David Bishop doesn’t want to be profiled. Sitting in his dated but functional office in Brunel House, Bristol city council’s new director of planning, transport and sustainable development stares across the table with a look of intense, gritty determination.
“I want to make it clear from the start,” he says, before the first question is asked, “I am not in charge of planning. It is not about me, it’s about the team.”
This he continually stresses. He, himself, does not have a vision for Bristol – the team does. In fact, he refuses to be interviewed without his political counterpart, Councillor Anne White, by his side and he looks uncomfortable when asked to pose for photos alone. The team, it seems, is all important.
That is at odds with requests from city businesses. “We want strong leadership in Bristol, not just through the team,” says David Skinner, CBRE’s South West chairman and chair of an informal liaison group between the property industry and the council. “We want him to become a chief guru so that we can sell that vision on to occupiers and potential investors. If it is all politically led, then that is disappointing.”
Bishop’s own staff spell out the situation more bluntly. “He’s very conscious he’s the new boy, and he does not want to overshadow elected members,” they say.
Given Bristol council’s history, many onlookers question whether such heavy political control is wise. Bishop joins a council that has been wracked with scandal, doubt and political infighting.
The Liberal Democrats, leaders of the council, overthrew the Labour party’s historic control of the local authority in 2002. Local elections in May 2003 produced a hung council and weeks of wrangling over power sharing ensued. In June, a tri-party coalition was formed with Lib Dem leader Barbara Janke taking nominal leadership. She resigned in November 2004 after a political row between council members over allegations of vote rigging by a Lib Dem councillor, but returned as leader following a close contest in this May’s elections.
That history of fractious and marginal control has left its scars on the city’sdevelopment.
Bristol residents wait for action
For example, Broadmead, the town’s flagship and much-needed retail extension, finally got under way last month – 30 years after it was first proposed. Bristol’s residents waited a similar amount of time for progress on its Arena site. Harbourside took nearer 40 years.
This slowness has meant that the council’s relationship with developers, investors and agents has been battered and bruised.
Enter Bishop. He has high hopes of continuing the city’s tradition of achieving the highest standards in architecture. His extended remit to cover transport is already gathering pace (see p37) and, with more than 1.5m sq ft of office development in the pipeline in the city centre, the council’s attention will now turn to the suburbs (see separate panel, p37).
But saying that Bishop has stepped into one of the most undesirable jobs in property is an understatement in the extreme.
Although reluctant to go on the record, local developers and agents freely trade stories about London developers which refuse to head west to Bristol because they have been put off by the planning uncertainty.
Says one: “There have been several high-profile refusals over the past year that have surprised developers, not because we believe we have a God-given right to develop but because, after extensive and costly consultations, and advice that a certain scheme would be recommended, it’s been turned down. We’d prefer to be told when we are going the wrong way so we can amend our plans.”
Politicians agree. Helen Holland, leader of the council’s Labour group, says: “There’s a view that the Lib Dems are very oppositional to development, and it undermines confidence in the city. I personally have had developers coming to me concerned about it.
“The Lib Dems have to show leadership and be willing to push ahead when the going gets tough. Unless there is the action that gives confidence back to developers, there’s a worry that Bristol won’t maintain its position in relation to other cities and regions,” she adds.
So, real or perceived, has the sacred bond of trust between council and developer been, if not broken, critically damaged?
The council is clearly fed up with this question. Bishop’s press aide rolls his eyes and jumps in to defend the council’s position, stating that the idea is an outdated criticism put around by “one or two” developers. Precautions need to be taken, he boldly asserts, as Bristol is an historic city, “the gem of the UK”.
Pointing to the latest development control statistics – which show Bristol city council to be 5% over government targets, which state that 60% of major applications should be determined within 13 weeks, and that the target of 65% of minor applications must be seen within eight weeks – the aide adds: “In the first four months of this year, we have determined 78 major applications. I am not aware of any significant or unreasonable hold-ups. Our record for refusing applications is similar to the national average of other core cities.
“These figures scotch the idea that we are anti-development. We have developers queuing up to come here – we’re just not desperate. Once developers got their act together on Harbourside, everything went like clockwork, but they wanted to put sheds on our historic waterfront.”
Bishop sits quietly while these remarks are made. He seems reluctant to become embroiled in the debate. He is not old-school Bristol, having spent nine years in council planning across the divide in Wales.
A welcoming home for development
Bishop prefers, instead, to turn to a clean page. When asked about delays on Harbourside, he says: “But it is a fantastic development, isn’t it?
“Yes, there were conflicting interests in bringing this development forward, but we ended up with a quality development.”
He dismisses the suggestion that the current environment of uncertainty has been hugely damaging for Bristol. “I don’t think it is damaging,” he says. “If there are perceived barriers to progress, then I want to meet with developers to remove them. We want to be seen as a welcoming home for development – I want to create a presumption that Bristol is in favour of development.” His door is always open, he states.
Behind the scenes, the council has undergone major restructuring, bringing planning and transport together. Bishop has appointed two employees who will join Steve Parry, the acting head of planning, who has now become Bishop’s deputy. The council opted to leave the central role of economic development under separate control, something which has drawn criticism from the business community in the past.
Bishop feels planning and transport work “hand and glove” with economic development, controlled by council leader Janke. “The raison d’être for restructuring the cabinet is to give clear political leadership,” he says. “The will to promote Bristol is clear.”
Bristol will continue to set out the city’s stall as a high-class home for the best in design, he says. He is impressed by results at Temple Quay, Queen’s Square and Harbourside, citing the last as one of the country’s best developments. “But I’m not insular and I have half an eye on what is happening around Britain. I’ve been very impressed, for example, by the work of Urban Splash.”
He cites The Tobacco Factory, on Raleigh Road in Ashton, saved from demolition by local architect George Ferguson, who put in a 17,500 sq ft restaurant, 9,500 sq ft of offices and 14 homes.
Bishop wants to see more of such schemes and, with much of the city centre jigsaw in place, he wants to focus efforts on a suburban strategy.
“We want to narrow the gap between the haves and the have-nots of Bristol,” he says. “Some areas of Bristol don’t have the employment sites or the good transport links. We want 21st-century transport and to be a top European city with high-quality urban design. It will take a few years but what we don’t want is bog-standard streetscapes.”
Something makes you believe that, when it comes to development, Bristol will never be bog standard.
OM from box , including the Tobacco Factory in Imperial Park, and an education campus at Hartcliffe
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Age 47 Career April 2005 to present Director of planning, transport and sustainable development, Bristol city council 2000-05 Group director, environmental services, Rhondda Cynon Taf county borough council 1995-2000 Assistant director, technical services, Swansea city council 1986-95 Principal engineer, London borough of Camden Education 1991 MBA Henley Management College |
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The council, bouncing back from its failed attempt to gain government backing for a tram system, launched a £500m Greater Bristol transport study at the end of last month. This 26-year plan will update the city’s transport system. Improvements will need government backing – and funding – but David Bishop, Bristol city council’s director of planning, transport and sustainable development, says the council is getting “good positive sounding from government” and expects to get the go-ahead this year. Bristol has launched a £68m bus network. One-third of this value will come from Firstbus, which will run the network and park-and-ride sites, providing what Bishop calls a main plank of the transportation plans. The remainder will be funded by contributions from the government and developers through planning gain. The council is looking for £42m from central government and £6m from developers. The four authorities in the West of England are separately developing a joint local transport plan. |
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The city centre jigsaw is falling into place, says Bristol city council, and focus is now on the suburbs. The council says there is little appetite from neighbouring local authorities to develop in the north of the city, and attention will focus on the south of the centre. This was highlighted in Bristol city council’s URBAN programme and regeneration initiative set to run from 2000 to 2006. Councillor Anne White, executive member for economic development and regeneration, lists the inability of residents to buy homes due to house price inflation as a barrier to growth. “That means people live further out of city and have to come in by car,” she says. Citing the urban renaissance agenda to encourage the provision of homes and good infrastructure, White says: “That is what we need to make Bristol a major European city. But we aren’t like northern cities like Manchester, where it is eight miles to reach our suburbs – they are part of the fabric of the city.” Five key sites – Symes Avenue, Filwood Broadway, Hengrove Park, Hartcliffe Campus and Imperial Park – provide “tremendous” opportunities for mixed development and plans are under way for large parts of these. Housing will become a high priority. Bishop says city-centre development has swallowed up residential space. “We need thousands of dwellings. Not all these can be housed in the city centres, so the subregions will take the focus,” he says. Changing demographics are partly to blame here, and Bishop says new developments will reflect the trend that less space is needed per dwelling. |
