A controversial housing development in Easton will now include 36 affordable homes even though a planning inspector said none were required.
For more than a year Bristol City Council has been negotiating with the developers behind the Elizabeth Shaw chocolate factory scheme.
The housing project will comprise of 140 new homes, including 96 apartments and 44 houses at the former chocolate factory site in Greenbank.
But the development in east Bristol has been surrounded by controversy from the start over the lack of affordable housing, which developer Generator Group had said was not viable.
And despite an offer from the firm to make six of the homes affordable a Government planning inspector concluded in 2018 it “would not be economically viable to provide any affordable housing on this site.”
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The council said at the time it was not giving up and and would be negotiating with Generator Group to get at least some affordable housing built within the scheme.
And last week it was announced the development would include 36 affordable homes.
Bristol City Council’s cabinet member for housing, Paul Smith, tweeted to confirm the “great” news.
The site of the former chocolate factory in Greenbank has sat empty and derelict for more than a decade since production at the confectionery business was closed.
There have also been a number of incidents involving antisocial behaviour reported on the plot of land.
In January Generator South West confirmed the development had been delayed and it was now expected to be completed by 2022.
