Agenda and draft minutes

Renee Slater led the welcome and introductions.

Apologies were received from Gil Osman and Mark Pepper.

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.

There were no declarations of interest.

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

·         Matters arising and action sheet

The Neighbourhood Partnership considered the Minutes and the Action Sheet.

The Neighbourhood Partnership AGREED that the minutes of the Avonmouth and Lawrence Weston Neighbourhood Partnership on 22 March 2016 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Action Sheet

The Neighbourhood Partnership considered the action sheet. All completed actions and updates relating to outstanding actions were noted.

Matters Arising

The police representative reported that there had been an increase in racially motivated hate crime believed to be related to increased tensions between local residents due to the recent referendum.  The police asked that residents report these crimes when witnessed.  Assurances were given that all reports would be investigated thoroughly.

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 Friday 24^th June

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 Wednesday 29^th June

No public forum received.

2015/16 AGM Business Report and Financial Statement, AGM Elections (Chair & Vice-Chair), NP Terms of Reference, Neighbourhood Committee Terms of Reference (draft)

(Report of Keith Houghton, NP Co-ordinator)

The Neighbourhood Partnership considered the AGM annual report from Keith Houghton, Neighbourhood Partnership Co-coordinator.

      a.            Confirmed that the Terms of Reference for the Councillor Neighbourhood Committee would be amended with the new ward boundary at the next meeting of Full Council.

      b.            Highways had not provided the information on spend to enable reporting on any unspent sums within the Partnership’s Highways budget

       c.            Residents raised concern that there had been no Avonmouth representative on the panel in the last 6 months.  Noted that the NP Co-ordinator was taking forward work agreed at the previous NP meeting to hold elections at the July Forum in Avonmouth to address this issue.

The Neighbourhood Partnership AGREED: –

(i)                 The continuation in post of the current NP Chair elected at the 30th June 2015 2015 and to hold the election of Chair and Vice-Chair at the 26th September NP meeting.

Action: Keith Houghton

(ii)               The Councillors on the Neighbourhood Committee agreed that Cllr Melias be elected as Chair of this meeting and that the chairing arrangements for 2016/17 would continue as in the previous years with a rotating Chair shared between the  elected Councillors.

(iii)             The NP Resident Membership would remain the same until the selection processes for each of the Ward’s four village areas had produced new Resident Members to be ratified at the NP meeting on 26^th September

(iv)             The Neighbourhood Committee and Neighbourhood Partnership Terms of Reference, and the Neighbourhood Committee Financial Operating Framework be noted.

(v)               The devolved budgets and influence on services be noted.

(vi)             The meeting schedule including subgroups and forums be agreed with an update to include Shirehampton Forums on the meeting schedules.

Action: Keith Houghton

(vii)           The financial statement and expenditure for 2015-16 be noted.

Wellbeing decisions,  Fundraiser working group and further NP Governance & Plan work; offer of additional £10,000 fund

(Report of Keith Houghton, NP Co-ordinator)

The Neighbourhood Partnership considered the NP Business Activities report from Keith Houghton, Neighbourhood Partnership Co-ordinator.

The Neighbourhood Partnership AGREED: – 

(i)                 to note the Wellbeing Fund balance available £20,000

(ii)               to approve the recommendation to hold a Traffic & Transport sub-group in July 2016to bring a highways scheme forward to the September NP meeting

Action: Keith Houghton

(iii)              to note the updates on agreed priorities for Access and the emerging exploration of play space at Hallen Drive, Sea Mills and to keep a watching brief on this opportunity through the Environment Sub-Group and through regular updates to the NP

(iv)             to note the legal information giving due regard to Public Sector Equality Duty

(v)               to hold a further NP Plan and Governance event to review and refine the delivery priorities of the NP Plan and to allocate its resources to deliver it

Action: Keith Houghton

(vi)             to set up a working group that’s open to wider membership to develop the option of employing a Fundraiser to support priorities in the NP Plan. Noted that Henbury, Southmead and Brentry had expressed interest in a joint proposal.

Action: Keith Houghton

(vii)           to note the latest S106 contributions and CIL contributions information at item 7 in the report

The Neighbourhood Committee RESOLVED to: - 

(i)                 approve the recommended Wellbeing application funding of £7,178 as follows, leaving a total of £12,822 within the Wellbeing fund:

(ii)               approve the recommendations not to fund the Wellbeing requests of £2,250 as follows

NP member recruitment proposal; draft NP Plan priorities and delivery programme; NP Plan updates; citywide wellbeing review; Citywide NP event

(Report of Keith Houghton, NP Co-ordinator)

The Neighbourhood Partnership considered the NP Update report from Keith Houghton, Neighbourhood Partnership Co-coordinator.  The report outlined the NP member recruitment proposal; draft NP Plan priorities and delivery programme; NP Plan updates; citywide wellbeing review; Citywide NP event

a.             The draft NP project plan was circulated to all attendees.

b.             It was reported that Bristol Aging Better (BAB) were rolling out activities in the area to combat isolation.  BAB to be invited to the next meeting.

Action: Keith Houghton

c.              The police recognised that drugs had not always been a priority but there was an opportunity for NPs to raise this as an area of concern with the Police and Crime Commissioner.  He was pleased to report that good results had been achieved in Shirehampton through the work of the police and partner agencies to tackle and reduce instances of antisocial behaviour.

d.             The Neighbourhood Partnership agreed to join with Henbury, Southmead and Brentry to invite the Police and Crime Commissioner to a discussion around policing priorities and drug issues in the area.

The Neighbourhood Partnership AGREED:

(i)            to recruit 3 resident members for each ‘village’ in the forthcoming election/selection process and to approve the NP selection process in Item 1

Action: Keith Houghton

(ii)          to adopt the Draft NP Plan and Delivery Plan in its current form to shape immediate work and delivery; and to meet again to focus on further Governance development and NP Plan shaping and allocation of its budget to bring back to the September and December NP meetings.

(iii)        to note the updates to the NP Plan priorities

(iv)        to put forward Cllr Melias to support citywide Wellbeing review

(v)          to send invites to the membership for the Citywide NP event on 20th July

(vi)        to note the verbal update on the Mayor’s visit dated Monday 13th June

(vii)      to note the update on delivery of Bristol Youth Links Quarter 4 2015/2016

(viii)    to note the members of Avonmouth & Kingsweston NP who have left as a result of May election and boundary changes.  The NP to send a letter of thanks to the previous NP members.

Action: Keith Houghton and Renee Slater

Update on emerging delivery proposals on the Resilience Fund and NP involvement

(Report of Robin McDowell, BCC Manager, Economy & Enterprise)

Robin McDowell, BCC Economy & Enterprise Manager, updated the Partnership on  emerging delivery proposals on the £1m Resilience Fund and future NP involvement. 

a.             Fund has to be capital only. The only exception is that up to 10% can be spent as revenue on activity that supports the capital expenditure – so about £100,000

b.             Priorities were reviewed with new Councillors and remain as:  Jobs and enterprise; thriving high streets; social impact – community facilities

c.              Other funds which could potentially be levered in:

·           Coastal communities fund, round 4

·           ERDF (EU Funding) – could get 2/3 years of funding; potentially could add revenue stream to support capital spend

d.             BCC is committed to setting up a community event in autumn 2016 to shape final delivery models for each of the three strands, such as a grants process or participatory budgeting to enable communities to choose which projects to fund

e.             Involve businesses with corporate responsibility funds

f.               Partnership agreed that it was important to get the message out to those not well versed in funding applications.  £100,000 could be reserved for enabling and management activities and this could include provision of advice to applicants who needed more help.

The Neighbourhood Partnership AGREED to note the report.

Update on the work undertaken by the Avona Group to develop a Community Plan for Avonmouth Village

(Report of Keith Houghton, NP Co-ordinator)

The Neighbourhood Partnership considered a verbal update report on the work undertaken by the Avona Group to develop a Community Plan for Avonmouth Village as a First Steps-funded project May 2015 to March 2016.

The Neighbourhood Partnership AGREED to note the update report and supported plans to link the plan to the NP plan to deliver shared outcomes.