Plans for the Bath Western Riverside development, a major brownfield site in the city, have been revised to increase the number of homes but now exclude affordable housing unless external funding is secured.
Bath and North East Somerset Council previously withdrew its application for 351 homes at the former gasworks site. The new joint application by the council and St William Homes, part of the Berkeley Group which owns most of the land, proposes 402 homes.
The updated plans omit affordable housing due to project costs, with a statement indicating the council will pursue external funding to achieve up to 30% affordable homes.
Matt McCabe, the council’s cabinet member for housing, said the revised approach enables closer collaboration with Berkeley to deliver development more efficiently and to potentially increase affordable housing beyond previous proposals. The council remains committed to securing around 30% affordable housing across the wider site to assist local residents.
The Bath Western Riverside site, one of the city’s largest brownfield areas, lies across the Lower Bristol Road near Bath Press and opposite the long-vacant site by Windsor Bridge on Upper Bristol Road. This area is undergoing substantial development and is anticipated to provide a significant share of Bath’s new homes over the next 18 years.
Concerns over the height of an eight-storey apartment block in the original plan have led to a redesign featuring two back-to-back terraces, each six storeys high-nine metres lower than initially proposed. Affordable housing, if funded, is planned for three smaller blocks to the south of these terraces.
The council has made the new plans available for public viewing and comment.