More than 200 'mansion houses' planned for Bath press site

The Bath Press is one of the city’s biggest brownfield sites. Work began on the long-awaited redevelopment of the site into housing last year after developer City & Country bought the site, with building work underway on the eastern side of the site behind the iconic still-standing facade. 

But the developer submitted new plans for the western side of the site, wanting to build a larger number of homes and insisting the plan would “improve on and supersede” the original idea. Now councillors on Bath and North East Somerset Council’s planning committee are set to vote on whether or not to approve the scheme.

The plan would see three large blocks built alongside the Lower Bristol Road, with three other large blocks behind them. A separate terrace of townhouses would run along the side of Brook Road. In total, the plan would see 220 homes built across the western half of the site — more than double the 103 originally planned there.

In the planning application, City & Country said: “The scheme introduces a series of contemporary mansion houses, varying in height and architectural detailing, to create a dynamic and visually engaging frontage along Lower Bristol Road and Brook Road.”

It said: “Bath Press West has been carefully designed to act as a sensitive transition between the emerging developments along Lower Bristol Road and the established residential character of Oldfield Park to the south.”

But not all locals agreed. Corrie Wright-Schrijver, who was one of 17 people to lodge objections to the plan, warned that the large blocks were “totally different” from what had originally been planned. She said: “It would be a terribly oppressive imposition on the residents of Southview road.” Sue Grimsdell added: “One of the key arterial routes into beautiful Bath is in danger of losing its identity completely.”

But the council’s planning officers are recommending that councillors approve the plan. They said: “Increasing the density over the extant permission and making a substantial contribution to housing supply on an allocated, sustainable brownfield site must be given substantial weight as a benefit.”

The plan would mean that a total of 366 homes would be built across the whole of the Bath Press site. Sir Isaac Pitman, the inventor of Pitman’s Shorthand, founded the Pitman Press which later became Bath Press and used it to print shorthand dictionaries. Pitman 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. The Bath Press closed in 2007 and the building was demolished ten years later, with just the facade and chimney left standing.

Bath and North East Somerset Council’s planning committee will consider the plan at their meeting on Wednesday September 2 at 10am in Bath Guildhall.