Plans to build 'mansion houses' on the site of what was once Bath’s largest employer are unanimously approved
Bath and North East Somerset Council’s planning committee voted unanimously on September 2 to grant developer City & Country planning permission to build 220 new homes on the western half of the former Bath Press site. The developer bought the site in 2024 and is already building homes on the eastern half, behind the historic facade.
The decision means that 366 homes will now be built across the Bath Press site as a whole. City & Country’s Simon Vernon-Harcourt said: “Once delivered this will turn a sterile brownfield site into sensitively designed homes within a rich and secluded urban landscape.
“City & Country has experience and expertise working with complex urban and heritage sites. Having seriously talented consultants who can deliver truly great design is key to the creation of well-designed, sustainable new places to live.”
Once the city’s largest employer, the Bath Press closed in 2007 and has been one of the most conspicuous empty brownfield sites in the city for almost two decades. This plan will see three large blocks of “contemporary mansion houses” built alongside the Lower Bristol Road, with three other large blocks behind them. A separate terrace of townhouses, designated as affordable housing, would run along the side of Brook Road.
Local councillor June Player (Westmoreland, Independent Group) warned that the large blocks of flats would be a “David and Goliath situation” for the people living in the Victorian two-storey houses which back onto the site. She had told the planning committee: “I do not believe that enough consideration and concern has been given to these residents. They will be greatly affected by the proximity, height, and density which will negatively impact on the use and enjoyment of their homes, as well as their privacy.”
But, debating the plans, planning committee member Fiona Gourley (Bathavon South, Liberal Democrat) said: “Having seen this site sitting empty for so many years, to actually see something happening of good value I think is excellent.” Tim Warren (Midsomer Norton Redfield, Conservative) said: “It’s something that needs building.”
34 of the 366 homes built across the site as a whole will be affordable housing. This is less than then 30% usually required by the council, but the planning committee was told that a larger amount of affordable housing would make the development unviable.
Keith Bradley of Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, the Bath-based architecture firm behind the development, said: “We have designed a distinctive, sustainable neighbourhood that responds to the character of Victorian Bath, creates a greener gateway into the city and delivers 220 much-needed new homes.
“Planning approval for Bath Press West is an important step towards bringing this long-vacant brownfield site back into use and completing the regeneration of this important part of Bath with a place that feels connected, generous and built to last.”
The Bath Press was originally founded as the Pitman Press, printing dictionaries teaching Pitman’s Shorthand. Invented by Bath’s Sir Isaac Pitman, it was once the most used form of shorthand in the United Kingdom. The building went through several changes, with the art deco facade built in phases until 1926.
Homes at the former Bath Press currently start from £350,000 for a one-bedroom apartment and £900,000 for a four-bedroom townhouse.