Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone in attendance and asked all members of the Neighbourhood Partnership to introduce themselves.

Apologies for Absence were received from Councillor Fi Hance and Sarah Thorp.

To agree the minutes of the last meeting held on Thursday 16^th March 2017 as a correct record.

Resolved – that the minutes of the above meeting be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair subject to the addition of the word (Co-ordinator) after NP in the first sentence of Minute Number 8.

Action: Jeremy Livitt

To note any declarations of interest from the Councillors.  They are asked to indicate the relevant agenda item, the nature of the interest and in particular whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest.

Please note that the Register of Interests is available at https://www.bristol.gov.uk/councillors/members-interests-gifts-and-hospitality-register

Any declarations of interest made at the meeting which are not on the register of interests should be notified to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion.

There were no Declarations of Interest made by Councillors.

Up to 30 minutes is allowed for this item.

Any member of the public or Councillor may participate in Public Forum.  The detailed arrangements for so doing are set out in the Public Information Sheet at the back of this agenda.  Public Forum items should be emailed to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk and please note that the following deadlines will apply in relation to this meeting:-

Petitions and Statements - Petitions and statements must be received on the working day prior to the meeting.  For this meeting this means that your submission must be received in this office at the latest by 12.00 noon on Friday 2^nd June 2017.

Statement 1 - Resolution on the Interim Allocation of CIL Money – Roger Gimson

It was agreed that discussion of this statement should be included in Agenda Item 5 (Neighbourhood Co-ordinator’s Report)

Statement Number 2 - Replacement Tree in Ashgrove Road - Mike and Shirley Bulpitt

The NP noted that this area was not in the Bishopston Cotham Redland NP area but was instead in the neighbouring Central Clifton and Harbourside NP.

However, Alison Bromilow referred to a letter that Councillor Clive Stevens had written directly to Mr and Mrs Bulpitt which indicated that tree planting funding was available for this scheme and that it was listed to be replaced in March 2018. She indicated that she would arrange for this letter to be sent to Mike Bulpitt.

Statement Number 3 – Liz Kew – BCR Street Scene Group

The NP noted this statement and gave a vote of thanks to the Street Scene Group for the work that they had carried out over the years in the BCR NP area.

The Chair and Vice-Chair of the BCR Neighbourhood Committee expressed their support for the work that Street Scene had carried out and expressed the wish for it to continue to work with Councillors in the future once the NP had dissolved.

Councillor Negus stated that he would always give his full support to the Street Scene Group. However, he expressed his disappointment that a political decision concerning the future of Neighbourhood Partnerships could result in much of this good work coming to an end. He expressed the hope that all Councillors would speak to the Cabinet (in particular the Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods) to make representations on this issue.

Liz Kew thanked Councillors for their support and emphasised that continuing feedback and support continued to be needed in future from Councillors across all 3 wards in the BCR NP area.

The Neighbourhood Co-ordinator updated NP members concerning the current situation relating to CIL and Section 106 funding.

It was proposed that the Neighbourhood Committee should agree to return three unspent CIL allocations to the NP’s CIL budget.

Resolved by the Neighbourhood Committee: (unanimously ie 5 for) that the total committed unspent funds of £3,300 be returned to the NP’s CIl budget.

Action: Andrew McGrath

NP members noted two request from the Street Scene Group for CIL funding as follows:

(1)   £1,154 CIL funds for 20 light, foldable stacking chairs plus a purpose built trolley for storage for the new Gloucester Road Library as a community meeting venue;

(2)   £3,000 of CIL funds to enable the Street Scene Group to carry out its tasks for the remainder of the year

Liz Kew and Rob Umphray (Street Scene Group) made the following points in relation to these requests:

(1)   The library agreed that the additional chairs were required for their venue to be moved around quickly and easily. It was noted that, whilst more could have been requested, only 20 chairs were being requested due to the limited funds available

(2)   The £3,000 of CIL funds would be used for various projects, such as a specialist anti-graffiti coating

The Vice-Chair of the NC stated that there were already 35 Friends of Gloucester Road Library.

The NP was advised that any CIL not spent would remain in the Council pot for future allocation.

It was suggested that the additional £15 outstanding should also be included in the amount for the £3,000 project work.

Resolved by the Neighbourhood Committee (unanimously ie 5 for) that

(a)   £1,154 CIL funds are provided for 20 light, foldable stacking chairs plus a purpose built trolley for storage to support Gloucester Road Library as a community meeting venue;

(b)   £3,015 of CIl funds are provided to enable the Street Scene Group to carry out various project work including specialist anti-graffiti coating.

Action: Andrew McGrath

The NP noted an update concerning the development of the Community Partnership.

The Neighbourhood Co-ordinator referred to an additional document he had circulated setting out a break down of the Total Project Expenditure from the BCR NP during its existence (2010 to 2017) as follows:

Total - £676, 417.04

Grants on 127 Projects – Cost of £242,081

The NP then considered Statement Number 1 (referred to in Minute Number 4 above).

The NP Chair pointed out that money would continue to be received in the CIL pot whilst consultation was taking place concerning future arrangements for the current NP structure. It was noted that, whilst 85% would now be allocated centrally, 15% would continue to be spent locally. The NP also noted that the changes could result in an extension of any future arrangement to cover a larger number of wards (ie more than the existing three).

Since no formal decision on CIL had been made from now until the changes, the NP Chair proposed that the BCR Neighbourhood Partnership resolves that the six  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

Roger Gimson, the NP Chair, made the following closing remarks in respect of the BCR NP:

This is the end of the road for Neighbourhood Partnerships. Bristol City Council created Neighbourhood Partnerships over 7 years ago as a means of increasing participation in local democracy. It has now closed them down due to council budget cuts, largely imposed by central government.

BCR NP, which first met in March 2010, has, during the past 7 years, distributed over £670,000 to local projects and for local improvements, allocated according to a set of priorities agreed by local residents.

We have held many public forum meetings at which local residents have been able to talk with the police, council officers and local councillors, and to raise issues that affect our community.

Our working groups have been involved in improving the street scene through dealing with tagging and littering, identifying road improvements, supporting our parks and green spaces, championing street trees and giving out grants to local organisations to support community activities.

BCR NP has been innovative in how we connect with local residents, organising a Neighbourhood Festival and a Community Fair in each of the last two years, and inviting local people to vote to support community initiatives through Little Grants for Big Ideas.

I would particularly like to thank all the Council Officers who have helped set up and run the Neighbourhood Partnership, the Councillors who have given their full support, and all the volunteers who have been members of the Partnership over the last 7 years, and have put in many unpaid hours of effort to make it a success.

We hope that local organisations and residents will now take the initiative, in a similar spirit, to continue to push for a thriving, sharing, inclusive community.

He also expressed his thanks to Andrew McGrath (Neighbourhood Co-ordinator) and Jeremy Livitt (Democratic Services Officer) for their work in supporting the BCR NP over the years.

The NP Vice-Chair, Alison Bromilow, expressed her thanks to Roger Gimson for his work in chairing NP meetings and to previous NP chairs for their work.