Plans approved for controversial Bristol viewing pod
Concerns had been raised over how it would impact the city's skyline
Last updated 16th Apr 2021
Plans for a 79-metre tall viewing pod that will tower above We The Curious in Bristol have been approved by councillors.
The decision came unanimously despite a planning officer recommending refusal, saying he had serious concerns about how it would clash with the nearby Cathedral.
All eight members of the city council’s development control committee voted last night (Thursday, April 15) to grant permission for the controversial moving observation capsule despite objections from Historic England that it would ruin views.
The tourist attraction will take up to 42 passengers on a 20-minute “flight” up to 67 metres above Bristol via a pivot moored in Anchor Square, although the top of the structure will be 12 metres higher than the cabin itself.
t will be solar powered, move at 5mph, operate up to 18 hours a day, attract between 250,000 and 330,000 visitors a year and boost the local economy by £13.3million, with about 10 per cent of trips given for free or subsidised to people from deprived areas.
But a Bristol City Council planning officer told the committee there was “serious concern” about the visual harm to heritage assets, including the Grade I-listed cathedral, Grade II*-listed abbey buildings alongside it and three conservation areas.
“Taken together that is a lot of harm, it will have an adverse impact and it is on such a scale that it is not outweighed by the public benefits,” he said.
The officer said the view from Park Street would be an “alien shape and structure coming behind the medieval cathedral which would really change the whole feel and ambience of the church”, adding that the old and new would “clash very badly”.
He said the Arc’s design was “innovative and unique” but that the reaction had been very mixed, with some seeing it like the natural historic movement of masts and sails in the harbour but others as detrimental to the skyline.
Business leaders though, tourism chiefs and even the Dean of Bristol Cathedral have offered widespread support for the plans, which are from Arc Global and We The Curious.
Hotwells & Harbourside ward Cllr Mark Wright told the meeting he was baffled by the recommendation to refuse, adding: “The Arc will put Bristol on the map in a way that Brunel would have loved.”
Transport campaigner David Redgewell said the objections from Historic England and the Victorian Society were “heritage gone mad”.
Committee member Cllr Richard Eddy said officers’ advice to reject the application made him feel like he was “living in a parallel universe”.
“If this committee was receiving an application for Brunel’s suspension bridge, I do wonder whether it would be recommended for refusal,” he said.
“This application is for a graceful, stylish and elegant structure, and the fact it is 100 per cent solar powered should be a real boon for us.
“The economic, educational and tourism boost this could give Bristol is immense.
“We should grasp this with both hands.
“I sincerely believe our city centre heritage assets will actually be enhanced by this and not damaged.”
Cllr Fabian Breckels said the Arc could be compared with the London Eye and the i360 in regency Brighton which had both changed the skyline without harm.
He said: “Millennium Square is already a mash-up of the historic and the brand new.
“It is quite a fabulous mix. I love it down there.
“We need to be courageous and brave and support this.
“This is striking, it’s different, it’s completely sustainable. If it doesn’t work it can be easily taken down.
“It’s very Bristol, it’s the unique thing that could give us the kind of shot in the arm economically we are going to need as a city coming out of this Covid depression.
“I have to support this. It is a brilliant, exciting thing, and to throw it out and the potential regeneration would be incredibly unwise of us.
“The skyline of Bristol is already changing. Things happen, stuff changes and that’s how cities evolve.
“This is just another stage of our evolution as a city and we should give it our wholehearted support.”
Cllr Fi Hance said: “It is completely bonkers and nothing would make me set foot on that thing but I am happy to vote for it.”
Cllr Lesley Alexander said: “Bristol has so often been behind the curve on these things so we should grab this and support it in every way we can.”
It is understood that the application is not subject to be called-in by the secretary of state for re-examination despite Historic England’s objections.
An Arc spokesperson said afterwards they were “delighted” members had overturned officers’ advice.