Agenda and draft minutes

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 from Councillors, other than community interest.

To agree the minutes of the meeting held on the 29^th March 2006 as a correct record.

It was noted that Anna Wilson attended the last meeting on behalf of HCCA.

The NEIGHBOURHOOD PARTNERSHIP AGREED that the minutes of the previous meeting were a correct record.

With reference to the previous meeting where the Dance Centre on Jacobs Wells Road was discussed, it was reported that the NP Chair and Councillor Thomas had met with an organisation with experience of developing community regeneration within community buildings. Councillor Thomas raised a request for funding and to agree the terms of reference for that work.

Legal advice from the Democratic Services Officer confirmed that a report would need to be published five clear working days before the meeting (under Access to Information Act rules) for the Neighbourhood Committee to make decisions regarding devolved funding.  It was advised that an extraordinary meeting of the Neighbourhood Committee take place with the requisite notice to members of the public and the ability to submit public forum.

ACTION: Neighbourhood Partnership Coordinator to arrange an Extraordinary Neighbourhood Committee meeting as required.

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 15^th June 2016

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 the 20^th June 2016

Two items of public forum had been received.

1. Charles Lucas – WHSmith Site

2. Dr Patricia Smith, Action for Balanced Communities – Communities and Student Housing Survey.

With reference to the first item, it was confirmed that funds had been contributed from the Clean and Green fund to temporarily enhance the site before long term development.  A written response would be provided to Charles Lucas from Councillors Thomas and O’Rourke who had given the authority for the hoarding.

Dr Patricia Smith presented the report of Action for Balanced Communities.  A good response had been received from both non student and student residents in the areas surveyed with all comments measured and interesting.  It was acknowledged that there was a problem with the number and density of student houses of multiple occupation (HMO) which would continue as students wished to live within 20 minutes of their place of study.  There was a resulting lifestyle clash as well as concerns regarding the effect on communities such as loss of long term neighbours, streetscape deterioration and growth of nightime economy.

It was proposed that discussions should take place with Planning Officers about what can be done and in preparation research was being conducted looking at other university cities which some had threshold based policies in place. 

As universities planned to increase further the number of students within Bristol it was suggested that they should be invited to discuss the impact of their business plan and inform the Partnership of their long term strategic policy.  Reliable contacts were requested for any reports of incidents of Anti-Social Behaviour.

Relevant national policy issues were also acknowledged such as that exclusively student HMO’s were exempt from Council tax whereas a mix of people within properties should be considered as beneficial to communities.

ACTION: Councillor Smith (as Cabinet Member for Homes and Communities) agreed to engage with the Universities to discuss the issues raised.

ACTION: It was suggested that a consensus of what was aimed to be achieved by the Neighbourhood Partnership following the report with key actions to take forward.  A sub group was proposed and Councillors Smith, Wright, Rudd and Stevens along with the Planning group would discuss further.  Students that had previously attended the Neighbourhood Partnership would also be invited.

ACTION: The Chair of the Partnership and Committee agreed to write to the Service Director; Planning to ask of plans to deal with the substantial increase in the number of students.

Presenting Officer Kurt James.

1.      To confirm the name of the Neighbourhood Partnership.

2.      New Partnership Ward Boundaries.

3.      To confirm the Neighbourhood Partnership membership and decide on the chairing arrangements for 2016-17.

4.      To confirm the Neighbourhood Committee and Neighbourhood Partnership terms of reference and the Neighbourhood Committee financial operating framework.

5.      To note the devolved budgets and influence on services.

6.      To agree the meeting schedule including subgroups and forums.

7.      To note the Financial Statement and expenditure from 2015-16.

8.      To note the Neighbourhood Partnership Plan.

The Neighbourhood Partnership received the Annual General Meeting Business Report and the following points were made:

·         A list of proposed names for the Neighbourhood Partnership was presented. It was highlighted that not all ward names could be included in a name but it was agreed that the ‘Clifton, Central and Harbourside Neighbourhood Partnership’ was the best option.

·         The membership was open to representatives of residents associations within the partnership boundary.  A list of names was available on the BCC website.

·         The Community Infrastructure Levy budget had been drawn from development and planning already in the pipeline and would increase over the coming year.  The Partnership would award funds against priorities within the Neighbourhood Plan.

·         The Neighbourhood Partnership Coordinator was asked to work with Councillor Denyer to obtain an answer from the Service Director to queries regarding the £10k per ward established back in 2010/11 and whether there would be increases due to the changes in the number of wards.

·         The Traffic Choices website was a great website but unfortunately had not been regularly updated due to lack of resources.

·         Work would continue to refresh the Neighbourhood Partnership Plan to be more focused.  The Plan would be considered further at the next meeting.  Another meeting of the Clifton & Harbourside Forum would take place to discuss the Plan, with the Hotwells and Harbourside Neighbourhood Forum co-existing and meeting at the end of July).

The Neighbourhood Partnership AGREED

1. That the new Partnership name would be ‘Central, Clifton and Harbourside Neighbourhood Partnership’.

2. The new Partnership Ward boundaries were noted.

3. The Neighbourhood Partnership membership was agreed.

4. Councillor Stevens was elected Neighbourhood Committee Chair and Frances Bridgeford was elected Neighbourhood Partnership Chair for the 2016-17 municipal year.

5. The Neighbourhood Committee and Neighbourhood

Partnership terms of reference and the Neighbourhood Committee

financial operating framework were agreed.

5. The devolved budgets and influence on services were noted.

6. The meeting schedule including subgroups and forums were agreed.

7. The Financial Statement and expenditure from 2015-16 were noted.

8. The Neighbourhood Partnership Plan was noted.

The Ward Councillor members of the Neighbourhood Committee introduced themselves and provided some personal and professional history.

Councillor Smith, as Cabinet Member for Homes and Communities was asked if there was any update on the reform of Neighbourhood Partnerships.  He confirmed that there needed to be discussion in line with the administrations objectives to reduce poverty, particularly in areas of the greatest need and ensure Neighbourhood Partnership spending reflected the needs of the City.

The Neighbourhood Beat Manager outlined a report which presented figures for the wards within the Neighbourhood Partnership area.  The following points were made:

·         It was highlighted that incidences of crime had increased and anti-social behaviour decreased however, this was likely due to a change in reporting practices. 

·         Neighbourhood policing beats had been aligned to Wards and teams re-organised to ensure the right people were in the areas of high demand.

·         One of the most concerning issues facing the centre of Bristol was the high level of homelessness and its effect on communities and policing. The main reason could be attributed to the increase in private sector rent in Bristol outside of the benefit window.  Police, Council and other partners worked together to tackle those issues.  Councillor Smith confirmed that there were different types of homelessness and it was important to be careful about labels as the ‘street community’ which hung around particular areas were not necessarily homeless.  The Neighbourhood Partnership requested further discussion in order to understand the contribution the Partnership could make towards reducing homelessness and ensuring it remained on the agenda of the City Council.  The Partnership referred to the priority within the Neighbourhood Plan as a focus for attention and resources. ACTION: If available, Police Neighbourhood Manager Debra Yates would attend the next meeting to speak specifically about the City Centre.

·         The Joint enforcement team dealt with issues relating to possible breaches of premises licenses although there was a suggestion that there may be a lack of coordination in some areas.

·         It was confirmed that there remained a high number of police officers on duty within the city centre on Friday and Saturday nights and that Clifton would return to a full compliment of staff from August.

·         It was confirmed that Bristol City Council had an excellent monitored CCTV system presented a great degree of surveillance.  The centre would move to 100 Temple Street for joint operation of CCTV systems following the de-commission of Brunel House.

·         Some increase in crime such as sexual offences and hate crime were likely due to an increase in reporting.  This was a positive trend as it was important that resources were deployed effectively.

·         Further information and explanation was requested regarding the increase in levels of violence against a person.  ACTION: Officers to look into the data to provide possible reason for direction of travel for violence against the person data.

To agree Wellbeing grant fund recommendations.

The Neighbourhood Partnership Coordinator introduced the report outlining that wellbeing grants had been requested by;

The Neighbourhood Committee RESOLVED that the application from Bristol Biennial Arts - Working in partnership with Bearpit Improvement Group - £1741.00 be approved.

Item to be presented by Fraser Bridgeford

This item will be presented by Kurt James

The Neighbourhood Partnership Coordinator presented the report providing an update on Partnership activities.

Members were asked to get involved with the second Citywide NP event which would take place on 20^th July 6.30 – 8.30pm with a 15 minute slot to share key pieces of work.  It was suggested that the ABC report discussed earlier in the meeting could be a presentation topic.   Those interested should contact the Neighbourhood Partnership Coordinator.

A new planning application was in the pipeline for the Merchants Dock.  A short timescale had been muted although there was a lack of clarity over who had requested it and the dates involved.  It was agreed that any recommendation should be discussed by the Transport Sub Group before consultation.  It was also suggested that any public meeting should be delayed until September.

ACTION: Meeting of the Transport Sub Group to find out who is driving the short timescale and discuss further.

The new Mayor would visit the Neighbourhood Partnership area in July.  Ideas of community events happening in the near future should be highlighted to the Neighbourhood Partnership Coordinator.  The Pocket Park on 13^th July was a suggestion made.

The Neighbourhood Partnership AGREED to;

(1) Note the second Citywide NP Event Evaluation Report

(2) Note the Neighbourhood Forum Updates

(3) Note the Section 106 and CIL Update

(4) Note the proposed Mayor’s visit

Tuesday 11 October 2016, 7pm @ City Hall, College Green, Bristol BS1 5TR