In October we interviewed people on Stokes Croft to find out what they think should happen to the Carriageworks site.  Here’s what they said.

At last night’s Stakeholder Group a vision discussion paper setting out how the Carriageworks site could be developed was unanimously supported as the basis for further consultation.

The task now is to work out some precise questions to use at the next phase of public consultation online from 1-7 December and at drop-ins on Saturday 3 December (at the Salvation Army, Ashley Rd, 11am-3pm) and Sunday 4 December (at PRSC, Jamaica St 1-3pm).

We had an amazing 1460 responses to the survey, plus a load of emails as well – so a big thank you to everyone who replied.

The full survey response can be found in the docs section.

We found out that 55% of respondents had a local postcode, that nearly 60% of respondents pass through the area, 45% spend leisure time locally, and 44% shop locally. 19% of respondents work locally.

The headlines of what you said are:

75% of you would like to see community uses on the site, and 66% would like to see arts facilities. Residential, shops and leisure uses are wanted by about half of you. 38% of you want to see business uses on the site.

51% of you want the development to be lead by a community. One third of you say it doesn’t matter who leads, so long as development takes place.

We also had many additional comments totalling nearly 100 pages. These are available in the docs section.

Here’s proof that it’s worth fighting for!

photo: Jo Foster

We’ve now got the full dataset from the survey – and there’s some great stuff in there!  Thank you to everyone who took the time and trouble to respond.

We received over 1400 responses, and that’s going to be quite a task to analyse. To help us with that, and also in the spirit of transparency, we’ve decided to make the data public.

You can find out more about the data and how to help on the “Survey Analysis” page.

Interesting article on the BBC website about a neighbourhood street in Handsworth, Birmingham that is bucking all the retail trends and doing better than the analysts expect.  Their secret seems to lie in family run businesses that are highly responsive to the local community’s shopping habits.

Keep eyes and ears on the national media tomorrow (Wednesday) for mention of the Carriageworks.   Somebody may have put a mark against it’s future safety?

Update:

English Heritage have released their Heritage at Risk Register for 2011 (link opens pdf). The Carriageworks features prominently on the introductory page and as one of the top 10 priority sites (another pdf link) in the South West.

These priority sites are considered by EH to be suitable “for additional support to save them for the future. We will be working with owners, developers, trusts and local authorities to find the right solution for these sites with the aim of getting them repaired and back into sustainable use where possible, so they can be removed from the Heritage at Risk Register.”

The listing for the Carriageworks states:

SITE NAME: Carriage Works, 104 Stokes Croft, Bristol

DESIGNATION: Listed Building Grade II*, CA

CONDITION: Very bad

OCCUPANCY: Vacant

PRIORITY: A (A)

OWNER TYPE: Private

Carriage works,1862. A notable building in a manner recognised as particular to the city. Large and complex site including 4 Ashley Road (grade II) also in very bad condition. Discussions with the Local Planning Authority and other parties about the future of the building are ongoing.