The Future for Bath and North East Somerset

The future forBath and North East Somerset

The future for Bath and North East Somerset 1

Contents Page

The Future for Bath and North East Somerset 5The Case for Change 7

Narrow economic base 7

Low wage economy 8

Lack of modern workspace 8

Affordable housing shortages 8

Visitor numbers 8

Declining retail status 8

Eroded environmental quality 8

Transport and congestion 8

Strong Foundations 8Beauty and unmatched heritage 8

Enviable quality of life 8

World-renowned brand 8

UK’s only hot springs 8

Outstanding education sector 8

Good regional access 9

Excellence in sports 9

Green credentials 9

Arts and culture 9

Strong civic pride 10

Bath out of Balance 10A fractured city centre 10

South-west ‘fracture zone’ 10

The absence of gateways 11

Turning its back on the river 11

2 The future for Bath and North East Somerset

Page

Room for Expansion 11

Identity and Vision 12In Search of Bath’s ‘Soul’ 12

Hot springs 12

Social and cultural renaissance 12

The growth of industry 12

A place of healing and enrichment 13

Defining Bath’s DNA 14Water and wellbeing 14

Pleasure and culture 15

Imagination and design 16

Knowledge and invention 17

Living heritage 18

Spatial Framework 18Living heritage 19

Bath as a World Heritage Site 19

Legible city 19

Uplifted public realm 20

More people living in the city centre 20

National centre for conservation skills 20

Retail strategy 20A transformed Southgate 21

Niche shopping to the north 21

Enhanced independent sector 21

Shopping, culture and pleasure 22


Page

‘Smart City’ quarter 22

Water and spa culture 23

Bath Western Riverside 24Bath Western Riverside East 24

Green Park Station 24

From the river to Victoria Bridge Road 25

Bath Western Riverside West 25

Crest Nicholson scheme 25

Sport and leisure 26

Expanded city centre 27

People and Place 27Access and movement 28

Riverside 28

Public space and public life 28

Planning and Delivery 29Urban Regeneration Panel 30

Professor Les Sparks 31

Honor Chapman 32

Dickon Robinson 32

Alan Baxter 33

Professor Chris Baines 33

Sir Richard MacCormac 34

Projects 34


Page

The Somer Valley 35Community strategy 35

A strong sense of place 35

Decline and change 36

Challenges 36

Opportunities 36

Economy and skills 36

Town centres 37Midsomer Norton 37

Radstock 37

Keynsham 39Identity 39

History 40

Geography 40

Drivers behind the Vision 41

The way forward 41Keynsham as home 41

Keynsham as a learning community 42

Keynsham as a 21st-century market town 42

Keynsham as a working town 42

The next steps 42


The Future for Bathand North EastSomerset

ContextBath and North East Somerset is on the threshold ofsignificant and far-reaching changes which will affectthe lives of everyone who lives or works in the area.Major regeneration and development is due to bedelivered in Bath, Keynsham and Radstock over thenext few years. Furthermore, over the next twentyyears the national and regional growth agendas (seelink to Regional Spatial Strategy below) will result in astep-change in employment and housing growth. Atthe same time, the Council is undertaking acomprehensive review of its planning policyframework.

www.southwest-ra.gov.uk/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=836

The purpose of the visionThese changes must be guided by a place-shapingvision and set of values to ensure that growth andredevelopment deliver an improved quality of life forlocal people.

The Local Strategic Partnership’s CommunityStrategy for Bath and North East Somersetestablishes a series of ‘shared ambitions’ and‘improvement ambitions’ which provide a highlyrelevant framework of values for the future of thedistrict.

More details on the Community Strategy, including theLocal Area Agreement, can be found by following thelink below.

http://communities.beintouch.org.uk

The Future for Bath and North East Somersetcomprises a series of place-focused visions for therevitalisation and growth of the district and, inparticular, the main urban centres of Bath, MidsomerNorton and Radstock, and Keynsham. It seeks torealise a number of the ambitions of the CommunityStrategy and to provide a direct response to theEconomic Development and Enterprise section of theLocal Area Agreement.

Although the Future for Bath and North EastSomerset focuses primarily on economicdevelopment and physical regeneration, it also aimsto be a catalyst for cultural and social regeneration.The spatial objectives and aspirations of the visionwork will be tested through the preparation of theemerging Core Strategy. This strategic planningdocument will provide the planning policy frameworkfor development and for protecting the environmentup to 2026. As well as looking at options foraccommodating future growth within the main urbancentres, this will also consider urban extensions atBath and Bristol.

Some elements of the vision work can beimplemented under the existing Local Plan whileother parts are not reliant on the planning system.Some of the specific proposals for development andregeneration described in the visions will be carriedforward as part of the Site Allocation DevelopmentPlan Document, the sister document to the CoreStrategy.

The Community Strategy and Future for Bath andNorth East Somerset Visions will be key drivers inshaping the development of new planning policythrough the Local Development Framework process.The vision work has highlighted some of thechallenges facing Bath and North East Somerset andoutlines options for managed growth in a way thatenhances the city and district’s distinctive heritage,character and identity.

Challenges include:• A shortage of affordable housing• A relatively low-wage economy


• A narrow economic base• A lack of modern workspace• Declining retail status• Falling visitor numbers• Traffic congestion• The need to tackle the causes and effects of

climate change

Developing a sustainable futureProtecting the built and natural environment whiledeveloping a strong, sustainable economy is anessential element of the proposed visions for thefuture of Bath and the communities of North EastSomerset.

Objectives the Council is considering to develop amore sustainable future include:• Tackling the causes and effects of climate change• Promoting the district as an exemplar for

sustainability• Taking the lead on sustainable energy and the

development of a low-carbon economy• Encouraging local sourcing and production of

materials and food• Developing a sustainable local transport,

movement and access strategy• Developing a more sustainable approach to the

area’s tourism• Encouraging local skills in sustainable

construction, energy efficiency measures andrenewable energy systems installation

• Continuing and building on the Council’ssuccessful waste policy and award-winningachievements in recycling (Beacon Council status)See also the Council’s Position statement onenvironmental sustainability

How to have your sayThis website is part of a community engagementexercise on the Visions and is closely tied into theongoing Core Strategy work on planning policy for thenext twenty years.

The consultation runs until 17 December, 2007, afterwhich all responses will be considered andincorporated into any recommendations that aremade to the Council and will form part of the decision-making process.

Members of the public and interested stakeholdersare encouraged to use this opportunity to make theirviews on the proposals known.

This can be done in any of the following ways:• Fill in the online questionnaire for Bath, Keynsham

or the Somer Valley by following the appropriatelink and then choosing ‘Respond to theConsultation’.

• Email us at [email protected]• Write to us at Future Vision, Bath & North East

Somerset Council, Development and MajorProjects, 10 Palace Yard Mews, Bath BA1 2NH

• Telephone us at 01225 477696• Pick up a leaflet from local libraries, doctors and

dentists’ surgeries, and council offices in Bath,Keynsham and Midsomer Norton and take part inthe advertised surveys and questionnaires

• Go along to public meetings and informationworkshops as advertised in the local press and atcouncil offices

• Speak to the relevant B&NES Council officers oryour ward councillors

Bath is one of the most beautifulcities in the worldIn 1987 the entire city area was inscribed on theUnited Nations’ Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganisation’s (UNESCO) list of World Heritage Sitesin recognition of its ‘outstanding universal values’.

This designation pays tribute to Bath’s cultural andsocial history and to a range of features including itsthermal springs, its Roman archaeology and, notleast, the harmony of landscape setting, urbandesign, architecture and materials which sosuccessfully reinvented the city in the 18th century.

A study of Bath’s history demonstrates a fascinatingpattern of evolution linked to the city’s ‘raison d’etre’:its three hot springs and the social and cultural lifethey have inspired. The development of Bath is not astory of gradual, organic growth but one of bold anddramatic cycles of change which transformed thereputation and physical form of the city centre at peaktimes in its history and which were, inevitably,followed by periods of inertia and decline.

The key catalyst for each major cycle of revitalisationappears to have been the reinterpretation orreinvention of the hot springs for health, pleasure andcommercial gain. These cycles have defined andredefined the city’s identity and internationalreputation over the centuries and have left us theremarkable legacy of today’s World Heritage Site.


The premise of the Future for Bath Vision is that for aconcurrence of factors, not least the emergingavailability of large development sites within andadjacent to the city centre, Bath stands on thethreshold of the next major cycle in its evolution as acity: an opportunity no less significant than theGeorgian transformation.

The vision for the Future for Bath outlined here wasinitially prepared by Bath and North East SomersetCouncil in the summer of 2005. Since that time it hasbeen tested extensively in presentations to leadingstakeholders including representative communitygroups, business and cultural forums, residents’associations, campaigning organisations andgovernment agencies.

It has been informed by a panel of national andinternational experts brought together by the Councilto help guide the future development of the city.These pages aim to explain some of the principlesand values contained in the Vision and give residentsof Bath, the business community and otherstakeholders an opportunity to participate in thedebate and decision-making process about Bath’sfuture.• The Case for Change• Identity and Vision• Spatial Framework• People and Place• Planning and Delivery• Projects




This can be done in any of the following ways:• Fill in the online questionnaire for Bath using this

link and then choose ‘Respond to the

consultation’.• Email us at [email protected]• Write to us at Future Vision, Bath & North East






The Case for ChangeBath’s outward image of beauty and elegance, world-class heritage and apparent prosperity conceals arange of economic and social problems which, if leftunchecked, will lead to the long-term decline of thecity.

There is a growing perception of Bath as anincreasingly staid, self-satisfied and complacent citythat is currently failing to achieve its world-classpotential. There is also criticism that Bath has over-traded on its World Heritage Site status in recentdecades without significantly reinvesting in its futureand that the city’s streets, public spaces and culturaland leisure attractions are beginning to look tired anddated.

Development has proved difficult in Bath over theyears and a number of the policies that seek topreserve the city are now in danger of helping tocause its decline.

If Bath is to arrest decline and build strongfoundations for its continuing success, a step changeis required which, while respecting Bath’s outstandinguniversal values as a World Heritage Site,acknowledges and positively engages with thenecessity for change and growth.

The need to tackle the causes and effects of climatechange, and to develop a low-carbon economy is alsoa crucial driver of change.

Other key drivers of change include:• Narrow economic base


• Low wage economy• Lack of modern workspace• Affordable housing shortages• Visitor numbers• Declining retail status• Eroded environmental quality• Transport and congestion

If many of the issues outlined above are notaddressed as a whole, there is a risk that Bath willeventually become an historically interesting offshootof a Greater Bristol with little vibrancy, community orwealth creating economy of its own.

Strong FoundationsBath is blessed with a range of impressive andenduring assets which provide an enviable foundationfor its future reinvention and success. These include:• Beauty and unmatched heritage• Enviable quality of life• World-renowned brand• UK’s only hot springs• Outstanding education sector• Good regional access• Excellence in sports• Green credentials• Arts and culture• Strong civic pride

Beauty and unmatched heritageBath has many remarkable features that haveresulted in the city’s designation as a UNESCO WorldHeritage Site. Its outstanding architecture and urbandesign, its sublime landscape setting, its honey-coloured stone, its Roman archaeology and itsmysterious hot springs continue to delight and inspirelocals and visitors alike. Further proposals for thefuture management of Bath’s heritage can be found inthe City of Bath World Heritage Site ManagementPlan which was prepared by the Council, EnglishHeritage and a range of local stakeholders.

Further ideas for refreshing and interpreting Bath’sheritage attractions can also be found within theFuture for Bath Vision under Developing a SpatialFramework: Living Heritage.

Enviable quality of lifeThe remarkable beauty of Bath’s built form combinedwith the outstanding natural beauty of the surroundingcountryside of Somerset, Wiltshire and the Cotswolds

represents an almost unbeatable combination. Theability to live and work in, or near to, a World Heritagecity with easy access to a range of world class places,attractions and facilities across the South Westcreates an enviable quality of life.Despite its current challenges, Bath continues to beone of England’s most ‘liveable’ cities, attractingvisitors and new residents on the basis of an imageand lifestyle which brings together the best of urbanand rural life.

World renowned brandBath enjoys a level of international recognition,interest and attention that far exceeds its modest sizeand which continues to attract millions of visitors tothe city each year.

However, while the ‘Bath brand’ continues tocommand respect it has, like the city itself, becomeincreasingly tired and stale in recent years and almostexclusively associated with heritage.

Successful cities of the future must offer more thanone choice or experience. Bath will, therefore, needto diversify and provide more than world-classheritage if it is to continue to attract and retain visitors,businesses and new residents long into the future.

UK’s only hot springsBath has the only naturally occurring hot springs inthe United Kingdom. In addition to being able toexperience the largest of the three springs, the King’sSpring, rising within the awe-inspiring setting of theRoman Baths, residents and visitors can once morebathe in the city’s thermal springs at the recentlyopened Thermae Bath Spa, which reconnects Bath toits source and raison d’etre.

Outstanding education sectorBath is fortunate to have an impressive range ofeducational establishments, including a number ofacclaimed state-funded and independent schools anda college of further education.

It has also two highly respected universities, a rarityfor a city of its size. However, neither of these has anysignificant presence in the city centre, with theUniversity of Bath occupying a campus location to thesouth at Claverton Down and Bath Spa Universityhousing the majority of its facilities to the west of thecity at Newton St Loe. Consequently, Bath lacks someof the vibrancy and diversity of other university cities


such as Canterbury, Bristol, Oxford or Cambridgewhere ‘town and gown’ functions are moresuccessfully united, and is failing to capture the fulleconomic value of its intellectual capital within thecity.

The expansion of universities across the UnitedKingdom and the associated increase in demand forstudent housing also poses a major challenge forsome of Bath’s residential communities, particularly tothe south and south west of the city where, as withmany other towns and cities, ‘studentification’ hasbecome an increasingly contentious issue.

However, the Ernst and Young Future for Bath andNorth East Somerset Business Plan emphasises thatthe universities are key to Bath’s future economic andcultural success. Consequently, continued positiveand proactive engagement between the Council andthe two universities is required to address existingchallenges and to maximise the future potential forthe city and its residents.

Further education and learning proposals are putforward under the Knowledge and Invention section ofthis website.

Good regional accessWhile Bath’s access and movement problems areacknowledged, the city does benefit from excellentrail links east to London and west to Bristol, the SouthWest and South Wales. Access to and from the M4motorway is relatively convenient and Bath is locatedwithin easy access of Bristol International Airport.

In addition to rail, the city has an improving busnetwork which enjoys an increasingly high level ofpatronage in comparison with most other cities.See information on the Bath Package

Excellence in sportsBath’s sporting prowess includes its internationallyrenowned Rugby Club and its University SportsTraining Village, which is already a permanenttraining home for a number of current and potentialOlympians. The city is also known for its leadingcommunity cricket club, prize winning tennis and apopular local football team. The city supports a varietyof sporting events, including the annual Bath Half-Marathon.

In July 1995, Bath was the location for the EuropeanYouth Olympics, in which 2,366 athletes and officialsfrom 47 countries participated. The University of Bathis currently on a shortlist of four sites to host theGreat Britain team’s preparation camps in the run upto the London 2012 Olympic Games and in 2008Bristol and Bath will host the UK School Games.

Bath also has a nationally respected course forhorse-racing to the north of the city at Lansdown anda well known motor-racing circuit at nearby CastleCombe.

Green credentialsBath has a long association with the green movementand a number of leading national thinkers, expertsand campaigners live in or near to the city. In addition,key national organisations such as the SoilAssociation, Sustrans and the Schumacher Societyare based in the South West.

Over the years, Bath has been a focal point for greeninitiatives and innovations, including award-winningrecycling and one of the country’s first environmentcentres (Envolve). Bath was also the city thatspearheaded the national Farmers’ Marketmovement, when the country’s first Farmers’ Marketopened at Green Park Station in 1997, supported byBath and North East Somerset Council and the SoilAssociation.

Within the Council in recent years a new momentumhas grown in response to the climate change andenergy agendas. A four-pronged strategy (see linkbelow) focusing on buildings, transport, waste andfood is being actively progressed.Environmental Sustainability Strategic Framework2007

Bath and North East Somerset Council signed theNottingham Declaration in December 2005 and theBath and North East Somerset Local StrategicPartnership was recently the recipient of a Treasurygrant to fund an innovative energy efficiency projectcalled Our Big Energy Challenge, the first of its kindin Britain, with a target to reduce energy consumptionby at least ten per cent by 2009.

Arts and cultureThe city fosters and benefits from an impressiverange of artistic activity and provision includingfestivals such as the Bath International Music


Festival, Bath Literature Festival, Bath FringeFestival, theatres (including Bath’s Theatre Royal),public and commercial galleries, arts studios and avariety of artistic organisations, networks and highcalibre educational establishments supporting music,theatre, the visual arts and design.

Bath also benefits from a wide and respected rangeof museums and cultural attractions including, amongothers, the Roman Baths, the Fashion Museum, theHolburne of Menstrie Museum and the Building ofBath Museum. However, despite these manyattractions there is a growing view that Bath is notachieving its full potential as a centre forcontemporary arts and cultural activity.

Strong civic prideBath benefits from a high level of public interest andcivic pride, particularly with regard to its heritage andbuilt environment.

While the passion and active interest of local amenitygroups must be commended and encouraged, it isimportant that the community as a whole is activelyengaged in the proposals for the future of their city, toensure an outcome which reflects the needs andaspirations of the many rather than the few.

Bath Out of BalanceThe section on Bath’s Case for Change outlines arange of socio-economic challenges that must beaddressed. Economic growth has fallen behind theSouth West region and the rest of the UK, and if Bathis to arrest decline and build a platform for its futuresuccess and sustainability.

These issues have been tested and explored by Ernst& Young in the Future for Bath Business Plan.The current data suggests that Bath is out of balance.There is a growing gap between the ‘haves’ and the‘have nots’; the highly skilled and the unskilled, theold and the young. While the city has many wealthyresidents, it does not generate sufficient wealth andopportunity to help bridge the gap. Bath needs betteremployment and training opportunities, newenterprises, better retention of graduates and youngprofessionals, a significant increase in housing stock,particularly smaller and more affordable units, and alively and diverse cultural life if it is to begin toovercome the unfairness and polarity inherent intoday’s city.

In addition to the socio-economic issues alreadyhighlighted, Bath also suffers from a range of physicaland structural problems that impede the success ofthe existing city centre. These include:• A fractured city centre• South-west ‘fracture zone’• The absence of gateways• Turning its back on the river

A fractured city centreBath has a very dominant north-south axis which runsfrom Milsom Street to Southgate. While this forms astrong, legible spine of retail activity which enjoys thehighest footfall in the city centre, the streets whichcross that spine on the east-west axis fail to achievesufficient footfall and value.For further proposals to strengthen the east-west axisgo to Water and Spa Culture.

South-west ‘fracture zone’While the tight urban grain and Roman, medieval andGeorgian buildings which form the core of Bath’shistoric centre create a positive sense of place, ittakes little time to move west beyond KingsmeadSquare to realise that any enjoyable experience ofthe city centre has ended.

In fact, the south and south-western quarters of thecity centre, including parts of James Street West,Green Park Road, Avon Street and Southgate,represent one of the most regrettable periods inBath’s urban design and architectural history.

The fragmented mixture of unfortunate post-wardevelopment, redundant post-industrial land, trafficcongestion and inaccessible riverside forms a‘fracture zone’ which dislocates the city and itscommunities, particularly those to the south westwhich currently fail to enjoy a close relationship withthe city centre.

The plan below shows this fracture zone, shaded inyellow and roughly following the river, with the presentdominant north-south axis shown as a red line.

This fracture zone must be repaired and healed toensure that the redevelopment of the south andsouth-western riverside quarters, including BathWestern Riverside, become successful, permeableand continuous parts of the city centre.


A plan of Bath’s city centre with the RoyalCrescent, Circus, Queen Square, the Abbey,Bath Spa Railway Station and Green ParkStation highlighted in black. The presentsouth-west ‘fracture zone’ is shown shadedin yellow, with the strong north-south retailaxis as a red line.

The absence of gatewaysEntering the city centre, particularly from its southern,western and, to a lesser extent, northern approaches,is a disappointing experience. There is no positivesense of gateways or points of arrival and, particularlyto the south and west, initial impressions of the city fallfar short of its World Heritage Site status.

New development opportunities within the ‘fracturezone’ provide the opportunity to create strong anddistinctive entry points to the city centre to welcomeand orientate the visitor.

Turning its back on the riverDespite its World Heritage Site status, Bath has aparticularly unattractive and inaccessible riverside.With the exception of Parade Gardens, the city hasfailed to engage positively with the River Avon.

While there are obvious historical reasons for citiesturning their backs on rivers during the industrial era,in recent years a number of towns and cities acrossthe world have successfully rediscovered their riversand waterways.

There is a major opportunity for Bath to learn frominternational best practice and to reclaim andcelebrate its riverside.

For further proposals for the riverside see Developinga Place-making Strategy: Riverside.

Room for expansionBath’s city centre is currently facing a level ofpotential change and growth unprecedented since the18th century.

Significant development proposals are now emergingor proceeding for the Podium and Cattle-Market site,the Recreation Ground, Manvers Street, Southgate,Bath Quays North and South and Bath WesternRiverside. Development proposals for a range ofsmaller sites such as Saw Close are also in progress.Such developments represent a major opportunity torevitalise and sustain the city and its surroundingarea. However, without sensitive and imaginativeplanning, they also pose a challenge to theestablished character and compact form of theexisting city centre.

To address this challenge, Bath must seek to bringtogether a clear vision and development strategy,intelligent planning policies, leading expert guidance,outstanding design talent and the realities ofcommercial viability to ensure that individualdevelopments contribute the land uses and the highquality buildings, public spaces and access andmovement solutions that the city needs and deservesto secure its future success.

The plan below identifies the main areas in the cityearmarked for development.

Bath: room for expansion, showing the mainareas earmarked for development. Thegreen shaded area denotes existing parksand the brown shaded area denotes the


Charlotte Street car park which is notcurrently identified as a development site.

Identity and visionLooking ahead to 2026, the Future for Bath Visionpictures a vibrant, confident and highly distinctiveBath with a successful and sustainable economy,strong ethical values, high quality and popular publicspaces, an attractive riverside and a happier andmore fulfilled community.

The city has a strong regional, national andinternational identity, built upon Bath’s beauty,heritage and essential character. It is easy to accessand move around by public transport, on foot or bybicycle.

It balances the needs of local residents, workers andvisitors and is recognised around the world as aleading centre for water and wellbeing, pleasure andculture, imagination and design, and knowledge andinvention.• In search of Bath’s ‘soul’• Defining Bath’s ‘DNA’

In search of Bath’s ‘soul’In order to look forward, Bath must first look to its pastand understand the layers of history and culturewhich represent the soul of the city.• Hot springs• Social and cultural renaissance• The growth of industry• A place of healing and enrichment

Hot springsBath exists because of its three thermal springs, theonly naturally hot springs in the United Kingdom.Regarded as sacred since ancient times, the King’s,Cross and Hetling Springs have been the focal pointfor legend, pilgrimage, worship, healing, enjoymentand commercial gain for thousands of years.

The city has evolved in a series of distinctive cycles ofgrowth followed by stagnation. The most significant ofthese, the Roman, Monastic, Elizabethan, Georgianand Victorian eras, were all inspired by therediscovery or reinterpretation of the hot springs andleft a physical, economic and cultural legacy ofoutstanding beauty and international significance.

Social and cultural renaissanceThis continuum of cyclical change reached its zenithin the 18th century when, emboldened by Royalpatronage, Bath reinvented itself as the leadingnational resort for health, pleasure and fashion.

The resulting renaissance drew ‘refined’ society totake the waters: the aristocratic, the rich and famous,the talented, the beautiful and the aspiring, as well asthe corrupt and debauched.

Famous names included architects John Wood (theElder and Younger), Thomas Baldwin and RobertAdam; entrepreneur, quarry-owner and philanthropistRalph Allen; dandy, gambler and master ofceremonies Richard ‘Beau’ Nash; painters ThomasGainsborough and Thomas Lawrence; writers JaneAusten, Alexander Pope and Tobias Smollett; leadingpolitical and military figures Horatio Nelson, WilliamPitt, Admiral Phillip and General Wolfe; scientistsWilliam Herschel (who discovered the planet Uranusfrom Bath in 1781) and his sister Caroline; andleading national medic Dr Oliver, the first honoraryphysician at Bath’s newly opened Royal MineralWater Hospital (and inventor of the Bath Oliverbiscuit).

Directly or indirectly these and other luminariescontributed to a century of unparalleled creativity andproductivity.

The 18th century, more than any other in the city’shistory, shaped the unique qualities of design thatmake Bath an acknowledged masterpiece amongEuropean cities and continue to support the city’seconomy centuries later.

The growth of industryDuring the 19th century in Bath another significant butdistinctly different cycle of growth occurred whichbore little relation to the hot springs or to the finebuildings, spaces and landscape of the city centre.

The impact of the Industrial Revolution and the arrivalof the Kennet and Avon Canal and the GreatWestern, Midland and Somerset and Dorset railwaysled to a major expansion of Bath to the south andwest.

While the city centre was reinventing itself as agenteel, middle-class Victorian spa resort, offering thelatest hydropathic technology and treatments, new


forms of heavy industry were spreading along theriver valley, providing employment in largeengineering companies and energy suppliers, andgenerating new and much needed housing for theirworkers.

Brunel’s Great Western Railway opened in the city in1840, the same year that the world’s first postagestamp was sent from Bath.

The city was also a significant centre for book-bindingand printing during this era, not least the PitmanPress which operated under the direction of Sir IsaacPitman, inventor of the world’s most widely usedsystem of shorthand.

Perhaps the most significant name in Bath’s industrialhistory was that of the company Stothert and Pitt,which became one of the world’s leadingmanufacturers and exporters of cranes and otherforms of heavy industry. In 1980, the Director of theBritish Science Museum declared that the work ofStothert & Pitt was Bath’s greatest contribution toworld history.

During the second half of the 20th century, Bath’sreputation as a leading spa and health destinationand its success as a centre for manufacturingindustries slowly died. The spa treatment buildingsclosed amid controversy over the safety of the hotsprings and major factories such as Stothert and Pittdisappeared from the city’s landscape, leaving largeareas of redundant land along the western riverside.

A place of healing and enrichmentWhile the above summary only skims the surface ofBath’s fascinating history and evolution, key themesemerge which help define the’soul’ or cultural heritageof the city.

Bath has been, since at least Roman times, a placeto spend time to nourish and heal the body, to enrichand enliven the spirit and to stimulate and inspire themind. It has also been a place of industry whereinnovation, particularly in the fields of design andengineering, broadened the size, population andreputation of the city, eventually bequeathing an areaof land that today holds the key to its future expansionand success.

Moreover, throughout its history, Bath has attractedand fostered passionate and talented individuals

whose boldness, imagination and initiative haveshaped the distinctive spirit, form and character of thecity.

In order for Bath to prosper in the future, it mustcreate and communicate the right culture andconditions to the wider world to excite, attract andfoster the innovators and entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

In search of Bath’s ‘DNA’Bath’s colourful past provides a uniquely relevantsource of inspiration and guidance when seeking tocreate a vision and business case for its future growthand sustainability.

The city must not become a heritage museum,entirely focused on the conservation of its past,introverted, fixed and fearful of change. It must,rather, celebrate its soul and purpose as a living city,which embraces its heritage, the needs and wellbeingof its existing community and its significant futurepotential.

Taking account of the city’s cultural heritage, theVision seeks to distil that story into a series of keythemes, from which the city’s future identity canmeaningfully flow.

See also Bath’s ‘soul’.

This is an attempt to define the essence of Bath - its‘DNA’ - to ensure that its cultural heritage and itsinherent potential are at the heart of the plans for itsfuture regeneration.• Water and wellbeing• Pleasure and culture• Imagination and design• Knowledge and invention• Living heritage

These overlapping themes provide the basis of aunique and authentic future identity for the city.

Integration and authenticityAttempting to define Bath’s ‘DNA’ in a series ofseparate but overlapping themes is inevitably anartificial process.

Ultimately, it will be the integration andcommunication of all of these themes and values infuture regeneration, place-making, cultural, tourismand marketing initiatives that will enable Bath to


connect its past to its future in a successful andauthentic way.

However, of the ‘DNA’ themes outlined, Bath’s keydifferentiator is Water and Wellbeing, which providesan overarching concept, a set of values and a point ofdifference to underpin the city’s future life and ‘brand’.

Water and wellbeingPast and presentBath’s impressive wellbeing credentials include thesacred hot springs, the legend of Bladud, a history ofpilgrimage and healing, the Roman Baths andTemple, the Abbey, a range of Spa treatment facilitiesand hospitals such as the Hospital of St John theBaptist and the Royal Mineral Water Hospital.The city’s reputation for treating the sick and theinfirm over the centuries earned it, albeit irreverently,the title of the ‘great hospital of the nation’ (TobiasSmollett).

In more recent times Bath has developed a nationalreputation for academic expertise in the biologicalsciences; medical research and expertise inrehabilitation and rheumatology; complementarymedicine; world-class sports and fitness; high qualityhotel-based health spas; its farmers’ market andspeciality food outlets and, not least, the restorativeeffect of its built and natural landscape.

FutureLooking to the future, there is a growing globalfascination with health and wellbeing and anincreasing consciousness of the role that individualsmust play in managing their personal health andhappiness.

This has resulted in a mind-boggling and ever-expanding market targeted at the individual whichencompasses spas and relaxation, beauty andfitness, diet and nutrition, complementary medicineand, increasingly, personal creativity, spirituality,ecology and ethics.

Irrespective of changing fashions and trends, Bathhas the history and authenticity to position itself asthe United Kingdom’s leading centre for Water andWellbeing, with attractions that appeal to mind, bodyand spirit.

The recent opening of Thermae Bath Spa is the firstmajor step towards achieving the city’s future

potential.

The University of Bath’s world-class sports supportservices such as physiotherapy, sports medicine,physiology, coaching and sports managementcombined with the strengths of Bath’s conventionaland complementary medical sectors also provideimpressive building blocks in the development of acompetitive health-based economy.

Personal and collective wellbeing calls for betterbalance and integration of social, cultural, economicand environmental factors, which mirrors thefundamental principles of sustainability.

As environmental issues such as climate change andenergy consumption come clearly into focus, theneed for cities to take greater responsibility for theircarbon footprint and to develop closer relationshipswith their surrounding rural areas is increasinglyunderstood.

The future wellbeing and sustainability of Bath isdependent on its relationship with its surroundingarea of North East Somerset and the wider region.

The city is already beginning to explore a range ofopportunities including local sourcing of food andother products, the generation of sustainable energyand the management and recycling of waste, whichmust be actively pursued in the future.

See also the Council’s Position statement onenvironmental sustainability and EnvironmentalSustainability Strategic Framework 2007.

Water is the source of all life and, in Bath’s case, itsraison d’etre. The city’s recent reconnection to its hotsprings, its location as the headquarters of regionalwater company Wessex Water and the growingrecognition of the role that its river and canal networkcould play in improving the public realm, ecology andwellbeing of the city and its people represents anothermajor opportunity.

The multi-faceted role and meaning of water inhuman existence is currently an area of internationalinterest and research and a growing source ofinspiration within the fields of science, medicine,wellbeing, art, music and spirituality.

In summary, the Future for Bath Vision proposes the


expansion of the holistic concepts of Water andWellbeing as the foundation of the city’s identity andputs forward a range of initial cultural andregeneration proposals that have the potential torevitalise the city centre and improve the economic,social, and environmental wellbeing of the city’scommunities, businesses and institutions.

Pleasure and culturePast and presentBath’s long tradition of spa bathing was linked to anequally strong and colourful tradition of pleasure andabandon, particularly during the 17th and 18thcenturies when Bath’s reputation as a place forassembly, culture and entertainment, gaming, frivolityand debauchery was well established.

One of the country’s leading 18th-century pleasuregardens was situated at Sydney Gardens; concertsand ‘cards’ could be enjoyed at the Upper and LowerAssembly Rooms and Guildhall; and plays wereperformed by the country’s leading actors at theOrchard Street Theatre and Bath Theatre Royal.

Although the city became increasingly genteel in the19th and 20th centuries, the sounds of bathing, musicand merriment could still be heard until 1978 at theannual Roman Rendezvous events at the RomanBaths.

Today the city still benefits from its grand parades,parks and gardens; its museums, galleries andstudios; shops, bars and restaurants; its year-longprogramme of cultural festivals, its excellent theatresand cinemas, its nationally renowned rugby club andother outstanding sports facilities.

However, a growing number of people feel that Bathhas lost its ‘edge’ and direction. Many who love thecity talk of it being insular, staid or ‘look but don’ttouch’. The city’s cultural and entertainment offer isfragmented and too often tame.

Creativity and animation is almost absent from thetired streets and spaces of the city centre. There is agrowing need for reinvestment in a number of thecity’s cultural attractions and entertainment venuesand for investment in a limited number of newfacilities.

FutureIf Bath is to experience a 21st-century renaissance, it

must reposition pleasure, culture, creativity andplayfulness right at the core of its future regeneration.

These themes should be central to the city’s potentialfuture identity as a leading exemplar of wellbeing.

Elsewhere in Europe a spa town or ‘ville d’eau’ is farmore than a place to drink or bathe in thermal waterand receive medical treatment: a spa is a destinationthat inspires, relaxes and entertains.

Bath has huge potential to raise its game. This willrequire investment in the gradual refurbishment orreinvention of many of its heritage attractions and artsand entertainment venues, to create an excitingfusion of old and new.

Similarly, the city must reclaim and invest in itsstreets, public spaces and parks for public events andsocial gatherings and as an international platform forthe contemporary arts.

The co-ordination and marketing of a more radicaland exciting year-round programme of arts, cultural,sporting and health-related activities and eventswould require strong creative leadership and,potentially, a dedicated programming agency.

This concept and its relationship with destinationmanagement and tourism will need to be exploredfurther in the forthcoming strategies for CulturalManagement, Destination Management and PublicRealm.

See also Cultural Facility Feasibility Study, a culturaldevelopment study entitled ‘Reinventing Bath: a callto leadership and strategic planning to deliver a resortof the future’, by Arts Business Limited.

Although known for its impressive range of shops,Bath’s retail offering is in need of enhancement andrebranding. The new development scheme forSouthgate; the potential of the Green Park Stationarea for markets and fine food, arts and crafts anddining; and the reinvention of the northern part of thecity centre including the current refurbishment ofShire’s Yard (Milsom Place) are explored furtherunder the Spatial Framework section of this website.

These issues will also be examined as part of theforthcoming Bath & North East Somerset RetailStrategy.


Bath is the city of the individual and, as such, mustnot be afraid to provide a forum for the original, theadventurous, the ‘new age’ or the eccentric. The cityis loved for its alternative fringes and these should becelebrated for their individuality and creative potential.Nor should Bath become so elegant and refined thatit lacks a hint of its former debauchery!

Encouraging signs of change are discernible. Therecent opening of Thermae Bath Spa and the EggTheatre, the anticipated opening of cutting-edge artsand comedy venue Komedia at the former ABCcinema in Westgate Street, the conversion of theGainsborough Building in Hot Bath Street to a spahotel, the Taste of Bath food festival and therecommendation for a small casino licence all point toa more vibrant, entertaining and enjoyable city centre.

With such emphasis on pleasure, it is also importantto ensure that the revitalisation of the city centrestrikes a sensitive balance between the desire tostimulate public life, animate public spaces and builda lively night-time economy and the need to protectthe rights of those who live in the centre of the city, oranyone in search of peace and quiet.

Imagination and designPast and presentBath represents one of the finest and most elegantexamples of 18th-century architecture, urban designand public realm in Europe.

In its day, the approach taken to city-making in Bathwas radical, avant-garde and controversial, as well ashighly commercial.

For centuries, the combination of spa culture and thecity’s outstanding environment has attracted andinspired people of imagination, innovation and style,including architects, designers, fashionistas,engineers, scientists, inventors, writers, musicians,artists and craftspeople.

Bath’s economy benefits from a range of creativeindustries, including high-calibre architectural,landscape, graphic design, film and marketingpractices and leading national publishers andprinters.

The University of Bath houses one of the UK’sleading schools of design and engineering, andnationally and internationally respected practicessuch as design engineers Buro Happold and

architects Feilden Clegg Bradley, are based in thecity.

Bath Spa University College enjoys a nationalreputation for its graduate and postgraduate coursesin applied art and design, digital design, fashion andtextile design, music, performing arts and broadcastmedia and the City of Bath College runs a respectedrange of creative arts courses for young people andadults as part of its community learning programme.

Bath also houses the Museum of Fashion, atestament to its 18th-century reputation as a leadingnational centre of fashion and style.

FutureIf Bath is serious about creating an original anddistinctive international offering, the city’s rich creativeresources and potential must be understood,harnessed and nurtured.

Imagination and creativity have, like water, amagnetic appeal and where new and original thingshappen, interested and interesting people usuallyfollow.

Bath needs to recapture the radical, adventurous andcontroversial spirit of its 18th-century incarnation inorder to achieve its 21st-century revival.

The city must improve its capacity to retain andincubate its young creative talent to generate andgrow new business; to understand and support itsexisting creative industries, and to attract leading newinnovators.

The role of imagination and design in helping theworld tackle climate change and energy shortageshas never been more pertinent and the potential forBath and its surrounding district to develop a nichemarket for ‘green’ or ecological design andengineering, including the ethical and stylish productsof tomorrow, should be actively pursued.

The planned expansion of Bath Spa University in thecity centre is a promising sign. However, the city mustwork with regional and national agencies to find waysto build on this momentum.

The theme of Imagination and Design should behighly visible in the public realm. With appropriatefunding, there is a significant opportunity to remove


the dominance of the car and refashion Bath’s streetsand spaces, including the design, quality andoriginality of street furniture and finishes, to becomethe city’s signature: its point of differentiation fromother towns and cities.

Improved public space creates the opportunity toprogramme public events, performances,contemporary public art, street stalls and markets togenerate a more vibrant and engaging public life.

Knowledge and inventionPast and presentBath’s formative role in the history of British medicaltreatment; its appeal through the ages to thinkers,writers, scientists and innovators; its 18th-centuryrenaissance and 19th-century contribution to industryand invention; and its successful educational andresearch institutions, have already been established.See In Search of Bath’s Soul.

However, the city’s two universities warrant furtherattention.

The University of Bath is a top ten university in theUnited Kingdom, with a reputation for its faculties ofScience, Engineering and Design, Sport Humanitiesand Social Sciences and its international School ofManagement.

It has also established the Centre for Innovation andLife Long Learning in the city centre which has beensuccessful in providing incubation facilities for newbusinesses and has the potential for furtherexpansion.

In addition to its national reputation in the creativearts, Bath Spa University has particular strengths inthe humanities including, English and Creativestudies, Historical and Cultural studies, Science andthe Environment, Social Sciences and Education.

The city currently contains a number of successfulintellectual or knowledge-based industries including:Future Publishing, The Bath Chronicle, Praxis, TheGreenfuel Company, Mirifice, Picochi, Crame andFitronics.

FutureBlessed by its attractiveness as a place to live, workand visit, but constrained by its size andinfrastructure, Bath has the opportunity to develop

strong niches of higher-value economic activity thatplay to its strengths and unique identity.

However, the city requires new and distinctive workspaces, a significant number of new and affordablehomes and the requisite community, education,cultural and leisure attractions for its existing andfuture workforce.

Bath has a major opportunity to strengthen andbalance its existing economy by moving higher up thevalue chain, focusing on clean industries withintellectual or creative input.

The successful cities of the 21st century in thewestern economies are predicted to be ’smart’ citieswith strong educational, intellectual and creativecultures, providing high value activities.

Constrained by its development capacity, Bath is bestsuited for activities providing higher value and lowervolumes of employees in the fields of knowledge,ideas, sustainability, design, research and appropriateniche production.

The city must encourage projects and newbusinesses that add value economically whilesimultaneously reinforcing ethical values as a basefor the local economy.

In the Future for Bath Business Plan, Ernst & Younghighlight Bath’s appeal as a location for ‘lifestyle’rather than large corporate business and, inparticular, for owner-managed businesses, andrecommend a managed expansion of the city’s officequarter.

They also recommend that the city understands andbuilds on the key strengths of its two universities, notonly in the retention of graduates and the incubationand growth of new business, but also in terms ofresearch links to the business and science sectors.

This will require closer working between the city andthe universities, which is already under way.

Bath also has significant untapped potential todevelop a business tourism market, positioning thecity as an international forum for new ideas,knowledge-sharing and debate and building on thestrengths and connections of the city’s universities,hospitals and businesses.


The business tourism market, particularly for small tomedium-scale conferences, could provide Bath withhigh-spend and relatively low-impact visitors,significantly boosting the overall visitor economy.However, the city must actively explore the potentialto secure the public and private sector investment toprovide a purpose-built conference and culturalcentre in order to access this potentially lucrativemarket.

With the imagination and intelligence of its existingworkforce and population, its colleges anduniversities, retained graduates and leading nationalthinkers and innovators, Bath now has the opportunityto increase and expand its potential as a centre forknowledge and learning and build a new economy toreplace the city’s former manufacturing industries.

Living HeritageThe physical legacy created by more than twothousand years of Bath’s social, cultural andeconomic history has become an intrinsic element ofthe city’s present identity.The Future for Bath Vision proposes that Bath’shistory and heritage, and the story of its evolution,must be brought to life in an accessible and lively wayto ensure that the meaning and value of the city’sremarkable beauty and heritage is a source ofinspiration for local people and visitors alike.

Further information and proposals on Living Heritagecan be found under Spatial Framework.

Spatial frameworkThe Future for Bath proposals explore a potentialspatial framework for the future character and landuse planning of key city centre redevelopment sites.This framework is by no means fixed and will bechallenged, tested and consulted upon further asmaster plans, viability models and developmentstrategies evolve. It will also be tested alongside otherspatial options as part of the Council’s forthcomingplanning policy consultation on the Bath and NorthEast Somerset Core Strategy and Local DevelopmentFramework.

The Future for Bath spatial framework proposesstrong north-south and west-east axes to create amore dynamic and balanced flow of movement andactivity across the city centre.

Around this structure, a series of loosely themed andoverlapping ‘urban quarters’ or character areas aresuggested, which are inspired by, and respond to, theprinciples of the vision and the existing form of thecity centre.

The main ‘character areas’ of Bath as shownin the Ernst & Young Business Plan for Bathand North East Somerset

These ‘quarters’ are not single-use or tightly zonedareas. Where primary land uses such as shops oroffices are proposed, a mix of other appropriate uses,for example housing, culture or leisure, should alsobe integrated.

The main spatial themes for the urban quarters are:• Living heritage• Retail Core• ‘Smart City’ quarter• Water and spa culture• Bath Western Riverside, East and West• Sport and leisure• Expanded city centre


Living heritageThe principle of ‘Living Heritage’ is established under

Defining Bath’s DNA.

Context

A plan showing Bath’s main area of heritagesites (shaded yellow) with red circlesshowing key museums and culturalattractions

Bath’s heritage offer includes breathtaking, world-famous architecture and urban spaces including theRoyal Crescent, King’s Circus and Queen Square;Pulteney Bridge and Great Pulteney Street; BathAbbey and the Roman Baths.

It also accommodates an impressive variety ofmuseums and galleries, the city’s principal shoppingarea and a range of offices, hotels and guest houses,cafes, restaurants, pubs and bars.

The densest and richest mix of uses is situated withinthe boundary of the former Roman and medieval city.This merges with the planned streets and spaces ofthe 18th-century extension to the north and eastwhich are predominantly residential with a finer-grainmix of other uses.

Despite this array of attractions and the city’s successas a visitor destination, Bath currently fails toarticulate a compelling and cohesive story about itsexceptional attractions as a World Heritage site.

Confusion often begins before arrival with theplethora of uncoordinated images and messages that

Bath sends out to the world via a range of tourismmedia. Then, on arrival in the city centre, there is alack of clear information and way-finding systems toreveal the city and orientate and guide visitorstowards their primary areas of interest.

Consequently, many of Bath’s attractions sitpassively, awaiting discovery. A number are also inneed of reinvestment to refresh, update and animatetheir appeal in order to engage a wider and youngeraudience.

Bath has an internationally recognised brand whichspeaks strongly of history and tradition. The city’sremarkable heritage must continue to be promotedand celebrated. But Bath must also talk of the presentday and the future, offering diversity, choice andopportunities for increased interaction andparticipation.

Bath has an exciting opportunity to retain its essentialcharacter, but to reinvent itself with a contemporarytwist.

Proposals• Bath as a World Heritage Site• Legible city• Uplifted public realm• More people living in the city centre• National centre for conservation skills

Bath as a World Heritage SiteBath often fails to explain the importance of itsUNESCO World Heritage Site status and itsoutstanding universal values to local people andvisitors.

The city needs to articulate an engaging and cohesivestory of its past and develop new ways of interpretingthe relevance of its history in a 21st-century context. Aseries of options for improving the interpretation ofthe city’s heritage are currently being developed.

Legible cityFor Bath to improve its marketing and communicationto the world it needs a strong visual identity or brandthat encapsulates and expresses the city’s ‘DNA’, itshistory and its future potential. This should beexpressed and promoted through a range of media.One of the most effective ways of interpreting andrevealing Bath’s cultural identity, heritage and currentoffer would be through a state-of-the-art explanation,


way-finding and signage system.

This and other elements of legibility are beingexplored further as part of the forthcoming PublicRealm and Movement Strategy.

Uplifted public realmThere is a significant opportunity to enhance theattractiveness and value of Bath’s heritage buildingsand the commercial success and vitality of the citycentre through investment in a beautiful, simple, high-quality and pedestrian-friendly public realm.This could then be animated by a managedprogramme of appropriate activities to encourage astronger sense of enjoyment and public life.

See also Public Space and Public Life.

More people living in the city centreAs Bath begins to develop new sites for offices andother forms of employment, this will createopportunities to convert some of the existing usedand unused office stock above ground-floor shopsand restaurants in the historic core to residentialapartments.

More residents living in the centre of Bath would helpanimate the city’s streets and spaces and contributeto a safer and more balanced city centre.

National centre for conservation skillsIn recent years, leading organisations in the heritagesector have predicted a national shortage ofconservator skills within the United Kingdom.

Acknowledging Bath’s World Heritage Site status andthe expertise of existing local conservation trainingproviders, an opportunity exists to explore theconcept of a national centre of excellence forconservations skills in Bath.

With the prominence of the climate change agenda,such a centre might also combine traditionalconservator skills with new approaches to energyefficiency in historic buildings. This proposal requiresfurther testing with local and regional trainingproviders and relevant national bodies.

Retail strategy

ContextAs the plan illustrates, Bath’s main shopping core liesalong a narrow, north-south axis that runs fromMilsom Street to Southgate and the River Avon.

Until recently this linear route could be characterisedas three, overlapping segments with the moreexpensive and exclusive shops situated mostly to thenorth, a range of respected middle-market high-streetbrands located towards the middle, and lessexpensive, higher-volume shops towards the south.

With the exception of several streets in the northwhich accommodate a successful mix of independentretailers, the majority of shops on streets runningalong the centre’s west-east axis, particularly CheapStreet and Westgate Street, generally fail to achievethe cachet, patronage and value of their counterpartson the main north-south shopping spine.

The redevelopment of Southgate now under way willpresent a shift in the existing structure of Bath’s retailoffer. The SouthGate scheme will draw a number ofexisting high street names and much anticipated newvalue brands currently absent to the southern part ofthe city centre, offering larger trading areas and anew shopping environment.

This new centre of gravity could potentially destabilisethe existing pattern and balance of retail use, posingrisks to the future success of the northern part oftown.

However, change creates opportunity and thefollowing outline proposals are aimed at reinventingBath’s retail offer as the best shopping experience inthe South West. These and other proposals will bechallenged and tested as part of the current RetailStrategy.


Bath’s retail core, showing the main north-south shopping axis characterised as three,overlapping segments with the moreexpensive and exclusive shops situatedmostly to the north, a range of respectedmiddle-market high-street brands locatedtowards the middle, and less expensive,higher-volume shops towards the south

Proposals• A transformed SouthGate• Niche shopping to the north• Enhanced independent sector• Shopping, culture and pleasure

A transformed SouthgateThe redevelopment scheme for Southgate wasprogressed and provisionally approved prior to theinitiation of the Future for Bath Vision. The newSouthGate retail area will transform the southern partof the city centre, providing:• 37,567 m² of retail space, including a new

Debenhams department store• New leisure and restaurant space• More than 90 new homes (including 23 affordable

housing units)• A basement car park with 724 parking spaces• A modern, integrated transport hub linking rail and

bus services• A host of new streets and public open spaces

See more on SouthGate.

Niche shopping to the northThe plans for leading new and existing high-streetbrands to locate to larger format stores at SouthGatecreates an opportunity to rethink and reposition Bath’s

shopping offer in the north.The Council is a major landowner in this area and isinterested to explore the extent to which, through aproactive management strategy, it can shape andinfluence the future retail experience in this part of thecity.

In London, the nationally acclaimed success of theHoward de Walden Estate in reinventing MaryleboneHigh Street and Village and that of the Crown Estateswith Regent Street, provide helpful pointers for Bath.

If, through the new SouthGate scheme, Bath is tomeet some of the deficiencies in value retailingcurrently on offer, an opportunity exists to upgradeand expand the exclusive and niche fashion, footwearand jewellery shops in the north.

An exciting private-sector scheme is alreadyemerging for the Shires Yard area between MilsomStreet and Broad Street.

The future concept for the northern part of town willbe explored further as part of the Retail Strategy andin emerging new planning policy.

See also Core Strategy.

Enhanced independent sectorIn the past, Bath has achieved national recognition forits range of quirky independent stores offering food,original fashion and footwear, arts, antiques, crafts,leisure and other goods. It has also demonstrated asignificant strength in antiques shops and markets.

National and international trends suggest thatconsumers are not only increasingly aware ofenvironmental and ethical issues, but are changingtheir behaviour and exercising greater consumerpower in terms of how and where they choose tospend their money.

Building on the theme of distinctiveness establishedin the Vision, Bath must support and value its localindependent sector and, in particular, the provision oflocally designed, sourced and produced goods.The importance of high quality markets as incubatorsof new independent shops and as contributors to avibrant public realm should not be underestimated.


Areas such as Walcot Street; the streets on the citycentre’s west-east axis and the proposed new GreenPark Station area all provide interesting opportunitiesfor an expanded and differentiated independentsector.

Shopping, culture and pleasureWith the increasing dominance of the world wide web,internet shopping has experienced a significantgrowth in popularity. An expanding list of exclusiveand high street retail brands and major supermarketsare now operating very successful web-based mail-order services. For many people, visiting a shoppingcentre is no longer a necessity, it is a choice.

If Bath is to be the first choice for its community andfor wider regional and national audiences, it mustcreate a highly distinctive environment where a broadand distinctive retail offer to meet all needs isintegrated with the city’s beautiful heritageenvironment, an outstanding public realm, a vibrantpublic life and cultural attractions, excellent cafes andrestaurants and a navigable centre which allows easeof access and movement.

‘Smart City’ quarter‘Smart City’ is a spatial concept to create a newmixed-use business quarter for Bath, specialising inthe sectors of knowledge, creativity and innovation.

ContextThe area proposed for Bath’s ‘Smart City’ quarterforms an arc covering much of the southern andwestern periphery of the present city centre.

In terms of new development, the ‘Smart City’ areaincludes sites at Manvers Street, Bath Quays Northand South and the eastern end of Bath WesternRiverside which would connect the new employmentarea to existing office areas at Queen Square andGay Street to the north.

Much of this area is in close proximity to the newtransport interchange at SouthGate which will bringtogether Bath Spa Railway Station with a new busstation providing easy access to public transport andrail connections east to London and west to Bristol.

The area already includes the University of Bath’sCentre for Innovation and Life Long Learning withincubation facilities for new business, and the City of

Bath College.

Much of the proposed ‘Smart City’ quarter falls withinthe ‘fracture zone’ identified in Bath out of balancewhich includes ugly 1960s and 1970s architectureand a dominant road network that severs the citycentre from the river.

A plan showing the proposed ‘Smart City’area in Bath shaded in orange. This areacould also expand further to the west toinclude the Green Park Station area andsites. beyond.

ProposalsThe ‘Smart City’ area establishes one of the keyspatial proposals of the Future for Bath Vision.With pressure building for the acquisition of citycentre sites for high value residential development,‘Smart City’ focuses primarily on protecting andunlocking appropriate city centre sites foremployment-led regeneration which, in addition tonew offices and workspaces, would also deliver a mixof new shops, cultural and leisure facilities, cafes andrestaurants, apartments and public spaces and anenhanced riverside.

The Manvers Street area would be an obvious choicefor higher value office development, with the areasfurther west at Bath Quays, Green Park and BathWestern Riverside providing further flexibility for officeand other workspaces for knowledge and creativeindustries and education.

In summary, the Vision proposes that a pro-activeeconomic development, investment and marketingstrategy is undertaken to attract or grow the followingsectors of economic activity:


• Intellectual and creative industries• A stronger presence of the two universities in the

city centre• Research into water, spa, wellbeing, physiology

and medical sciences• Design, eco-design and green technologies• Business tourism• Life-long learning and skills

Water and spa cultureContextThe poor connectivity between the south and south-western Bath communities and the city centre, thedislocation caused by the ‘fracture zone’, the absenceof a western gateway and the weak east-west axisacross the city centre are explained under Bath out ofBalance.

With major new development sites coming forward tothe south and south-west of the existing city centre,not least the 70 acres of impending regeneration atBath Western Riverside, the importance of a strongand successful east-west axis to connect the newcommunities to the city centre cannot beoverestimated.

The basis of such an axis already exists. This beginsas far east as the Holburne Museum, Great PulteneyStreet and the Recreation Ground.

It then moves west around the heritage and culturallandmarks of Pulteney Bridge; the Victoria Art Galleryand Guildhall; Parade Gardens and Orange Grove;Bath Abbey; the Tourist Information Centre; theRoman Baths; Thermae Bath Spa; the Theatre Royal,Egg Theatre and Ustinov Studio; Kingsmead Square;the multiplex cinema and Green Park Station.

The primary spine to this route comprises CheapStreet and Westgate Street leading to KingsmeadSquare, which then provides a short connection westto Green Park Station and the river via James StreetWest, and a fork south to Bath Quays via Avon Street.

With full or partial pedestrianisation and significantimprovements to the public realm, the east-west axisappears to offer an exciting opportunity for Bath.

The secondary spines of Upper Borough Wallsleading to a redeveloped Sawclose; and AbbeyChurch Yard and York Street leading along Bath

Street to Thermae Bath Spa, also offer significantscope for improvement.

ProposalsThe proposed east-west axis would connect PulteneyWeir – the only example in the city centre ofsuccessful engagement with the river – to the riverand a potentially exciting new destination at GreenPark Station under the proposals for Bath WesternRiverside: East.

At the centre of this axis lie Bath’s three hot springs –the King’s Spring, the Cross Spring and the HetlingSpring – adding history, distinctiveness and mysteryto the concept of a water route.

The east-west axis provides a unique opportunity forBath to define a strong cultural core to balance andintersect Bath’s main north-south shopping spine,which physically expresses the revival of spa cultureand the themes of ‘water and wellbeing’ and ‘mind,body and spirit’.

The plan below illustrates how the existing attractionsbased on the river and hot springs could bedeveloped to encourage an east-west axis across theestablished north-south dominance and help expandthe city centre.

Bath’s potential east-west axis, showinghow the main water-based attractions(circled in blue shading) cut across thepresent north-south dominance (shown as ablack line) from SouthGate up to the RoyalCrescent


In addition to the resurfacing of streets and spaces,improvements to the public realm might include aseries of water features, a dramatic light feature, orhigh-quality public work of art visually linking the riverat Pulteney Weir to the river beyond Green ParkStation.

The clustering of existing heritage, cultural and spa-related attractions along this route could be enhancedwith new attractions to strengthen the Water and SpaCulture concept.

The anticipated launch of cutting-edge arts andentertainment venue Komedia at Westgate Street, thenew spa hotel adjacent to Thermae Bath Spa and theproposed redevelopment of Sawclose (which has alsobeen identified as a potential small casino site) alladd weight to this concept.

Other potential ideas for future consideration include:• A refashioned Parade Gardens• A refashioned Kingsmead Square• A new destination at Green Park Station

Bath Western RiversideThe regeneration of Bath Western Riverside (BWR)has been a major aspiration of the Council and thelocal community for more than 25 years.

Bath Western Riverside comprises about 70 acres ofbrownfield land and represents the most significantdevelopment opportunity in Bath and one of the mostimportant urban regeneration opportunities in theSouth West Region.

BWR is identified in all regional, sub-regional andlocal policies and strategies as Bath’s key site for thedelivery of housing and employment targets.

Following years of feasibility studies and publicconsultation, the policy for the regeneration of the sitewas established by the Council’s Planning Authority in2003 in the Bath Western Riverside SupplementaryPlanning Guidance and in the subsequent BathWestern Riverside Supplementary PlanningDocument (2006).

See the Bath Western Riverside website for moreinformation

Bath Western Riverside East• Green Park Station• From the river to Victoria Bridge Road

Bath Western Riverside West• Crest Nicholson scheme

The Future for Bath Vision and the Council’sSupplementary Planning Document divide BathWestern Riverside into two distinct but well connectedcharacter areas: the eastern end providing anextension to, and completion of, Bath city centre; andthe western end providing a new high density,sustainable residential community.

Bath Western Riverside EastBWR East stretches from Green Park Station in theeast to Victoria Bridge Road in the west and iscontained between the Upper Bristol Road to thenorth and the Lower Bristol Road to the south.

The site currently includes Green Park Station;Sainsbury’s supermarket and car park; the officebuildings on the southern side of James Street West,including the Primary Care Trust; the small retail andoffice park off Ivo Peters Road; the Homebase storeand car park and the Sainsbury’s petrol-filling station.

Green Park StationWithin the Vision, the Green Park Station area is seenas an exciting, original and highly distinctive newdestination within the city centre, offering a uniquefamily-friendly experience by day and, by night, a newfood, arts, cultural and entertainment quarter.

As the western anchor of the proposed east-westWater and Spa Culture axis, Green Park Station isenvisaged as a focal point for the theme of ‘mind,body and spirit’ providing:• a major market offering locally sourced and

organic food and arts and crafts• a range of fine food outlets• specialist cafes, bars and restaurants• a cookery school• holistic therapies and products• a showcase for design, eco-design and eco-

products• a showcase for high quality art and crafts.

The spectacular open space under the station canopywould provide an all-season covered plaza whichwould connect to the river via a major new external


square providing a grand public space for events,activities and markets and for organised play activitiesfor children.

Around this new public square and between GreenPark Station and the river the following uses couldpotentially be clustered:• ‘lifestyle’ retailing, including furniture, kitchen and

cookery products, books, music, technology, artand design

• housing• workspaces for creative industries• a new cultural and conference building and hotel

or a new commercial art gallery or museum• cafes, bars and restaurants• a nightclubA new wider bridge connection to the western sideand high quality landscaping to open up andcelebrate the river would establish an impressive newarea of riverside, providing a contemporary twin toParade Gardens at the other end of the east-westaxis.

The concepts for BWR East need further testing aspart of the forthcoming Retail Strategy and CulturalDevelopment Study and, if supported, would need toconsidered alongside other options in the forthcomingLocal Development Framework.See also Pleasure and Culture.

From the River to Victoria Bridge RoadMoving west over the river to the current site of theHomebase store and car park, a new urban quarter isproposed, providing a mix of:• offices and workspaces• an alternative site for a cultural and conference

building and hotel (see Green Park Station above)• educational facilities• Sainsbury’s supermarket• apartments• a small-to medium-scale gallery or museum

The initial proposals outlined for BWR East requirefurther master planning, viability testing and anagreed land assembly strategy in order to moveforward. They assume the relocation of Sainsbury’ssupermarket elsewhere within the BWR East areaand the relocation of Homebase and other retail unitsoff-site. These proposals require further discussionand negotiation with existing landowners andoccupiers.

The proposals must also integrate with emergingmaster planning and land-use planning proposals forBath Quays and Manvers Street to ensure a coherent,co-ordinated and phased approach to development isachieved across the city centre.

A plan showing the area earmarked for theBath Western Riverside eastern sectiondevelopment, shaded in pink

Bath Western Riverside WestBath Western Riverside West falls within the samenorth-south boundaries as Bath Western RiversideEast and runs east to west from Victoria Bridge Roadto Windsor Bridge Road.

The area includes the former Stothert and Pitt factoryland, now owned by Crest Nicholson, WessexWater’s pumping station, the site of the gas holders, anumber of car showrooms and small businessesalong the Lower Bristol Road and, north of the river,the Council’s civic amenity site and waste recyclingcentre.

Crest Nicholson schemeThe development proposals for Bath WesternRiverside West have been the subject of an OutlinePlanning Application by Crest Nicholson to Bath andNorth East Somerset Council’s Development ControlCommittee, which was considered by the committeeon 17 January 2007.

The committee was minded to consent to the schemesubject to the approval of the Secretary of State andthe completion of a Section 106 Agreement betweenthe Council and the developer.


Crest Nicholson has recently resubmitted itsapplication with revised drawings, which is currentlygoing through the planning process.

See the Bath Western Riverside website for moreinformation

The Outline Planning Application has been preparedby a nationally and internationally renowned team oflocally based design consultants including architectsFeilden Clegg Bradley, landscape designers AndrewGrant Associates, engineers Buro Happold andsustainable energy advisers Energy for SustainableDevelopment (ESD).

Because of the status of the scheme, it is not coveredin any detail with the Vision documentation and thiswebsite. See the scheme design and CrestNicholson’s accompanying Case for Regeneration.

Key components of this landmark contemporaryscheme include:• Up to 2,000 new homes, more than 25% of which

should be affordable housing units• Two new riverside parks and a range of high

quality public squares and spaces• Two new bridges and the restoration of the listed

Victoria Bridge• A primary school and community centre• Local needs shops• Managed student housing• A GP practice• High standards of design quality• High standards of sustainability and energy

management, including 10% renewable energy,sustainable energy centre, eco-Homes ‘very good’and ‘excellent’ ratings, combined heat and powerand an on-site car club

• State-of-the-art public transport with the proposednew bus-based rapid transit system

• Cycle storage and cycle and pedestrian routes• ‘Shared Space’ approach to the design of on-site

roads• 0.7 parking spaces per housing unit

Subject to the formal approval of the Outline PlanningApplication, a detailed planning application submittedby Crest Nicholson for the first phase of developmentat Bath Western Riverside West will be considered forapproval by the Council’s Development ControlCommittee.

Sport and leisureBath has outstanding sports credentials and a strongrelationship between sport, leisure and wellbeing.

ContextIf Green Park Station provides an anchor to thewestern end of the east-west ‘Water and Spa Culture’axis, then the site comprising Bath Rugby Club, theRecreation Ground, Bath Sports and Leisure Centreand Bath Pavilion provides an appropriate easternanchor.

At national and regional levels, participation in sport isbeing actively promoted alongside competitive sportand the traditional boundaries between sport andfitness, nutrition, conventional therapies (such asphysiotherapy and hydrotherapy) and complementarytherapies are dissolving into one overarching themeof wellbeing.

Sports England has, in recent years, provided fundingfor new Healthy Living and Discovery centres,demonstrating its support for a more holistic approachto health.

In Bath the establishment of Team Bath, theincreasingly strong relationship between the city’sRugby Club and the University of Bath’s SportsTraining Village, the potential for Bath providing atraining facility for the 2012 London Olympics and theCouncil’s own commitment to sports developmentwithin the Bath and North East Somerset communityall offer promising content for a city-wide concept ofhealth and wellbeing.

This concept also embraces Thermae Bath Spa, thework of the Primary Care Trust, the Royal NationalHospital for Rheumatic Diseases, the complementarymedicine sector and arts and culture.

Future plans for an expanded rugby club are notcovered by the Future for Bath Vision.

However, the significant contribution of Bath RugbyClub to the profile and economy of the city is clearlyrecognised within the Vision.

ProposalsThe following proposals are outlined to ensure thecontinued success of sport, leisure, health andwellbeing in Bath:• Active promotion of sports for all• Retained and enhanced Bath Rugby Club and


explore potential for a new sports and leisurecentre

• Increased focus on sport and health science as afuture contributor to the Bath economy

• Closer working between local sports, leisure andhealth providers to achieve a coherent sports,health and wellbeing offer for local people andvisitors to the city

Expanded city centreThe Future for Bath spatial framework would deliveran enlarged city centre with:• More coherent, engaging and clearly

understandable heritage attractions• A stronger and more distinctive north-south retail

core• A redefined and strengthened east-west cultural

axis• A series of high quality and well connected new

urban quarters at the south-eastern, southern andsouth-western fringes of the city centre offeringnew employment, education, retail, culture, leisureand housing opportunities

The course of the River Avon provides a naturalboundary for primary city centre land uses and, inparticular, retail.

The area between the river at Green Park Station andVictoria Bridge Road then provides a zone ofappropriate ‘edge of centre’ development between thesouth-western boundary of the expanded city centreat Green Park Station and the new residentialcommunity at Bath Western Riverside West.

This new high-density urban community would thenoccupy a similar relationship to the city centre andoffer a similar mix of uses as the Georgian residentialextensions to the north and east of the city centre.

The proposed expansion of Bath’s city centreinevitably poses a range of threats and challenges tothe compact form and established structure andcharacter of the current city centre.

However, if handled correctly, it also provides amagnificent opportunity to realise many of the ideasand aspirations outlined under the Future for BathVision, and, in particular, to build a more successfuland enduring economy and an increased level ofpublic life and wellbeing for the city.

Map showing the areas of proposedexpansion of Bath’s city centre shaded inpurple with the adjacent new residentialcommunity, the western end of BathWestern Riverside, in brown

People and PlaceThroughout the history of civilisation, the public realm- the spaces between buildings - has been a focalpoint for public life. The squares, promenades,streets, lanes, markets and riversides of our city andtown centres are where people have always gatheredto look at and meet others, to demonstrate andcampaign, to barter and trade, to play, to parade, tocelebrate and to share their grief.

The public realm can offer spaces for fun,entertainment and social interaction and quiet areasfor those who value solitude and contemplation.

Public space is open and free to use. It provides anessential opportunity for all parts of society, for thefamiliar and the foreign, to mingle and connect.

Over the past century, the increasing dominance ofthe motor car has done much to damage thecharacter and quality of public space and public life incities and towns across the world. In Bath’s case,accommodating the car within the city centre hasbeen a particularly uncomfortable experience due tolocal topography and narrow medieval and Georgianstreets.

Elsewhere in Europe pioneering cities, such asCopenhagen in Denmark and Freyburg in Germany,have done much in recent decades to reverse thehierarchy of car and pedestrian and to put people andsense of place right at the heart of urban life.


The economic success, popularity and increasedwellbeing that these and other cities havesubsequently experienced provide inspiration andguidance when considering the future of Bath’s citycentre and when planning new areas of developmentwithin the city.

The following proposals explore a range of optionsand plans for Bath’s riverside, for transport andmovement within the city and for an enhanced publicrealm.• Access and movement• Riverside• Public space and public life

During 2006, the Council worked with a leadingnational firm of urban designers, City ID, to translatethe concepts behind the Future for Bath Vision into aframework for a place-making strategy for Bath.

This work highlighted the opportunity to use Bath’sunique character to guide the future design anddevelopment of the city’s public realm. The place-making framework will be developed into a full PublicRealm and Movement Strategy during 2007.

Access and movementThe task of improving Bath’s congested and pollutedroad network and removing the dominance of traffic inthe city centre is one of the most important,transformative and expensive challenges currentlyfacing the city.

Significant progress has already been made in thisdirection by the Council in conjunction with the otherWest of England local authorities through the LocalTransport Plan and Bath Package bids of more than£50m to the Department of Transport.

In particular, the Bath Package, if successful, wouldunlock almost £50m of public investment in newtransportation measures including a new bus ‘rapidtransit system’.

Initially the rapid transit bus would run along adedicated route between the city centre and anenlarged Park and Ride at Newbridge to the west anda Park and Ride at Lambridge in the east. However,future stages of the scheme envisage the delivery ofan integrated city-wide network connecting Park andRides on all approaches to Bath with the city centre.The proposed new rapid transit system offers new

cleaner fuel options, high-tech passenger information,pre-purchasing of tickets and the external and internalappearance of a modern tram. It provides Bath’s bestopportunity for a radical change to its public transportnetwork and the city is likely to learn the outcome ofits bid in 2007/2008.

The Local Transport Plan and Bath Package bids alsodeliver a range of additional access and movementbenefits and innovations, including new restrictionson car access to parts of the city centre.

ProposalsBuilding on the potential success of the Bath Packagebid, the Future for Bath Vision proposes the followingobjectives to guide the development of future accessand movement proposals in Bath:• Reverse the hierarchy of the car and the

pedestrian in the city centre, creating a series ofstreets and spaces that give priority to thepedestrian

• Develop and promote Bath as Britain’s most‘walkable city’ including improved pedestriansignage and way-finding systems

• Deliver Park and Ride sites on each axis ofapproach to Bath

• Deliver an expanded rapid transit network• Consider the implementation of demand

management measures including congestioncharging

• New pedestrian and cycle routes• Expanded car clubs• More ‘shared space’ areas• Safe walking routes to schools for local children

Public space and public life

ContextIn the 18th century, Bath was a world leader in the artof ‘place’ or ‘city’ making. A range of distinctivefeatures including the city’s grand and intimatespaces framed by the architectural splendour of itsterraces, squares, crescents and circus; its widepavements and parades; the delineation of public andprivate space; the exceptional quality and originalityof its ironwork features; its sedan chair and bathchair; and, not least, the emphasis on assembly,culture, health and pleasure, all helped to establishBath as a place of international significance andinfluence.


Much of Bath’s 18th-century attraction as a city ofwellbeing and pleasure was exclusive, beingconsciously targeted at the aristocratic, the rich andthe fashionable. However, the imagination and thecommitment to beauty and symmetry that informedthe design and quality of Bath’s public realm wasthen, as today, accessible and of benefit to all.

Sadly, much of the clarity, individuality and attentionto detail that made Georgian Bath different from otherplaces has now been lost. Many of the city’sspectacular streets and public spaces are oftenclogged with traffic and its air polluted with fumes.

Mock-Victorian benches and fingerposts sit next toplastic litter bins and compete with the clutter ofhighways signage.

The enduring beauty of Bath’s surviving Georgianstreet furniture and features – its railings, overthrows,lamps, foot scrapers and snuffers, and its pennantstone parades – serve as a reminder of a past whenBath’s name was synonymous with gracefulness,elegance and quality.

ProposalThe key proposal for the future development of Bath’spublic realm is to use the city’s unique history andcharacter – its DNA – to inspire the creation of a 21st-century public realm that is simple, engaging andbeautiful, and while respectful of the past is clearly ofits time.

With major development schemes coming forward infuture years, adding new urban quarters and newforms of architecture to the mix of the existing citycentre, it is more important than ever that Bath lookstwenty years ahead to a completed city centre andplans now for a well designed, highly distinctive andcoherent public realm which glues old and newtogether into a continuous whole. Such thinking isrequired to ensure that each successive newdevelopment adds to the clarity, cohesion andreputation of the city centre.

Elements of this overarching proposal include:• A new ‘family’ of high quality street furniture and

finishes, and a new signage and way-findingsystem to be implemented by new developmentsand introduced incrementally across the existingcity centre over time. This should be of the highestdesign quality and distinctive to Bath.

• A series of new light, water and public art featuresto enhance and enliven public spaces and streets

• An increased provision of public lavatories withinthe city centre

• Dedicated city management for Bath• A step change in destination management,

establishing a more dynamic approach to themarketing, management and maintenance of thecentre of Bath

A managed programme of public information, activityand events within the public realm incorporatingcontemporary art and crafts, culture, heritage, sport,street markets and play. There is some merit inexploring options for a public-private sector agency orpartnership to lead and co-ordinate the managementof the city centre and the delivery of marketing,tourism, culture and place-making strategies andprogrammes.

See also Cultural Facility Feasibility Study, a culturaldevelopment study entitled ‘Reinventing Bath: a callto leadership and strategic planning to deliver a resortof the future’, by Arts Business Limited.

Planning and deliveryVisions are easier to create than to deliver. While theaspirations and ideas contained within the Future forBath Vision hopefully represent an appropriate andexciting future direction of travel for the city, it isacknowledged that the planning and funding requiredto translate vision into reality poses a significant andsobering challenge.

In order to make progress towards delivering some orall of the Future for Bath Vision proposals, the citymust actively engage with a range of factors,including:• Market forces• Viability• Access to capital• Regional/national dimension• Council dimension• Wider stakeholders• Support from the community• Overcoming regulatory issues• Changes of policy• Overcoming complacency

Most importantly, the successful delivery of the visiondepends on strong public and private sectorleadership.


Business Plan and SpatialFrameworkAt an early stage in the development of the Future forBath Vision, the Council decided to appointinternationally respected business consultants Ernstand Young to produce a business plan to challengeand test the Vision.

Ernst and Young also produced a financial modelwhich identified more than twenty development sites,undertook an indicative financial appraisal of eachsite and assessed indicative overall fundingrequirements to realise the Vision.

This process was supported by town planning expertsTerence O’Rourke who tested the spatial proposalswithin the Vision.

The Future for Bath Business Plan and SpatialFramework were produced in 2006 and have beenavailable to the public since that time. The documentsare, on the whole, highly supportive of the Vision.

The Business Plan was particularly supportive of theplans for economic growth and recommended thatgrowth in Bath should:• Be focused on the individual, and the theme of

‘mind, body and spirit’ established in the Vision• Realise Bath’s creativity and intellectual capital

opportunities• Clearly position the city in the market place• Provide space for business growth• Set a clear strategy for Bath’s unique retail offer• Establish a clear, focused tourism offer, with

business tourism as a priority

The Future for Bath Business Plan also concludedthat Bath was capable of contributing to the regionalgrowth agenda, but that growth in the city needed tobe carefully managed and controlled to ensure that itwas in line with Bath’s unique and distinctive status.

Implementation and deliveryA series of studies and strategies are under way todevelop the Future for Bath Vision proposals towardsimplementation. These include a Retail Strategy,Cultural Strategy, Place-Making Strategy, BusinessDevelopment and Employment Space Strategy,Housing Development Strategy, and Parking Strategy.

A separate study on Destination Management is alsobeing undertaken by Bath Tourism Plus. Each ofthese studies involves targeting key stakeholderswithin the relevant sectors. The outputs and proposedaction plans from all of these studies will beintegrated early in 2008 to inform:• A Development and Regeneration Strategy and

Delivery Plan, including a master framework forthe city centre

• Development of new planning policy for Bath andNorth East Somerset through the Core Strategyand Local Development Framework process,which will be the subject of on-going communityengagement exercises

• The development of an integrated marketingstrategy for the city

The Council is also researching and exploring arange of public/private sector delivery mechanisms,such as City Development Companies and UrbanRegeneration Companies, to establish the mostappropriate model for Bath.

The Council is also in the process of identifying arange of suitable developers to be considered for thefuture development and regeneration of the city. IfBath is to realise the highly distinctive ‘niche’developments proposed by the Future for Bath Vision,the Council will need to work with appropriate ‘niche’developers who appreciate Bath’s unique characterand identity.

Urban Regeneration PanelIn 2004 the Council set up an advisory UrbanRegeneration Panel to guide and challenge theproposals for the future development of the city.

The panel comprises six national and internationalexperts with significant experience across a range ofdisciplines including heritage, urbanism, architecture,planning, development and regeneration, housing,engineering, access and movement andsustainability.

Members of the panel have been directly involved inmajor regeneration and development schemes withinthe UK and abroad and bring a wealth of knowledgeand experience to assist the Council with thedevelopment and delivery of the Future for BathVision.


The Urban Regeneraton Panel members are criticalfriends and advisers to the Council in preparing forthe significant development and regeneration agendawhich lies ahead.

The Panel is not, however, intended as a substitutefor public engagement, which will continue to takeplace through a range of forums including ongoingpublic presentations, this website, the Local PlanningAuthority’s consultation on the Core Strategy and,with regard to individual planning applications fordevelopment schemes, through the statutory planningprocess.

Urban Regeneration PanelIn 2004 the Council set up an advisory UrbanRegeneration Panel to guide and challenge theproposals for the future development of the city.The following six national and international expertsmake up the panel.• Professor Les Sparks OBE (chair)• Honor Chapman CBE (second chair)• Dickon Robinson CBE• Alan Baxter• Sir Richard MacCormac CBE• Professor Chris Baines

Professor Les SparksOBE DipArch DipTPMRTPI HonDDes FRSA(Chair)

Les Sparks is an architect/planner with substantial localgovernment experience atsenior level.

He was Director of Planningand Architecture at Birmingham City Council from1991 to 1999 and previously Director ofEnvironmental Services at Bath City Council from1980 to 1991.

While at Bath he was instrumental in establishing theEnglish Historic Towns Forum of which he is now anHonorary Life Member.

In 1999 he was appointed one of the foundingCommissioners on CABE (the Commission forArchitecture and the Built Environment).

Professor Sparks was appointed a Commissioner ofEnglish Heritage in 2001, and is the RegionalCommissioner for the East Midlands. He chaired theformer Advisory Committee on the Historic BuiltEnvironment (HBEAC) 2002-03, and is DeputyChairman of the English Heritage AdvisoryCommittee (EHAC).

He has been Chairman from 2003 of the CABE/English Heritage Urban Panel, and a member since itwas set up in January 2000 by English Heritage toadvise on major development issues in historic townsand cities.

He chaired the Expert Panel on Historic Buildings andLand for the Heritage Lottery Fund from 1999 to2001. He acts as a specialist adviser to the JosephRowntree Foundation, the Crown EstatesCommissioners, and Nottingham City Council.

Professor Sparks was appointed to the Ministry ofDefence Historic Buildings Advisory Group in 1994.

Since 1999 he has been a Visiting Professor at theUniversity of West of England, Bristol, where he wasawarded an Honorary Doctorate in Design.

He is a patron of the Urban Design Group and wasformerly on the Steering Committee of the UrbanVillages Forum. He is a Trustee of BirminghamConservation Trust and has been a board member ofGroundwork Birmingham. He worked part time as aplanning inspector from 1999 to 2002, and is aconsultant with planning consultants TerenceO’Rourke plc.

Professor Sparks has served on various Governmentsteering groups, on working groups of the Urban TaskForce and the Urban Green Spaces Task Force, andon the Urban Capacity Group of the UK Round Tableon Sustainability.

He was on the Demos/Comedia ‘Richness of Cities’project team and was a member of the URBED/DTLR team managing the Towns and Cities: Partnersin Urban Renaissance Programme.

He was a specialist member of the Beacon CouncilsAdvisory Committee Round 4, and was a member ofthe DCMS Steering Group reviewing designation andmanagement regimes for the historic environment.


In his professional career Professor Sparks hasspecialised in urban design and conservation andwas awarded the OBE in 1997 for his services toUrban Regeneration.

Honor Chapman, CBE BScMPhil FRICS MRTPI(Second Chair)

Honor Chapman has had adistinguished career spanningproperty, marketing, businessand urban development in boththe public and private sectors.

She has been closely involved with many of the keyurban policy issues in the UK including the earlyplanning of several of the new and expanded townsand the conservation of historic cities including Bath.

She has worked on many schemes in the UK and onthe Continent including advising Daimler Benz onconcepts and strategy for the redevelopment of thePotsdamer Platz in Berlin after the demolition of TheWall, and the Secretary of State for Wales on theconcepts, case for and organisational structureneeded to implement the regeneration of Cardiff Bay.

As a board member of Cardiff Bay UDC andChairman of the Development Sub-Committee, sheplayed a crucial role in what became one of thelargest urban regeneration schemes in Europe.

Honor retired from Jones Lang LaSalle (internationalproperty advisers) at the end of 2003 having been apartner and international director since 1979.

She also retired as a Crown Estate Commissionerhaving served for seven years. In the mid 1990s (onsecondment), she established the London FirstCentre which markets London to major businessesworldwide.

In September 2003, she was appointed Chairman ofthe London Development Agency responsible forpreparing and delivering the Mayor’s business planfor London with an annual budget of more than £300million.

She is now Chair and Chief Executive of London’snew Centre of Excellence in Regeneration to identifyand bring world-class experience to the professions

of running, managing and developing UK towns andcities.

She holds a MPhil in Town Planning, BSc in EstateManagement and Sloan Fellowship of the LondonBusiness School. She is a Fellow of the RoyalSociety of Arts and an Honorary Fellow of the Societyof Property Researchers. She chairs the BurlingtonGardens Committee of the Royal Academy.

In 1997, she was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s NewYear’s Honours List for her services to the propertyindustry and in 1998 was given the College of EstateManagement Award for a lifetime’s contribution to theproperty industry.

Honor lives and farms in south Somerset.

Dickon Robinson CBERIBA FRSA

As Development and PlanningDirector at the Peabody Trust,London’s largest and longestestablished Housing Trust,Dickon Robinson has beenresponsible for leading thegreatly expanded new build housing and regenerationprogrammes, which have repositioned Peabody as akey London regeneration agency.

He graduated from the Portsmouth School ofArchitecture and worked for a managementconsultancy engaged in environmental andbehavioural research and the Hospital DesignPartnership before moving into the housing arena asfounder member and first Chair of the Soho HousingAssociation. He was also involved in communityaction groups in the West End, including the SavePiccadilly Campaign and the Soho Society.

In 1975, he joined the London Borough of CamdenHousing Department. As Assistant Director ofHousing for Property Services he was responsible forthe council’s private sector housing programmes andthe housing investment programme, building newhomes and modernising older estates.

In 1988, Mr Robinson joined the Peabody Trust asDirector of Development and Technical Services. Hewas the Chair of the Foyer Federation between 1992/2001 and has been a board member of St Mungo’s


and Centrepoint.

He is a CABE (Commission for Architecture and theBuilt Environment) Commissioner and chair of CABESpace. He is also a member of the English HeritageUrban Panel, a patron of the Urban Design Groupand a visiting Professor of Architecture at theMackintosh School of Art in Glasgow.

Professionally, and as a West End resident for thepast 25 years, he has a particular interest in:• Mixed used and mixed tenure developments• Harnessing the arts for regeneration projects• Promoting innovative construction• Achieving architectural excellence• Sustainable housing design

Alan Baxter

Alan Baxter is an engineer andurban designer with a wide rangeof interests and projects, whichgo far beyond the usual realm ofengineering.

His firm, Alan Baxter &Associates, handles projects from the conservation ofmajor historic buildings and new buildings ofarchitectural significance to masterplanning andtransportation studies.

He and his firm are handling a large number ofsignificant urban design projects from the extensionof Ashford in Kent to masterplans for Poundbury,Llandarcy, Kettering and Northampton.

His work also encompasses the authorship of keypublications such as Places, Streets and Movement,Urban Design Compendium, Better Places to Liveand Paving the Way. He provides advice on issues ofrelevance such as Codes and movement engineering.

On many projects the integration of urban,conservation, engineering and transport issues leadsto valuable and creative solutions.

Mr Baxter is a member of English Heritage’s UrbanPanel, as well as their National and Londoncommittee, and has just completed a term on theBuildings and Land Panel of the Heritage LotteryFund.

He is a patron of the Urban Design Group and aCommissioner of the Independent TransportCommission.

Professor Chris Baines

Chris Baines is one of the UK’sleading environmentalcampaigners, and an award-winning writer and broadcaster.

He originally trained as ahorticulturalist, and after an earlycareer in public parks, commercial contracting andlandscape consultancy he taught postgraduateLandscape Architecture at the University of CentralEngland until 1985, when he was awarded a personalchair.

Self-employed for almost 20 years, Professor Bainesworks primarily as a freelance environmental adviserto central and local government and also to seniorexecutives in the corporate sector.

He has long-standing professional links with majorcompanies in the water, construction, minerals,energy and housing industries and also with theWorld Health Organisation’s Healthy Citiesprogramme, the UK’s National Urban Forestry Unit,The National House Builders’ Federation and theBBC.

He was a member of the UK Commission of Inquiry into Environmental Health and the government’sMinisterial Sounding Board for the recent Rural WhitePaper.

Professor Baines is a member of the steeringcommittee for CABE (the Commission for Architectureand the Built Environment) Space and facilitator forthe Green Leaders Forum, which brings togetherchief executives from more than twenty leadingconservation charities and government agencies.

Professor Baines has just completed the maximumsix-year period as a trustee appointed by the PrimeMinister to the National Heritage Memorial Fund andthe Heritage Lottery Fund.

He also holds a number of honorary posts in thevoluntary sector including Vice-president of the


Wildlife Trusts; President of the Thames EstuaryPartnership and the Association for EnvironmentallyConscious Building and a trustee of the WaterwaysTrust. He is also an Honorary Fellow of both CIWEMand ILAM.Professor Baines writes and broadcasts frequently,particularly for the BBC. He is a regular speaker orchairman at national and international conferences,and he has a reputation as a joined-up thinker and apartnership broker. He works from home in inner-cityWolverhampton.

Sir Richard MacCormacCBE MA PPRIBA RA

Richard MacCormac is chairmanof MacCormac JamiesonPrichard, which was establishedin 1972 and incorporated in2002. Richard has taught andlectured widely, and published articles on urbandesign and architectural theory. He is regularly invitedto be an assessor of architectural competitions anddesign awards. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society ofArts and a Royal Academician. Richard has servedtwo terms as a member of the Royal Fine ArtCommission and has been a past commissioner forEnglish Heritage. He served as President of the RoyalInstitute of British Architects from 1991 to 1993. In1994, Richard was awarded a CBE, and received aknighthood in 2001. He is chairman of the RoyalAcademy Architecture Committee and the RoyalAcademy Forum. Richard is also a trustee of the SirJohn Soane’s Museum.

Notable building projects include: Cable & WirelessCollege, Coventry (RFAC/Sunday Times Building ofthe Year Award 1994); Garden Quadrangle, St John’sCollege, Oxford (Independent on Sunday Building ofthe Year Award 1994); Bowra Building, WadhamCollege, Oxford; Burrell’s Fields. Trinity College,Cambridge (RIBA Regional Award 1997, Civic TrustAward 1997, and Brick Award, Supreme Winner1996), and the Ruskin Library, Lancaster University(Independent on Sunday Building of the Year Award1996; RFAC/BSkyB Building of the Year, UniversitiesWinner 1998; and Millennium Products statusawarded by the Design Council 1999); the WellcomeWing at the Science Museum (CelebratingConstruction Achievement, Regional Award forGreater London 2000); and Southwark Station,

Jubilee Line Extension (Millennium Building of theYear Award, RFAC Trust/BSkyB 2000).Current masterplanning projects include theexpansion of Cambridge University into WestCambridge and the Phoenix Initiative, a regenerationproject for Coventry.Other current projects include Building 1 inPaternoster Square adjacent to St Paul’s Cathedraland the redevelopment/refurbishment of the BBC atPortland Place. Exhibition design includes Ruskin,Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites at Tate Britain, spring2000 and Surrealism - Desire Unbound shown at TateModern, end 2001.

New ProjectsSignificant development proposals are now emergingor proceeding for:• The Podium and Cattle Market site• The Recreation Ground• Manvers Street• Southgate• Bath Quays North and South• Bath Western Riverside• Smaller sites such as Milsom Place and Sawclose

As the Future for Bath Vision develops over the nexttwenty years, the plans will continue to take intoaccount the views of everyone with an interest in thefuture of the city.


The Somer ValleyMidsomer Norton, Radstock and the surroundingcommunitiesThe Somer Valley Partnership adopted its CommunityPlan: A Brighter Future in 2005 with an ambition tocreate a thriving and vibrant area which has a senseof well-being and identity.

Its Future Strategic Vision aims to revitalise theeconomy of the Midsomer Norton, Radstock and thesurrounding villages, known as the Somer Valleyarea.

The Vision addresses the key economic challengesfacing the area due to the decline in traditionalmanufacturing employment and the need to diversifyand expand the local economy.

It is the start of a long-term programme which seeksto address the following issues:• A Strong Sense of Place - improve the town

centres and ensure their functions arecomplementary

• Decline and Change - diversify and expand theeconomy for the area

• Opportunities - increase the aspirations and skillsof the workforce and ensure developmentopportunities are realised

• Challenges - provide a role for Midsomer Nortonand Radstock as the focus of a wider economicarea

Where dependent on the planning system, theseobjectives can be considered and implementedthrough the emerging Local Development Framework(LDF).



Members of the public and interested stakeholdersare encouraged to use this opportunity to make their

views on the proposals known.

This can be done in any of the following ways:• Fill in the online questionnaire for Somer Valley

using this link and then choose ‘Respond to theconsultation’.



• Telephone us at 01225 477696• Go along to public meetings and information

workshops as advertised in the local press and atCouncil offices


Community StrategyThe Somer Valley area covers the towns of MidsomerNorton and Radstock and the nearby Bath and NorthEast Somerset parishes of Camerton, FarringtonGurney, High Littleton, Paulton, Peasedown St John,Shoscombe, and Timsbury.

The Vision for the Future for the Somer Valley derivesfrom the area’s Community Plan: A Brighter Future,which was produced in 2005 and updated in 2007.

The Vision seeks to develop and take forward theeconomic and business-related objectives of theCommunity Plan in order to address the conclusionthat ‘a successful economy is the bedrock on whichour ambitions for the area will be realised’.

A strong sense of placeBoth Radstock and Midsomer Norton were originallymarket and rural service centres that became miningtowns in the North Somerset Coalfield.

Radstock has since Roman times been the focus forcommunication links. At the beginning of the 19thcentury the Somerset Coal Canal passed through thetown and subsequently the Somerset and Dorset andGWR railway companies operated through Radstock.

Life in the town was dominated by coal mining andthe railways for many years giving Radstock itsunique character.


Midsomer Norton is a market town dating back tomedieval times. Its historic core runs along the RiverSomer which remains an attractive feature in the HighStreet. The town has gradually built its role as themain retail centre for the area.

Decline and changeSince the decline in coal mining - the North SomersetCoalfield finally closed in 1973 - there was a steadyexpansion of new manufacturing and related serviceindustries in the Somer Valley. Industry in the area isnow dominated by printing and packaging and thehaulage and transport industry.

The recent closure of the Polestar and Alcan printingworks, two of the major employers in the area,demonstrates how vulnerable the local economy is toglobal restructuring and its dependency on a fewlarge employers.

Over the same period the Somer Valley has seen anincrease in residential development driven by thearea’s location outside the Bristol-Bath Green Belt,relatively good access to employment markets andthe increasing unaffordability of housing in Bath.

Challenges• Local housing expansion has led to an increase in

out-commuting and an economic imbalance.• The town centres of Radstock and Midsomer

Norton suffer from poor-quality public realm anddilapidated buildings, and are facing increasingcompetition from surrounding market towns inSomerset and Wiltshire

• The local economy is at the beginning of a periodof restructuring as global economic factors cometo bear on the printing and packaging sector

• The area’s peripheral location and relativeisolation will make it more difficult to attract neweconomic investment

• There are poor transport links between Norton-Radstock and the cities of Bath and Bristol.

• Literacy and numeracy skills are low in parts of thearea and the workforce may lack the skills requiredby new businesses

Opportunities• The Bath and North East Somerset Business Plan

produced by Ernst and Young highlights theeconomic potential of the wider Norton-Radstockarea

• The Somer Valley Partnership is developing

consensus and partnership working across thewider geographical area

• The emergence of a new framework of regionaland local planning policies linked to Local AreaAgreements which can put a renewed focus onaddressing the needs of the area

• Sub-regional initiatives on transport and ruralissues which can assist with the development ofParish Plans, to articulate local needs, and theimprovement of rural public transport links andservices to Bath and Bristol

• The emerging Local Development Framework(LDF) provides the opportunity to review andpursue some of these aspirations throughout thenew planning policy framework

Taken together the above provide opportunities toinfluence and lead change and deliver the potential ofthe area to be an important part of the wider Bath andNorth East Somerset economy.

Economy and skillsEconomyWith nearly 30% of jobs in manufacturing, limitedoffice-based service-sector employment and adecline in local farming, the economy in the SomerValley area faces some serious challenges whichneed to be addressed.

The local economy is vulnerable to global economicchange and the area is facing a period of economicrestructuring. To counter this and move towards amodern local economy the need for proactivepromotion of the area, the targeting of new economicactivity, the realisation of opportunities to bringforward new development sites and enhancing thelevels of business support in the area becomeincreasingly important.

SkillsIn parallel with the development of new employmentopportunities local skills levels should also beaddressed.

The area has a higher proportion of residents withless than Level 2 qualifications and ‘poor’ literacy andnumeracy skills, which could prevent peoplebenefiting from new employment opportunities in thearea and may act a disincentive to potential investors.


Action is required to ensure that there is a jointapproach with education partners and the Learningand Skills Council to addressing employment skillsneeds, utilising the strengths of Norton RadstockCollege and building on the specialisms andenterprise activities of the area’s secondary schools.

Town centresThe ‘Brighter Futures’ Community Plan recognisesthe importance of the two towns of Midsomer Nortonand Radstock as focal points for the area andemphasises their role in providing services for thesurrounding villages and rural communities.

The Community Plan sets out a strategic vision forthe town centres:• To develop Midsomer Norton, Radstock and village

centres as distinctive, complementary, prosperous,vibrant, attractive and safe-centres for the benefitof residents, shoppers, visitors, tourists and thebusiness community capitalising on the area’s keystrengths of strong community, attractiveenvironment and good location.

It also establishes overall objectives in relation to thefuture roles of the two town centres:• To develop Midsomer Norton’s role as the market

town for the area by consolidating and enhancingthe retail offer, the range of available leisure andcommunity facilities and transport links and thecreation of new employment opportunities.

• To develop and enhance Radstock’s role as a localservice and employment centre and focal point forthe community, by reinforcing and enhancing retailprovision and community facilities, expansion oftourism and small business enterprise, andproviding for more people to live in the centre,particularly through the opportunities presented bythe regeneration of the vacant railway and otherland.

The Vision for the Future of the Somer Valley looks inmore detail at the issues facing the town centres andkey actions that can be taken to take forward theobjectives of the Community Plan.

See also Town Centres Action Plan

Midsomer NortonMidsomer Norton town centre has more than 120retail units, free public car parks, banking, library and

leisure facilities that complement the town’s retailoffer. It caters for the majority of the local serviceneeds in the Somer Valley area and attracts frequentshoppers from its catchment population.The town centre has a limited range of shops and isfacing increasing competition from nearby towns suchas Frome and Wells.

Recently Argos, Halfords and Sainsbury’s haveopened stores in the town, helping to improve theoverall retail quality, but opportunities to attract newoccupiers are limited.

The town has a linear shopping area which is veryelongated and lacks a central focus. The RiverSomer is potentially an attractive feature in the HighStreet but currently acts as a barrier to pedestrianmovement and the streamside has a fragmentedretail frontage.

Other employment space within the town centre islimited. The Hollies is the only modern purpose-builtoffice accommodation and there is little vacant officeaccommodation available in the town. There is scopefor reinforcing the town centre’s employment rolewhich will help to increase pedestrian footfall andexpenditure.

Midsomer Norton has the potential to build on itsassets. The town centre has a number of attractivestone buildings and these together with the RiverSomer flowing through the middle of the High Streetprovide a potentially attractive streetscape.

However some buildings detract from the town centreenvironment and there may be scope for selectiveredevelopment and/or refurbishment to improve theoverall urban environment and appeal of the towncentre, support the expansion of retailing in the townand provide a new ‘heart’ for the High Street.

RadstockThe centre of Radstock has been uniquely shaped byits industrial heritage and local topography. Theclosure of the coalfields and the withdrawal of therailways removed the main historic focus for the town.

The dominance of the road network contributestowards the lack of a cohesive town centre. Shopsand facilities are spread out in small clusters andfrontages, weakening Radstock’s retailing and servicefunction.


Radstock is a very small shopping centre dominatedby the Radco superstore. The centre acts mainly as alocal/neighbourhood shopping facility for localresidents within Radstock although the Radco storehas a wider catchment area for food, grocery andcomparison shopping.

The overall function of the town centre iscomplemented by a small number of specialistindependent comparison shops attracting customerslooking for specific goods and by the Mining Museum,which attracts leisure visitors.

There is little other commercial space within the towncentre which houses less than 10% of the area’sstock of office floorspace.

Providing a new focus and a more homogeneouscentral area for Radstock is the key to building its roleas a local service and employment centre.

The redundant railway land running into the centre isa unique regeneration opportunity which can bringforward new retail and employment floor space aswell as housing, and the creation of the Miners’Memorial Garden on Waterloo Road has started theprocess of public realm enhancement.


The Future forKeynshamThe Future for Keynsham Vision is one part of theVision for the Future of Bath and North EastSomerset, which itself is one of the key inputs into thepreparation of the Spatial Vision for the district whichwill be laid out in the Core Strategy.

The Visions’ work will influence policy optionsconsidered in the preparation of the Core Strategy. Inaddition, some of the specific proposals fordevelopment and regeneration described in theVisions may be carried forward as part of the SiteAllocation Development Plan Document.

A number of elements of the Visions will not beimplemented through the planning system and willneed to be taken forward via other means, forexample by the management and maintenance of thepublic realm, cultural activities and encouraging thevoluntary sector.

The Future for Keynsham Vision proposes to bring apositive direction for the long-term future of the town,which will assure Keynsham’s role as independent,sustainable and a great place to live and work.

Crucially, it is about developing confidence in thetown’s future - in encouraging investment andpromoting a sense of well-being in the community.

The focus is not just on development, but also on thecommunity and the way that everyone can worktogether to promote a better quality of life.

Keynsham occupies a strategic location betweenBath and Bristol. It is a proud and independent town.

Keynsham was historically important in Roman andSaxon times, a busy market town in the Victorian andEdwardian periods and the site of the influentialchocolate manufacturers Fry’s, in the 1920s. Thetown could be said to have been ‘coasting’ since the1970s. Meanwhile physical development outside thetown, especially in Bristol, has changed theenvironment within which Keynsham operates.

The Vision proposals aim to help Keynsham catch upeconomically and improve and enhance its builtenvironment.

A number of opportunities and challenges now faceKeynsham. These cannot be ignored. If there is nochange within the next twenty years the town’srecovery will suffer further. In fact, there is now agreat opportunity to:• Enhance the town with physical development• Improve the economy through development• Make Keynsham ready for the future• Help Keynsham to capitalise on its location• Help Keynsham to remain proud and independent




This can be done in any of the following ways:• Fill in the online questionnaire for Keynsham using

this link and then choose ‘Respond to theconsultation’.







Keynsham’s IdentityThe town of Keynsham has a strong sense ofindependence which reflects its ancient roots. Itshistorical and geographical context has had a stronginfluence on the forming of ideas for its future


development over the next twenty years.• History• Geography• Drivers behind the Vision

HistoryKeynsham’s position, close to the confluence of therivers Chew and Avon, has made it attractive tosettlers from early times and the Romans constructedseveral villas in the area.

There was a Saxon church in the town and a largeand important abbey which was plundered after the16th-century Dissolution of the Monasteries by HenryVIII.

Keynsham was a centre for milling, and had fulling,corn, brass and steel mills. The coming of the railwayled to an increase in house-building and gaveimpetus to the quarrying industry. It was one of thefirst towns in the country to have electric streetlighting.

Fry’s built a chocolate factory on the edge of the townin the 1920s, which is now Cadbury Trebor Bassett,which over the years has been a major source of localemployment.

After the Second World War, Keynsham became adormitory town for Bristol and latterly, Bath, and abuilding boom transformed the area. The town hall,library and clock tower were all built in the 1960s. Thewhole of the High Street is now a Conservation Area.

Geography

A map showing Keynsham’s strategiclocation between Bath and Bristol

Keynsham is situated where the rivers Chew andAvon meet and has good road and rail links to Bristoland Bath, the south coast and beyond. It is about 20minutes drive to Bristol International Airport with itstransatlantic links.

Its rural setting is protected by Green Belt whichseparates the town from Bristol in one direction andSaltford in the other.

The town is uniquely positioned to strengthen itself asan independent community and there are severalpotential development and redevelopment sites withinits boundaries.


Drivers Behind the Vision

A plan outlining in red the areas ofKeynsham that have been identified ashaving potential for development orredevelopment

• Regional Economic and Spatial Strategy –increased need for delivery of housing in thedistrict and need for further employmentopportunities

• Local Plan for Bath & North East Somerset –potential for new homes and associatedemployment in South-West Keynsham by 2011

• Local Area Agreement• Development of low-carbon economy may affect

travel/commuting patterns, balance of work/housing

• Keynsham needs to establish its role within thesub-region

• Strong community desire to retain town’s ownidentity against outside pressures

• Possible development sites include St John’sCourt, part of the Cadbury’s site and BroadmeadLane

• Bath & North East Somerset Council officeaccommodation strategy and the importance to thetown of a fully utilised Riverside site

• Aspirations for further education and expansion ofNorton Radstock College

• Increasing retail competition from superstores inBristol

• Tiredness and anonymity of town centre, with aneed to bring redevelopment forward and enhancethe public realm within the central area

• Housing issues: older stock, affordability• Potential schemes to utilise/enhance river setting• Growth of potential within population/residents:

energy and creativity needs to be harnessed,volunteering opportunities expanded, strong artsand sports representation built upon

• Renewal of the town’s health facilities• Implementation of review of primary and

secondary schools: new St Keyna School, closureof Temple and Keynsham Primaries

Keynsham: The Way ForwardThe challenges facing Keynsham will influence itsfuture direction as well as ensuring its historic valuesare retained. The town will be somewhere that peopleaspire to live and work in. It will have all theadvantages of good connections to its neighbouringcities and an attractive rural setting in which to evolvea vibrant new future.

Priorities for the town’s future strengths can bebroadly identified as:• Keynsham as home• Keynsham as a learning community• Keynsham as a 21st-century market town• Keynsham as a working town• The next steps

Keynsham as home• Keynsham will be a great place to live in, a great

place in which to bring up children• There will be a stronger feeling of belonging and

strengthened community spirit with integration ofnew developments

• There will be excellent facilities for family support,such as the Hazelwood Family Centre

• There will be excellent facilities for elderly people,such as the new care village at Hawthorns

• Residential growth:• some new housing is inevitable but the Green Belt

between Keynsham and Bristol should be inviolate• new development should be integrated into the life

of the town• new building should help to bring revitalisation of

the town as a whole• Keynsham should build upon its existing strengths

so that people can enjoy sports, arts and leisuremore fully

• The town’s green setting will be protected, withfootpaths radiating out into the surroundingcountryside and links to national cycle routes


• The town centre public spaces should complementthe riverside, with potential to develop a marina,riverside restaurants and water transport

• Some of the poor quality 1960/70s architectureshould go, replaced by good, modern design whichwill enhance the town centre environment andstand the test of time

• A modern health park will improve local access toquality healthcare

Keynsham as a learning community• The town will provide a comprehensive range of

opportunities so that everyone can learn to theirfull potential

• Affordable, accessible nursery provision• Excellent schools• Improved opportunities for young people over

sixteen within Keynsham, specifically to improveaccess to basic skills training, to address theneeds of 45% of the town’s working populationwho have less than NVQ Level 2 qualification, andtarget support to areas of greatest need (eg SouthKeynsham where the figure is 52%)

• Children will grow up with an awareness of thetown’s history, with Keynsham’s world renownedhistoric artefacts on display

Keynsham as a 21st-centurymarket townKeynsham grew as a focus for the rural area around itas people came into town to the weekly livestockmarket, to shop, to meet up and exchange news andgossip. We need a new concept of a market town, toinclude:• The town as a retail centre with an established

identity achieved through private/public sector co-operation

• Better quality public spaces, attracting an anchorfoodstore, retaining local needs shops andexpanding specialist retailing

• The town as an information centre, a one-stopshop for service users, with a top-of-the-rangelibrary and meeting places

• A place to spend leisure time with more places toeat out, better sports and arts facilities

• The role of the town centre sites should beclarified within an agreed town centre developmentframework, with development briefs for individualsites brought forward in a phased sequence

Keynsham as a working town• Employment growth achieved by unlocking the

potential of the Cadbury’s site, expanding andupgrading other sites in the town includingconsidering the potential of the Riverside site

• Traffic and transport• Examine the capacity of the spine roads• Resolve the issue of the South Bristol Ring Road

and avoid erosion of the Green Belt betweenKeynsham, Bristol and Bath

• Improve public transport interchange• Improve the bus service between Keynsham and

Bath (frequency and affordability)• The rail service should be enhanced, with better

links from rail station throughout the town• It should be easier to choose to walk, cycle and

use public transport• Traffic in the town centre should be examined to

ensure that the town centre is a safe and pleasantplace for pedestrians

The next steps• Community engagement strategy• Spatial Strategy/Development Framework -

identifying development priorities for key sites,Development Briefs for individual sites

• Transport Study• Agree a planning framework• Development Agreements with developers• Housing demand assessment• Council resources• Revitalised Keynsham needs a ‘theme’ or

marketing brand or image (via signs, marketingliterature, etc)

Documents

The Future for Bath and North East Somerset