Southmead Regeneration

You may have caught the article in the Bristol Post today about plans to regenerate and rejuvenate the space around Glencoyne Square. Led by the Southmead Development Trust (SDT) in consultation with residents, local groups* got together last summer to try to work out how our area could be improved and, most importantly, how affordable community housing and fair rents could be offered. The groups*, along with our local Councillors, have jointly worked up a plan to improve the shopping area and to build 200-300 new homes. Opportunities to develop in and around Glencoyne Square, by extending Arnside Road and creating a new square, based on Queen’s Square in central Bristol, have now been explored.

The SDT is a charity which exists to support Southmead; its Board of Trustees is made up of local residents and workers who strive for a better Southmead in every respect. The Trust is one of many local partners in the Southmead Community Plan, a vision created for a better community, put together by residents, after an extensive door-to-door survey; affordable housing and a better centre for Southmead were identified as being very badly needed. Community-led Housing is one of many projects underway at the SDT to improve life for everyone here. Money for community projects usually comes via charitable funders, but for this project things would run a little differently. Alex Kittow, Chief Exec at the SDT said, “It would work like a mortgage. The SDT would have to borrow money to build homes so we can then rent them to residents ethically and affordably. Everyone in Southmead deserves decent accommodation, at an affordable price, managed by fair land-lords, and that’s what we’d be. If income was raised from these rents it be put back into the community to fund areas of need such as youth and elderly provision. While no architectural plans have actually been decided on yet, we’re all agreed about the direction in which we’re heading. We’ll keep everyone up-to-date about the project on the community website and the SDT website”.

Find out everything you need to know here PDF icon southmead_town_centre.pdf

Bristol Post article

*Southmead Development Trust; Southmead Community Association; BS10 Parks and Planning, Southmead Steering Group; Southmead Community Plan Steering Group, Councillors Helen Godwin and Brenda Massey.