Agenda and draft minutes

-           Rob Acton-Campbell (Neighbourhood Partnership)

-           Councillor Steve Pearce (Neighbourhood Committee)

Rob Acton-Campbell was the Chair of the Neighbourhood Partnership (NP) and Cllr Steve Pearce was Chair of the Neighbourhood Committee (NC).

The Chair of the NP welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced Jo Chesterman who was a new member representing Summerhill Academy Friends

Apologies were received from Mike Kimber and Grenville Johnson.

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.

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

None

·       To agree the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record.

·       To note the ongoing action sheet

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting of the St George NP held on 14 December 2016 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Action tracker

The NP noted the action tracker

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:-

Questions - Written questions must be received 3 clear working days prior to the meeting.  For this meeting, this means that your question(s) must be received in this office at the latest by 5 pm on Thursday 23 March.

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 Tuesday 28 March.

None received.

NC & NP decision and discuss:

i.          CIL/Section 106 money funding

ii.         Other NP Business

The Neighbourhood Partnership considered the activities / business report from the Neighbourhood Co-ordinator and subgroup Champions.

Request for Parks Devolved S106

The Environment sub-group had met on 9^th February and had recommended that the Neighbourhood  Committee allocate £1,600 of devolved S106 towards improvements to the ‘deer path’ through Conham Woodland.

Last year Friends of Dudridge Park Group (FDPG) were awarded £16,700 by Ibstock Cory to improve the pond and the surrounding area in Conham Woodland.  Part of this project included work to the deer path which runs from the park down to Conham Vale.  The group had received help with this grant application from the NP funded fundraiser.

Since the work was originally priced it had become clear that significantly more work was required to the path than originally thought and indeed there had been further recent subsidence.  FDPG has reached agreement with both Tesco and Cory to allocate the underspend from the two projects that they funded last year which amounted to £9.5k, however, a further £1,600 was required to deliver the work identified. 

During discussion it was commented that this was an exemplary piece of work and an excellent use of NP funding.  It was suggested that as there was now only £1657.54 funding left in this S106 item, the full balance should be awarded to this very worthwhile project.

The Neighbourhood Committee RESOLVED that 1657.54 be awarded to Friends of Dundridge Park Group from S106 funding

(S102 Ref: 10/00121/89 Two Mile Hill Road/ZCD…988)

Request for Devolved CIL Monies

The Environment sub-group had also recommended using £10,000 of CIL devolved to the St George area to fund a project to bring improvements to St George green spaces while also encouraging more volunteering in the area. The funding would be used to enable ParkWork to carry out regular work sessions in the area.  This scheme has also been running successfully in the Central, Clifton and Harbourside area where CIL has also been used by the CC&H NP to provide funding. 

ParkWork is a Bristol Parks Forum programme run through Bristol City Council that gives those on the route to employment work experience, horticultural skills and training through volunteering in parks. As well as their own volunteers the sessions are advertised to attract new volunteers from the general public to work with ParkWork and the Friends group at the site. This had worked well for CC&H NP where 10 new volunteers were attracted to volunteer with the Friends of Brandon Hill over the first 4 months that the opportunity was advertised.

During discussion the comment was made that in view of the proposed changes to NPs across Bristol as a result of reduced funding available from the Council, it was ever more important to attract volunteers in the community to help deliver the many aspirations of the current Partnership, in whatever form that might take in future.

A steering group would be formed from members of the Environment sub-group to monitor the project.  Cllr Fabian Breckels would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

i.          Bristol City Council Offer

ii.         Draft proposal from working group on way forward

Cllrs Nicola Beech and Asher Craig joined the meeting during these discussions.

The NP Co-ordinator introduced this report which set out some local decision making models for discussion.  In light of the significant financial pressures facing the council it was important to find a way of sustaining and building on the experience, knowledge and community action that to date had been very effective in St George but with less resource from the city council.  He pointed out that these proposals were not fully worked up and the council was looking to develop these ideas with Neighbourhood Partnerships during the March 2017 round of meetings.  There will be a formal consultation on the results of these discussions starting in May 2017.

The Chair indicated that members of St George NP had held working group sessions on 8th and 16^th February to discuss how this NP should respond, whether the Partnership should continue and if so in what form.  A number of priorities had emerged from these discussions, together with a proposal for the structure of a new community led organisation ‘Proposals for a new Community Group for St George’ which had been circulated with the agenda papers. A summary work plan/key milestones was also circulated with the following key objectives:-

·       To ensure that the St George NP considers its future beyond June 2017

·       To provide all the stakeholders (including citizens and community/voluntary organisations) an opportunity to discuss and agree way forward

·       Set-up an agreed structure to replace the existing NP structure, with clear mandate from local community stakeholders beyond June 2017.

The NP agreed in principle with the proposals and work plan as set out.  The following comments were made during the discussion that took place:

·       It was suggested that ‘St George Community Network’ was a more appropriate name for the new group as it moved away from the old style Partnership, to provide a fresh start and better reflected one of its key priorities to act as a community of community groups.  However, it would be for the new organisation to confirm its name at the AGM on 21 June 2017.

·       NP members were asked to volunteer to join an ‘interim committee’ that would guide the formation of the new group until its own committee can be elected at its first meeting.  The next meeting of the ‘interim committee’ will be on Thursday 27 April 2017.

·       The St George Community Network will be launched at a public meeting to be held on Wednesday 17th May – the planned date for the next NP Forum.

·       As mentioned earlier in the meeting members of the Traffic and Transport and the Environment sub-groups were keen to continue their role under the new organisation.

·       It was anticipated that should the new organisation be seen to be successful, there was a chance that it would continue to receive funding from the council in future depending on the budget situation.  At the Cabinet meeting on Monday 30th January 2017 it was confirmed the cuts had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

NP to discuss

The NP considered a report which set out the latest position in relation to the neighbourhood partnership plan.

The following key issues were noted during the discussion that took place:

·       Activity 6: Bryant’s Hill Crossing – the public consultation on the pedestrian refuge island near The Trooper public house was now on BCC website.

·       The NP Plan in its current form would be passed on to ‘St George Community Network’ organisation to use and further develop as they see fit, along with other useful information currently held by St George NP.

The NP RESOLVED that the update be noted.

Any Other Business

•          Lord Mayor’s Medals 2017 - Congratulations were extended to St George residents and NP Members Susan Acton-Campbell and Bruce Yates who were honoured with the award of Lord Mayor’s Medals at a ceremony at the Mansion House.  Trevor Ball who is a long term member of Friends of St George Park and has recently been a member and active supporter of St George in Bloom also received the award as had Gillian Flower for her work setting up the Bristol Community Friendship Club.  These prestigious medals are awarded each year by the Lord Mayor of Bristol to recognise those who go that extra mile to make a difference to local communities in Bristol.

•          Congratulations were also extended to Cllr Asher Craig who had recently been promoted from Cabinet Member to Deputy Mayor.

•          Thanks and a round of applause were given to Abdulrazak Dahir (NP Co-ordinator) and Ruth Quantock (Democratic Services Officer) for their service to St George NP over the many years since its inception in 2008/09. 

Date of next meetings:

27 April 2017 – meeting of the transitional working group ‘Interim Committee’

21 June 2017 – AGM of new organisation