"Turn former Bristol sorting office into car park "

[TrueBlueTerrier]

"Turn former sorting office into car park for Bristol’s new arena"

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A PRESSURE group is calling on the city council to knock down one of the city’s most notorious eyesore buildings and use the land as a car park for the planned indoor arena.

The Transport for Greater Bristol Alliance presented its plans for the former Royal Mail sorting office at a city council scrutiny meeting.

The group is keen to get its voice heard as part of the plans to redevelop the area around Temple Meads railway station are being developed.

As reported in the Bristol Post the council is working on a scheme to build an £80 million indoor arena on vacant land adjacent to Temple Meads station. If all goes to plan work on the long-awaited arena could get under way as early as 2017.

At the moment the scheme does not include car parking and the plan is to use a park and ride scheme to bus in visitors.

However, the Alliance claim this would be a major mistake and would make the arena unattractive to potential operators and customers.

The alliance believes the solution would be to use a Compulsory Purchase Order to buy the derelict sorting office and then turn it into a car park.

The building dominated the approach to Temple Meads station and has been left to fall into ruin ever since Royal Mail moved out to its new modern sorting office in Filton.

Talks have been taking place between the owners of the building, the city council and the Local Enterprise Partnership in a bid to come up with a use for the empty building.

The Bristol Post understands that the council and the LEP is considering using a CPO to take control of the situation if a solution cannot be agreed. A spokesman for the group said: “We would wish to see an agreement drawn up where rail parking is combined with parking for the stadium site on the other side of the River Avon. A preferable site for a car park would be the GPO site accessed from Cattle Market Road, and might be best as a multi-storey. This would achieve several things: ease pressure upon the Friary; create easy car user access to the planned underground station concourse, and achieve parking for the future stadium.

“A financial agreement between the city and Network Rail would be necessary but if necessary the land should be subject to a CPO.”

The group is also calling on the planned redevelopment of Temple Meads station to include a purpose- built bus-rail interchange. The interchange would connect the rail and bus services in the city along with the new Metrobus system.

[Red Robbo]

With a rail link why do you need a car park ????

[teesdale]

The site has been unused for 16 years. Do something with it.

[Lounge Lizard]

Many's the pint I've had in the Cattle Market Tavern not far from there.
Demolish "one of the city’s most notorious eyesore buildings" and in year's to come historians will lament the loss of a fine example of twentieth century brutalist architecture.