For example, new homes will mean more ‘eyes onto the street’.