Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Apologies were received from Richard Curtis, Jo Curtis, Philip Bird, Mary Taylor, Linda Callazo, Veronica Dvorackova, and Inspector Deborah Yeates.

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.

Cllr Beech declared an interest in relation to section 4 of agenda item 8 (NP activities / business report – proposal from Meadow Vale Steering Group) relating to her role as a member of the Meadow Vale Steering Group.  Cllr Beech did not participate in the taking of the Neighbourhood Committee decision on this matter.

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

RESOLVED -

That the minutes of the meeting of the St George NP held on 22 June 2016 be confirmed as a correct record, subject to the following amendment:

-          Minute no. 9 (AGM report): amend part 1 b. of the resolution to read:

“Each sub-group champion should automatically be a member of the partnership, i.e. as new sub-groups/champions emerge, they will automatically join the partnership.”

The NP reviewed the action tracker, and noted the following:

Page 15 – Bristol Walking Alliance: A meeting was to be arranged aimed at linking the Bristol Walking Alliance activities in with the NP’s activities (on the basis that this issue/activity is wider than the remit of the Traffic and Transport Sub-Group).

Page 16 - Remembrance Sunday ceremony: This year’s ceremony would now be held in Queen Square.  This news was generally welcomed by partners.

Page 16 - Informal NP meeting: This would be held at 7.00 pm on Monday 24 October 2016 at St George library.  Cllr Craig advised that at its recent meeting on 3 October, the Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Commission had received a positioning statement / presentation regarding neighbourhood partnerships.  She would arrange for a copy of this presentation to be circulated ahead of the 24 October informal meeting.

Page 17 – Mental health: Cllr Craig confirmed that she would arrange for information to be circulated about the new approach being adopted by the police.

The NP agreed that the minutes of the meeting held on 25 May 2016 should be amended as follows:

Minute no. 5 (NP activities – business) – to be amended to reflect the fact that the Neighbourhood Committee had resolved to allocate £25,000 of Section 106 funding to Meadow Vale park as match funding for improvements to the play area (as recommended by the Environment sub-group).

To note any announcements from the Chair

On behalf of the NP, the Chair extended congratulations to Grenville Johnson and all those involved regarding the success achieved by St George in Bloom in Bristol at the RHS Britain in Bloom South West awards event held at the Somerset county cricket ground on 6 October.

Grenville Johnson thanked local community groups, the NP and officers for their ongoing support for St George in Bloom, and advised that the following awards had been received:

·         St. George in Bloom received GOLD in the Pennant town / city category for the third consecutive year.

·         The following local community groups also received RHS ‘It’s your Neighbourhood’ awards:
- Bristol East Allotments group received an “Outstanding” award.
- St Aidan’s Allotments in St. George received an “Outstanding” award.
- Friends of Troopers Hill received an “Outstanding” award.
- Kensington Road Residents Association received an “Outstanding” award.
- Air Balloon Hill Primary School received an “Outstanding” award.
- Friends of Kingsway Youth “Hope for the future” received a “Thriving” award.
- In addition, Air Balloon Hill Primary School in St. George received the Clem Preece Memorial cup for an outstanding effort by a school in promoting South West in Bloom, and Friends of Troopers Hill received the Sutton Seeds cup for an outstanding area of nature conservation.

Other members of the NP expressed their appreciation of the efforts of Grenville Johnson and all others involved.  Representatives from St George in Bloom would also be attending the national RHS Britain in Bloom awards ceremony on 14 October as St George in Bloom had been selected as a 2016 national RHS Britain in Bloom finalist.

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 06 October

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 11 October

The NP received and noted a public forum statement regarding consultation on changes to bus services.  It was noted that services 6 and 7 were important services for the area.  The Traffic and Transport sub-group had responded to the First subsidised bus route consultation.

Report of CYN Tina Bond and Rachel Beatty BCC Commissioning Manager

The NP considered an update report on the progress achieved by the Creative Youth Network (CYN) in the area.

Tina Bond and Rachel Beatty highlighted the following points:

a.      CYN’s services (under the relevant part of the Youth Links contract) broadly covered the St George and Greater Fishponds NP areas.

b.      Engagement work included new work at Meadow Vale community centre, where a new youth group had been established.

c.       Much of the work involved a series of “one to one” development sessions with young people following referral (referrals originated mainly from the early help team or social workers).  These targeted sessions were aimed at building individual confidence and self-esteem.

d.      Quarterly feedback was sought from the young people concerned about their experiences.

e.      CYN activities were monitored robustly.  They met their key targets, taking into account the area demographic, and there was good evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of their youth engagement work.

f.        The current Youth Links contract was due to finish in 2018.  The re-commissioning process would be starting soon, and the views of the NP would be very much welcomed as part of the consultation that would take place.

g.      CYN were involved with a bid for new Lottery funds to support investment in youth work.  This could potentially result in £35-50k becoming available for this NP area, so the NP’s views would be welcomed on where such investment could best be targeted.

Main points raised/noted in discussion:

a.      The development of the youth group at Meadow Vale community centre was welcomed.

b.      It was suggested (noting that CYN did not have any resource for outreach work) that leaflets could be produced, for distribution to young people in St George’s Park via play rangers, to give them the opportunity to be aware of CYN activity.

c.       It was noted that there was a citywide specialist service that may be able to assist in tackling issues around drug and alcohol misuse after dark in St George’s Park.

Three young people then spoke to partners, and drew attention in particular to ongoing issues about vehicles being driven too fast and dangerously on Meadow Vale, and about the need for more/improved local youth facilities.

In discussion, it was suggested that local people should consider taking up a community speed watch initiative.  Susan Acton-Campbell advised she would be happy to be a contact point to assist local people in finding out further information about how to do this.

Cllr Craig asked the young people to send her an email setting out the full story of their experiences, as per the presentations they had given at today’s meeting – she would then take these matters up with the Mayor, Marvin Rees and the Council’s Chief Executive.

RESOLVED –

That the report and the above information/comments be noted.

Report of champions and NP Co-ordinator, Abdulrazak Dahir

NC & NP decision and discuss

i)   Section 106 money funding

ii)  Wellbeing Grants

iii)  Fundraiser report and

iv)  Other NP Buisness

The activities / business report was considered as follows:

Part 1 -Citywide NP event:

The update on the citywide event held on 20 July was noted.  The Chair and members of the partnership also congratulated Cllr Craig on her recent appointment as Cabinet member for Neighbourhoods.

Part 2 - NP equalities review 2016:

The update on the equalities monitoring review was noted.  The outcomes of the review effectively set a benchmark against which future reviews could be assessed, and it would be important to take the key findings into account in taking forward the NP engagement plan.

The key findings included:

·         Engagement with disabled people: the percentage of disabled people engaged with was lower than the NP census proportion.

·         Engagement with black and minority ethnic people: the percentage of engagement with these groups was lower than the NP census proportion.

·         Gender engagement: males were engaged in line with the NP census proportion but female engagement fell below the NP census proportion.

The full report was available for inspection.

Part 3 - Operation sub-group update:

The update report was noted. As a point of clarification, it was also noted that the St George in Bloom group had received a financial donation from the St George Town Team, and had received support from the Aviva Insurance community outreach team.

Part 4 – Meadow Vale steering group proposal:

The update on the progress made by the steering group was noted.

The NP and Neighbourhood Committee considered a funding proposal from the steering group.

Cllr Beech declared an interest in this particular proposal relating to her role as a member of the Meadow Vale Steering Group, and did not participate in the taking of this decision.

The Neighbourhood Committee

RESOLVED:

That a contribution of £3,308 be approved from the neighbourhood budget towards the cost of hiring professional support (architect) to pull together the requirements for a full planning application to develop Meadow Vale community centre.

Part 5 - Environment sub-group update:

The update report was noted.

The NP and Neighbourhood Committee considered a proposal from the sub-group to ring-fence £15,000 of the remaining Section 106 funding for improving provision at Colebrook Road green space.

Main points raised/noted:

1.      An additional document was circulated setting out summary details of Section 106 spending by park in the NP area, from December 2011 to May 2016.  Whilst noting this information, the committee agreed it would be useful for a full, detailed document on this spend to be prepared and circulated.

2.      A separate meeting would be arranged, involving Cllr Craig (as Cabinet member for Neighbourhoods), to discuss future investment/improvements that might be progressed at St George’s Park.

3.      Grenville Johnson advised that he had been collating suggestions for a permanent, local memorial for the late, former councillor Ron Stone.  These suggestions would be shared at the next Operation Sub-Group.  At a future point, a decision was likely to be needed about ring-fencing a sum to meet the anticipated memorial costs as the proposal (once agreed) began  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

Report of Champions and NP Co-ordinator, Abdulrazak Dahir

The NP considered a report setting out a draft engagement plan.

An updated version of the draft engagement plan was circulated.

It was noted that the engagement plan was “work in progress” and that partners should send comments to Gill Calloway, Neighbourhood Officer.  The draft plan would also be submitted to the Communications sub-group for discussion and consideration.

In light of the above, it was agreed that detailed consideration and discussion of the draft engagement plan should be deferred to the next NP meeting.

Report of the NP Co-ordinator, Abdulrazak Dahir

The NP noted the latest update report on the NP plan.

It was also noted that the police had provided additional information, highlighting the need to remind people to lock doors to their property (including garages and sheds) to help prevent “opportunistic” burglary taking place.

·         Jo Webster-Green was stepping down from her involvement in NP activities.  On behalf of the NP, the Chair expressed thanks and appreciation of Jo’s contribution. 

·         Chris Deane raised a concern about a case where it was alleged the Council had not installed a path in accordance with the required, agreed specification.  It was agreed that Chris should document the concerns in writing and send this document to Cllr Craig.  Cllr Craig would then be able to investigate the matter in her capacity as Cabinet member for Neighbourhoods.

·         Susan Acton-Campbell advised that all partners would be very welcome to attend the official celebration event for the opening of the new play area on Troopers Hill field on Saturday 22 October.

·         Diane Jones encouraged anyone interested to contact her if they were interested in being involved with a Friends group for St George library.

·         Cllr Craig briefly outlined details about the Mayor’s Clean Streets campaign.  A proposal would also be discussed at the Environment sub-group about encouraging volunteer litter picking groups, to tackle identified litter “hot spots.”

·         Cllr Beech advised that enforcement action was now being considered to tackle the ongoing fly-tipping / waste problems at 121-123 Bell Hill Road.