“Just a quick clarification - It is St Peter's Church which is a memorial to victims of the blitz, not St Mary le Port. St Peter's Church and the area immediately next to it will not be affected by the St Mary le Port proposal. St Mary le Port church is the tower (currently closed off to public access) in the middle of the Norwich Union and old Bank of England buildings. It is this area, and some immediately adjacent areas of open space, which would be developed under the St Mary le Port proposals, not St Peter's Church.”

“June,very nice posting,with only one error,if this were a suburb of London we would have more frequent buses,and the fares would be on average 61% cheaper.”

“I was taught the old church was left as it was so folk could remember the horrors of the bombing in the war. There are many memorials for those in the services who paid the ultimate price yet very few for the civillians who also perished. Whilst some urban growth is required there does seem to be a madness of building in Bristol with very little of the city I grew up to love left, Castle Park is the only green space left on that side of town, everthing else is grey concrete, it's depressing. Not everyone can cope with the canned noise of the shopping malls and the press of the crowds so I always head for Castle Park for lunch, and if it's raining I am the nutter sat under the brolly having a picnic. Castle Park is a haven of tranquility in an otherwise noisy bustling place please don't destroy that too just to make the developers a quick profit. Alot of ordinary Bristolians feel marginalised by the influx of wealthy Londoners turning Bristol into a suburb of London, we're the ones waiting for a bus for two hours to get home, we're not rich but we still love the city we were born in.
Dom'nic raises a valid point that it is one of the oldest parts of the city, Bristol's other cultural histories are well covered yet Alfred the Great is merely a passing chapter at the local mueseum. I've lost track how many tourist attractions lay claim to "Arthur", yet we have Alfred, a proven documented King and we do nothing to glory in that part of our heritage, or even tell the tourists much about it. We really don't need any more food courts, there's quite alot already. The same is true of shops or is the council trying to drive out the stallholders at the market too so that can be developed next? What we are lacking is a heritage centre that tells the Story of the City of Bristol, the founding of a fortified city which bridged two counties, one of the earliest mints in the country, a king who valued education and knowledge,and held off the vikings when others failed. Yes there were other more evocative time periods in Bristol's history, the pirates, the slave trade but scandalously little on the early years. By all means knock down the derelict buildings and build on their footprint, that in itself is a very Bristolian approach yet do not encroach further on Castle Park, it's a very special place if only the council had the wit to realise it. I am not protesting on the streets, I am merely pointing out that Bristol does have a heritage that goes back over 1500 years as a city, and if the councils allowed to turn that bit into yet another carpark the people of Bristol will have sold their heritage cheap to the lowest bidder yet again.”

“why can't they just build somehtign new on the footprint of the derelict site and leave any of the green space as is.”

“Here we go again, I was sure that the land around the church was left clear as a tribute to those who died in the bombing raids during WWII. So long as they leave that area and the large part of the green i don't have any problem with the Council raising the derelict buildings to the ground and relpacing them with something much more in character and useful.
Perhaps a museum, restaurants and extension to the fabulous markets that are happening in St Nicholas would be recommended.”

“How about building a walk in centre for all the addicts?”

“Spot on, chrisB”

“I'd far rather see just over half an acre of parkland built on, derelict buildings rebuilt and park facilities improved than keep the same amount of second rate space and turn away improvements for another decade.”

“Brilliant idea to get rid of these empty buildings. I used to work in the Lloyds building, overlooking this green area. To to quite honest the only time it is really used, to any great extent, is the rare occurance of the sun coming out and people sit on the grass and have their lunch (or have heavy pettiung sessions, as we unfortunately had to witness many a time! - ruddy funny though). To be honest, yes it's nice to have a green space, but ione of its main uses is to walk through from Bristol Bridge, and not have to go around the pathway, as it is a lot further. If we could re-develop this area and only lose half a acre of grass, good! Do it. Sadly though I do think it will be more shops, it is afterall in a main shopping area! What else could go there that would really help the area, quite agree that it would be good to see something decent after Temple Meads if you come into town from that direction!”

“We don't need yet more shops.

There are empty shops all around the city centre, with even more empty now Cabot Circus has opened. Heading into a recession will reduce the amount of shops we can support, so lets stop talking about building on our extremely valuable and much needed green space.”