Council admits illegal Bristol Zoo planning report cost taxpayers £15,000

A legal battle over Bristol council planners misleading councilors over Bristol Zoo’s application to build houses on its car park has cost the taxpayer just under £15,000, it has been revealed.

Bristol City Council has finally revealed the full cost of the legal battle it lost against a group of local residents who successfully challenged the validity of the planning report on the zoo flats scheme and won planning permission cancelled, together with the decision considered illegal. .

Bristol Zoo finally got permission to build 62 flats on its west car park on College Road, next to the zoo, but only after it had to resubmit its scheme and council officers had to write a new report.

Read more: Bristol Zoo car park housing plans approved despite huge objections

Read more: Plans to build 62 homes on former Bristol Zoo car park deemed illegal

The first time council planners presented a report to councilors on the Bristol Zoo scheme, it was recommended for approval. The planners’ report said that overall Historic England “did not object to the application”, before summarizing concerns about the scheme that the government’s heritage body had.

But Historic England’s position on the development was that their concerns about too many large blocks of flats being built too close to some of the historic terraced houses in Clifton needed to be addressed before they judged the plan to “meet the requirements” of national planning policies which protect heritage sites.

Councilors were not told this and gave Bristol Zoo planning permission in September 2021. Bristol Zoo said the development of the western car park was essential to kick-start the funding and the process that eventually led to on the closure of the zoo, with the main site being prepared for development and expansion of the zoo’s out-of-town Easter Compton site.

The Clifton and Hotwells Improvement Society (CHIS), a group of local residents, took the council to court, claiming its officers had misled councilors by failing to tell them Historic England was in fact opposed to the proposal .

CHIS won the case and the High Court quashed the planning permission in June 2022. The zoo’s application had to go through the planning process again, but eventually got permission.

Following a freedom of information request, the council revealed it had racked up £4,775 in legal costs defending the case and was also ordered to pay £10,000 in legal costs incurred by CHIS.

A year ago, in June 2023, Bristol Zoo announced that it had sold the West Car Park site – with planning permission – to developers The Hill Group – who are now going ahead to build the 62 flats.