A timber yard that has been serving a dual purpose to recycle Bristol's wood and train volunteers from across the city fears for its future after council chiefs finally decided to sell off their site to make way for a new university campus.

The Bristol Wood Recycling Centre will have to look for a new home after the council cabinet gave the go-ahead to sell the land it sits on, and the former Royal Mail Sorting Office near Temple Meads.

The land, as well as the rest of 'Arena Island' that won't be needed for the arena, is being bought by the University of Bristol for a new technology-led campus.

But Bristol Wood Recycling Centre, which has operated on the site behind Temple Meads station for more than 12 years, is now appealing for help to find a suitable alternative to move to.

Its location next to Temple Meads is ideal for the scores of people who volunteer every few months to help out, learn new woodworking skills and create recycled wood furniture and general timber.

The project currently has a three-month waiting list for volunteers and is entirely self-financed.

Before last week's meeting, the council had suggested the project move to an alternative site near Blaise Castle, but Amelia Brown, the volunteering manager, said the site was not suitable at all.

Co-Founder Ben Moss and Volunteer Coordinator Amelia Brown of the Bristol Wood Recycling Project

"We're worried about security up there, it's really hard for people to get to and it isn't really big enough either," she said. "We appreciate the council are trying, but we've had to formally decline it, because we don't believe we'd be able to survive there."

Now the project is appealing to anyone in Bristol who might be able to come up with an alternative site, and said they were encouraged by Bristol City Council's property chief Helen Holland's pledge to work with them to find a better option.

"It's not a one-off offer, and I'll meet you again," she told Caleb Debbage, the project's co-director, during the council meeting. "We don't want to lose your expertise and all the things you do but there's a bigger picture here.

"This is going to be a real catalyst for the rest of the development at Temple Quarter," she added.

Bristol Wood Recycling Project

Ms Brown said the project accepted its time would soon be up at its location near Temple Meads, and wanted desperately to continue.

"We run a self-financing operation which involves saving waste timber from going to landfill, selling that wood on at an affordable rate to the local community of Bristol, creating beautiful furniture out of recycled wood, as well as the work we do promoting social inclusion," she said.

"We have a three-month waiting list when signing up to be a volunteer due to popular demand, and they provide an invaluable service to our co-operative. In return for time, we teach them hand tool use and eventually power tool use.

"This means passing on tools for empowerment so that they may go on to have careers in woodwork or exercise the skills they have learnt here in their personal life by having the workshop to use at their disposal on weekends.

Bristol Wood Recycling Project

"We have found that this gives our volunteers an enormous sense of wellbeing; achieving something on a personal, community and environmental level.

"I speak from experience as I was a volunteer previous to working here; the staff here nurtured me, gave me skills, friends, and, eventually a job during an extremely difficult time during my life.

Without them, I have no idea where I would be. But I certainly wouldn't be happily living in Bristol," she added.

"Our little home is under threat. While we respect that this means the demolition and redevelopment of the postal site, it means that we will cease to exist as the only option for a new home offered to us by the council is completely unviable and would financially cripple us," she added.