Bristol City Council questioned over sale of land for homes

QUESTIONS are being raised about a land deal at the centre of a major housing plan at Greenbank.

Bristol City Council arranged to sell land – subject to planning permission – next to the Bristol-Bath cycle path to developers Squarepeg.

Architect George Ferguson, for Squarepeg, and the council both say the arrangement was properly reached.

But Conservative councillor Ashley Fox is to question cabinet members at their meeting at 4pm on Thursday, November 27.

"I have no evidence of any wrongdoing," he said.

"But the council doesn't just have to do the right thing. It has to be seen to do it.

"It just seems that the transaction has been conducted in such a manner as to cause the suspicion that we have not done the right thing."

Mr Fox will put his questions to Councillor Rosalie Walker, executive member for culture and healthy communities, and Councillor John Bees, executive member for resources.

He is asking whether "the apparent manner in which the recent sale of parts of the embankment of the railway path was transacted warrants further investigation".

The land is a strip of the embankment at the edge of the old Elizabeth Fry chocolate factory on which Squarepeg wants to build 250 houses and flats.

The homes will include so-called cycle houses, which would be build along the pathway, with access ramps going on to the path.

The four-storey cycle houses will be the first in the country and only the second in Europe outside Holland.

Squarepeg denied any secret deals with the council.

And Mr Ferguson said: "This strip of land is a completely pointless bit of scrub land.

"Yet the sale of it enables what will be one of the most interesting, mixed-use regeneration schemes in the country.

"There's nothing underhand about it, nothing concealed, and I don't have any regrets about anything I've said or written."

A Bristol City Council spokesoman said: "The developer of the chocolate factory is negotiating with the council, which is finalising an in-principle agreement to sell a small strip of land so that some houses could be accessed by bikes from the cycle track.

"The agreement is subject to planning permission and the resolution of all legal issues.

"A planning application is due to be considered by the council so it would not be appropriate to comment further about the merits of the application itself at this stage.

"It is important to stress that the land sale proposed is subject to planning permission and that the environmental impact and any concerns raised from any quarter will be considered at the appropriate time by the area planning committee."