Bath: Emerging Vision, Priorities and Strategy

Many of the priorities listed can be addressed by new development, and site or policy approach options have been selected to respond to the priorities. However, there are some priorities that won’t be addressed through new development but will be addressed through other policies in the Local Plan, or by strategies or initiatives undertaken by the council or by other stakeholders.

• Ensure that Bath remains a vibrant, attractive and sustainable city – to tackle our affordability crisis; diversify our economy whilst maintaining the success of our visitor economy, and ensure that all residents are able to benefit from its opportunities; and help build a greener, more resilient city for the future.
• Provide the space to help diversify and grow our economy within ecological and environmental limits. This will need to reflect our wide variety of needs from city centre offices and workspaces to larger industrial premises, advanced engineering, R&D and lab spaces.
• More joined up skills and employability support, as well as investment in physical connectivity, will help residents in our less affluent wards to access new employment opportunities in our innovation district, cultural and creative industries and foundational economy.
• Bath is also a city of invention, and reinvention. Rising to the challenge of the climate and nature emergencies, we will continue to be leaders on sustainable living, showing how we can adapt our sensitive heritage assets to be both energy efficient and more resilient to our changing climate.
• Deliver the right homes in the right places ensuring a greater diversity and choice of high quality, low carbon housing that is more affordable to meet the needs of residents. As is the case across the district it is important that we build new homes and to enable greater levels of building retrofit so that they are efficient to heat and that use clean energy, and which are fit for the whole life-course (young people, families, and into older age).
• Enable more young people to stay in Bath, who want to, with access to a wider range of employment and entry level housing options.
• Set out a positive strategy for the conservation, enjoyment and understanding of the historic environment, and sustain and enhance the significance of the city’s heritage assets including:
• The OUV of the doubly inscribed World Heritage Site and its landscape setting, its listed buildings, the Bath Conservation Area and its setting, archaeology, scheduled ancient monuments and historic parks and gardens, and non-designated assets of local interest and value.
• The double World Heritage Site Inscription of Bath will be embraced and opportunities taken to build on the inspirational qualities of the OUV. We will seek to develop a global reputation for the highest quality, innovative design of a sustainable city which celebrates its unique heritage and landscape setting whilst rising to the challenges of the future.
• Enhance the role of the city as a place of vibrant, diverse and world class culture, building on its global reputation as a place of leisure and resort and as a wonderful place to live, to work and to visit. Ensure it is welcoming, safe, engaging, inclusive and enriching for all ages and abilities. Investment in our cultural assets and visitor economy will bring benefits for residents, both through economic returns and a richer cultural offer.
• Support the Bathscape vision with policies and supporting guidance to protect, promote and deliver the ambitions for a ‘Landscape City’. This requires a transformational approach which will deliver nature recovery and climate resilience. By increasing the extent of land and waterways managed positively for nature and by protecting natural assets through investment in nature based solutions and wildlife friendly interventions that improve ecological network connectivity, the city will address the need to increase the abundance and distribution of biodiversity.
• The delivery of strategic Green Infrastructure and nature recovery projects such as Bath River Line and Bathscape will sustain our position as the original wellbeing city, delivering improved access to green and blue spaces and placing nature at the heart of any development opportunities.
• Ensure policy that supports the delivery of the Health and Wellbeing Strategy, and as a ‘Wellbeing City’, ensure that Bath’s built and natural environments facilitate better health and wellbeing for all, with beautifully designed and well-connected streets and spaces that reinforces its aspiration to be Europe’s most walkable city, with cycling and wheeling infrastructure for all users. It will provide a diverse range of high quality leisure, cultural, play and community spaces for all ages, cleaner air, and improved access to green spaces and the surrounding landscape.
• Support the diversification and long term sustainability of the University of Bath and Bath Spa University in their transition towards the provision of enterprise and innovation space, and the Locksbrook Creative Quarter.
• Provide for a network of local centres and neighbourhoods that support day to day living and foster a strong sense of community engagement and involvement in local projects, and ensure the provision of community infrastructure.
• Make it easier to travel sustainably within Bath as well as from neighbouring cities, towns and villages, by walking, wheeling, cycling and by public transport, as well as improving air quality in the city. Bath’s Journey to Net Zero Transport Plan (JTNZ) was adopted in 2022. The Bath Movement Strategy and Active Travel Strategy propose to enable the delivery of integrated transport solutions and promote sustainable mobility throughout the city. Both strategies are aligned with the objectives and funding provided by the current City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement - government funding to improve the West of England’s sustainable transport system. Together, these initiatives are intended to encourage modal shift, and improve air quality, building on Bath’s established walking, wheeling and cycling network.

For very good reasons, Bath is a constrained city. Its ability to expand outwards into the setting of the World Heritage Sites without causing substantial harm is very limited and building heights of new development in the city need to ensure that its character and important views are maintained and enhanced. A consequence of this is that the council needs to carefully manage the land that is available and needs to prioritise those land uses that will deliver a city that better addresses the climate and ecological emergencies, is more sustainable in how people travel, more economically prosperous and meets our need for more housing that is affordable.

One of the key roles of the Local Plan is to seek to sustainably meet objectively assessed needs for housing, particularly affordable housing; economic space and other uses.  

Given that Bath’s lack of land was previously recognised in the formulation of the Core Strategy and the Placemaking Plan, a decision was taken then to prioritise housing and employment over other needs. The evidence available at the time informed the policy approach and sufficient land was safeguarded to demonstrably meet these priority needs. That meant that a more flexible approach could be taken for other land, notably in the Twerton Riverside area, to accommodate some of the other land use needs such as for Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA).

Most of the PBSA that has been built since the adoption of the Core Strategy and Placemaking Plan has generally not been on land protected for the priority land uses, but on land where there was a more flexible policy approach to land uses i.e. Twerton Riverside, as well as on ‘windfall’ (or non-designated) sites such as the Bath Cricket Club.

Given the significant scale of development that has been delivered over the past ten years or so, the amount of land left in the city is even more limited than previously. The council has made it very clear that our key priorities are to optimise the delivery of housing that is affordable, and to safeguard existing and provide new employment space. These uses will therefore be the key priorities for the Local Plan.  

Key pieces of evidence that support the council’s position are the Local Housing Needs Assessment (LHNA) which identifies what our specific housing needs are for the duration of the plan period, and the Future Economic Needs Assessment Update (May, 2025) which has assessed the performance of different economic sectors and has projected future areas of growth. This latter report is clear that the city needs to protect existing space and deliver a total of 74,000 – 79,000 sqm new office and research and development space (including existing commitments). It also needs to both protect existing and enable the development of between 38,000 - 44,000 sqm of new industrial (including replacement) floorspace, including for advanced engineering purposes, clean tech, health and life sciences, warehousing and logistics. Some of the requirement for additional space will be met on sites that are already committed for employment development (sites with planning permission or allocated in the adopted Local Plan). These existing commitments will need to be reviewed in preparing the Draft Local Plan. Given these land use priorities and their spatial needs, we then need to understand what capacity the city has to adsorb these needs: How much land do we have and how do we optimise its use, whilst also ensuring that we enable the coherent delivery of exemplary developments that work together to reinforce the city’s important character and identity of the city? This spatial analysis is ongoing and will inform the Draft Local Plan.

A consequence of this approach is that there is highly likely to be less land available for other uses for which evidence might suggest that there is a need.  A clear example of this is Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA).  As outlined above, a key role of the Local Plan is to mediate between different land uses and in doing so, particular land uses will not be permitted in specific locations (see also PBSA policy options in the Development Management policies section).

Based on population projections the LHNA suggests a growth in the student population aged 18-23 of around 7,300. This would equate to around 370 student bedspaces per year. As outlined above, challenges exist in accommodating continued levels of student growth within Bath, and across the district, particularly given the priority for accommodating non-student housing and especially affordable housing to meet local need and employment space. Additionally other Local Plan priorities e.g. relating to green infrastructure provision and protection of the World Heritage Sites, its setting, and other heritage assets also limit the ability to accommodate further PBSA. The council would be supportive in encouraging the universities to invest in appropriate PBSA opportunities outside of the city, and recognises that in order to achieve this better transport connections, more green/blue spaces, a better night-time economy and more cultural opportunities elsewhere are required.

Although it is appropriate to understand the overall student housing need arising from the projected growth of student population based on long term trends, it is also important to ensure alignment with the future growth aspirations of the University of Bath and Bath Spa University. Both universities are updating their future growth strategies, which will impact on student numbers, and required accommodation. The council continues to work with both universities to understand their projected growth plans and therefore, to ascertain more likely future growth in the number of students. This should then form the basis for considering options for providing additional student accommodation. As the universities are historically only able to provide forecasts for the next 5-10 years this element of future requirements and associated strategy will need to be kept under review.

The spatial strategy for Bath recognises the different approaches that are required in different parts of the city, from the vibrancy of the city centre, to local neighbourhoods where many day-to-day needs are met, to our treasured and varied green and blue spaces that support health and wellbeing, and which are crucial for climate resilience, mitigation and nature recovery.

The strategy prioritises the delivery of general housing (especially affordable) and employment uses that help the transition from a low wage to a more productive economy. This priority is essential in a constrained city with a limited supply of land, and with healthy competition for the use of available sites.

City Centre

The Local Plan seeks to enable the key characteristics and diverse roles of the city centre to be enhanced, ensuring that it continues to perform as the cultural heart of the city, and the main destination for retail, entertainment, leisure, events and activities.  The public realm plays a critical role as the canvas for public life, which needs to be enhanced and properly maintained for the benefit of all users.

There is a current city centre policy boundary which serves as an important planning tool that helps to prioritise the location of town centre uses. It is supported by a planning policy framework to ensure that the centre remains vibrant. A review of this boundary will be considered as part of the preparation of the Draft Plan.

The potential of existing unoccupied spaces above retail units and in other central locations needs to be brought forward as bringing people to the heart of city would have significant benefits and would help to meet housing and employment needs.

The priorities for the city centre are:

• A visitor economy that works for the city – capitalising on significant cultural investment in the city through emerging projects such as the Fashion Museum and the Assembly Rooms alongside existing investment in Bath Abbey, the Holburne and the Victoria Art Gallery to drive visitation whilst also exploring further how to make Bath one of the most sustainable tourism destinations in the world.
• Affordable workspace – repurposing of upper floors and proactive meanwhile use strategy to unlock space for a range of businesses.
• More car-free, affordable housing options in the city centre – including large sites, small windfall sites, and utilising vacant space on upper floors.
• A pedestrian-oriented city centre - supported by Bath’s Movement Strategy
• A comprehensive programme of transforming the public realm, making it more climate resilient, whilst providing a world class canvas for public life.

Bath Riverside Innovation Quarter (BRIQ)

This area comprises a range of key development sites that are crucial to enable the city to deliver a more vibrant and successful economy. Through a partnership with the University of Bath, building on existing strengths around creative problem solving, engineering design and tech transfer, this area will evolve as a testbed of innovation and new ideas, a place for collaboration and discovery. New businesses will be born here, be nurtured and allowed to thrive and grow, and be supported by an ecosystem of research and development associated with the university sectors, and by more established businesses, small and large.

These sites will benefit from their close proximity to Bristol and from the frequent rail connections to London and beyond, and our international reputation gives Bath global recognition for inward investment. The sites are readily accessible by sustainable means to the large residential workforce who live in a choice of locations such as Bath, Bristol, and nearby towns and villages.

Bath Production Quarter

This is a key industrial location comprising of the Locksbrook Road and Brassmill Lane areas and lying adjacent to the river in the west of the city. There is significant potential to intensify economic activity in this area and for it to play an important role in the provision of high quality jobs in a vibrant part of the city. Some of the city’s larger businesses such as Rotork and Horstman operate from this area, as do an eclectic mix of smaller enterprises as well as Bath Spa University’s exemplary Locksbrook Campus.

Neighbourhoods and Local Centres

Bath’s networks of neighbourhoods and local centres provide for many of the day to day needs of the city’s wide range of communities. They provide a network of nurseries and primary schools, local shops, services and opportunities for local employment, parks and open spaces, meeting places, festivals and events. The Local Plan can play a key role in shaping change in these areas, helping to protect those aspects that are valued and seeking to create the conditions to enable positive enhancements to take place in the form of development or in changes to the public realm and associated parks and open spaces.

The priorities for our neighbourhoods are:

• Support real liveable neighbourhoods, with accessible, diverse and thriving local centres, with health facilities and employment opportunities
• Delivering opportunities in Bath’s neighbourhoods – enabling high quality, small scale residential development at appropriate densities. Development can bring investment to improve the public realm, amenities and infrastructure, and support improved public transport and active travel routes.

Green and blue infrastructure

The city’s rich network of green and blue infrastructure is a hugely valuable resource that contributes significantly to the health and wellbeing of residents and visitors, and is crucial to climate resilience, mitigation and for nature recovery.  A number of key projects such as Bath River Line and Bathscape have seen significant investment in the management and enhancement of accessible green open spaces, tree planting and the surrounding countryside – the green setting of the city is one of the six key attributes of the City of Bath World Heritage site.