Major plans for Ashton Gate Sporting Quarter recommended for approval
The plans will be discussed by Bristol City Council officers on October 5
Major plans to develop the area around Bristol's Ashton Gate Stadium have been recommended for approval.
Bristol Sport, which owns the Bristol Bears rugby team, Bristol City Football Club and the Bristol Flyers basketball side, wants to build a 3,600 seater sports and convention centre, hotel and multi storey car park on the site, as well as shops, office space and homes.
The plans were first revealed in 2018 and will finally go before Bristol City Council's Planning Committee on Wednesday 5 October.
Steve Lansdown CBE is Bristol Sport's founder.
“It’s great to finally have it after being delayed a few times previously," he said.
"Everything is in place, and we are ready to go, we are just looking forward to getting on with it."
The idea is that the sports and convention centre will primarily act as the home for the Bristol Flyers, who currently play at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College.
It will also be able to host major conferences and other sporting events though, including boxing, darts and tennis, during the Flyers' off season.
"We saw how exciting the Flyers are on Friday night," Lansdown added.
"It’s always a great occasion but we talk about the crowd there and we can only get about 500 or 600 or so and selling out every week, but what if we can have three or nearly four thousand here at Ashton Gate, it will transform the sport and the area.”
Business leaders and politicians in the city have backed the plans.
"We have been following the development of the Ashton Gate Sporting Quarter closely as it will act as a catalyst for increasing the value of the visitor economy of the city, especially in the south of the city, providing new facilities that are desperately needed for both leisure and business visitors," a written statement from Visit West, reads.
"The proposed facilities will support the elevation of Bristol to a tier one business events destination.
"For too long Bristol has lost out to other cities like Cardiff and Birmingham due to a lack of larger conferencing and events facilities with onsite hotels."
They say the development will also "hugely strengthen" Bristol's role as a cultural, sporting and economic centre in the South West.
If the convention centre is built, it would give the Bristol Flyers the third largest home venue in the British Basketball League.
"Having our own home venue will mean we can compete at the highest possible level, attracting larger crowds and growing the sport," Flyers head coach Andreas Kapoulas said.
"It will have a positive impact on the city too as we will be able to host major finals and European games – none of which are possible from our current home at SGS.
“The Bristol Sport Foundation, along with Flyers, Robins and Bears Community Foundations are all based at Ashton Gate.
"This development will ensure their offering to the community is able to expand and grow, with a commitment from the Bristol Sport Foundation to provide 40,000 hours of accessible space for sport for the community."
Bristol's Mayor Marvin Rees has also given the idea his "full support".
"Worth in the region of around £200m the proposals include more community facilities, greater pedestrianisation, and hundreds of new homes, whilst retaining green space and aiming for a biodiversity net gain," he said.
“This investment meets a need that’s been identified and talked about for some time, and will further strengthen Bristol’s role as the cultural, sporting, and economic centre of our region.”
As well as the huge development idea for Ashton Gate, Bristol Sport want to build the new homes on a former landfill site at Longmoor.
You can read more about the proposals for the Ashton Gate Sporting Quarter here and for Longmoor here.