Your views

The rather misty image above – taken from the London Road – was my Pic of the Day earlier this week.

I asked whether l was alone in finding this housing block under construction to be a blot on the landscape? In that we hear so many objections to height and volume in this city, how was this allowed?

Well, the fact is that whole development on the old Warminster Road MOD site DID receive planning permission and so the developers have every right to proceed – and no doubt – try and make a profit.

However, seems l wasn’t alone in wondering why?

Sharron von Tutschek wrote: “Richard, I am constantly surprised and shocked at the new buildings that are allowed to be built in Bath. Your photograph shows it all!
You can see that monstrosity from the by-pass and what a blight it is on the landscape. This council are leaving the most awful legacy of how to spoil what was once a beautiful City.”

Jacky Wilkinson adds: Re the blocks going up at Holburne Place, no Richard you’re not alone. I am dismayed at the density of this development, on a hillside setting of Bath characterised by low-scale buildings with trees and gardens.

On a recent walk around there I was appalled by the amount of hard surfaces and lack of any scope for trees. Those west-facing blocks are going to be ovens in our hot summers. Awful architecture and the coating of Bath stone doesn’t make it any better.”

Next up, is Rob Coles:

“I also had noticed how Holburne Park stood out and will do more so when the scaffolding is removed.  Looking at the website,  the properties are certainly crammed in. 

Georgian style is claimed but there was plenty of space between the Georgian crescents, terraces and squares,  Imagine, Lansdown Crescent on Royal Crescent Lawn with Camden Crescent below that!

A long time ago I was told that that when the MOD vacated Warminster Road site –  being Crown land it would be used for an extension of the Batheaston bypass and link the A46 to the A36. London Road and Cleveland bridge problems solved!    

These new developments, Weston Riverside, Lansdown, Mulberry Park, are overwhelming Georgian Bath.  Have we reached another “Sack of Bath ” moment?  If only we could go back to pre 1960’s Bath of John Betjeman (he worked in Bath) and  rebuild the destroyed artisan houses  and modernise  the others in the Georgian Streets snaking up Lansdown and Holloway etc. A complete Georgian town of weathered Bath stone not just the set pieces. 

The MOD wanted at one point to establish its HQ at Foxhill and balloons were flown to judge the impact on the skyline, but the proposal was dropped.  We now have developments at Mulberry Park and Ensleigh, Lansdown.”