We submitted the original planning application for the restoration of Sydney Gardens on 15 August 2018, following a series of public consultations. We gained planning approval and listed building consent in October 2018. Following further design development, the Sydney Gardens Project Additions were approved in April 2020.
You can view the planning application, associated documents and subsequent permissions on our Planning Portal.
We undertook various rounds of design improvements and achieved a scheme that worked very well, passed planning and delivered a high level of specification. However, we had to bring the Sydney Gardens scheme within the approved budget prepared in 2016, and mobilise contractors on-site to start the restoration and build programme.
The tenders we received indicated that to implement the scheme in full, we would need £3.5m, whereas our approved capital works budget is £2.5m.
As a result, we made several changes from the original plan:
- We omitted the café and redesigned the area to provide pop-up refreshment opportunities, which can be licenced for seasonal or longer periods.
- The Bothy – the cost of bringing in water, drainage and light was very expensive for a building built as an electric substation, and out of balance with the intended purpose of the project. Instead, we refurbished the site through a different plan (detailed below).
- We decided not to re-install a boundary wall and iron railings on the southern side of the gardens. This was not in the original bid, and some of our community feedback indicated that it was not fully supported.
- Labyrinth – this is no longer a permanent feature as proposed in the planning proposal, as it was far too costly. We replaced this with an adult swing, with views of Camden Crescent and the Lansdown ridge.
- The former allotments only have a direct path from the new entrance on Warminster Road. We did not implement the trim trail and we postponed the orchard planting, both due to safety and maintenance concerns.
- We achieved other cost savings by reviewing some of the higher quality specifications, especially the amount of pennant stone paving and steps.
- We also implemented cost-effective furniture and soft planting features where possible.
