Height restriction Ex-mayor's joy at halt in tower blocks 'stampede'

THE sudden halt in the drive to build high-rise flats on Bristol's industrial sites has been welcomed by the city's former mayor, who said he was "heartened" to discover that a "perfect storm" was putting the brakes on the construction of tall residential buildings in the city.

- Tristan CORK

George Ferguson said he had been "battling my successor's stampede into high-rise housing" saying it was doing "damage" to established Bristol communities.

The architect, who was Bristol's first directly-elected mayor back in 2012, said the city should take the opportunity to switch to a different philosophy of building thousands of homes, and that "good can come out of this perfect storm".

Last month it was reported that major property developers who were leading the drive to build thousands of new homes in high rise flats on industrial sites from St Pauls and Fishponds to St Judes, Temple Meads and Bedminster, were discovering a 'perfect storm' of economics, increased regulation and bureaucracy, and increased costs.

Perhaps the biggest indication of the switch being flipped on Bristol's high-rise housing boom came when an industrial estate between Bedminster and Temple Meads was sold to an investor who wanted to keep it as an industrial estate, despite the fact the city council had drawn up a 'development brief' for as many as 1,500 new homes to be built there.