Kingsdown news

Referring to the proposals to demolish the Eugene Street flats in favour of car parking mentioned in your recent bulletin.

I do hope that KCG will oppose this development. There are ample grounds for doing so.
The present buildings are intrinsically of merit as examples of “Peabody Trust” type property. Properly maintained and with slight adaptions, they could continue to house people; in Bristol housing is needed, rather than cars. Such properties in London are expensive and now highly sought after and this is the best example we have in Bristol.

The introduction of yet more cars to one of the most highly polluted parts of the city is undesirable. The hospital has effectively turned its existing car parking at the Montague Hill/ Deighton St. junction into a public car park and no longer one exclusively for staff and patients. The car park off Montague Hill is the same. This has the effect of decanting their staff and visitor parking onto surrounding streets, the current mess on Horfield Road is an example. Current proposals for parking modifications contain an ominous line, which suggests that a quantity of street parking would be reserved for hospital staff.

The whole area abutting the route between Deighton Street and Kingsdown Parade via Marlborough Hill is a dangerous nightmare. Huge delivery trucks use the route to access hospital goods delivery points in the maintenance yard, King Edward Yard and whatever yard they have at the end of Kingsdown Parade. The turn into Montague Hill South is extremely dangerous, with too great a traffic volume and over large vehicles and is a peril for pedestrians. A generally bad situation is compounded by the frequency and size of delivery trucks to Tesco Metro.

The proposed car park would bring considerable traffic and attendant pollution in very close proximity to the small park and children’s play area adjacent to Carolina House. There are also now large numbers of children using this area in order to get to and from St. Michael’s Primary School and Cotham School.

The Health Trust will in its planning application make great promises regarding the aesthetic appearance of the building and screening to ameliorate any unsightly aspects. I am sorry to say that such assurances are not worth the paper on which they are written. Developments over the last twenty or so years (e.g. the Radio Pharmacy elevations along Marlborough Hill Place, the Oxygen Plant abutting Dove St. South and the Car Park on Marlborough Hill) amply demonstrate that promises to effectively screen unsightly installations, including parking are hollow and implausible at best they are perfunctory and implausible.
This proposal and is long mooted and, no doubt with its attendant signage, will further erode the character and pleasantness of Kingsdown.
Best wishes
Hugh Adams