Draft minutes

The NP Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made.

Apologies for absence were received from Linda Ewles, Dr Jill White, Sylvia Doubell and Dennis Gornall.  The NP Chair indicated that Cllr Jerome Thomas was currently in a meeting (Council business) and would join this meeting later at around 8.00 pm.  

None

P9 – Off The Record application for wellbeing budget - £3000. It was clarified that further information had been provided verbally at the meeting as to why the Wellbeing Grants Panel had recommended refusal, as no information had been provided in the papers to NP members. The Partnership were informed that it was because the application was for services provided outside the Neighbourhood Partnership area, and were to pay wages for staff, both of which are outside the Wellbeing Grant criteria. Councillors had therefore agreed that the application should be refused.

Further, Councillors had requested that summary information of this nature be provided by the Wellbeing Grant Panel in the papers in advance of the meeting in future.  Action Matthew Jones/Wellbeing Grants Panel

The Neighbourhood Partnership AGREED that subject to the above amendment the minutes of the previous meeting held on 11 October were a correct record, and they were signed by the NP Chair.

Actions arising from 11 October 2017

An update was provided on progress against actions arising from the last meeting which was noted by the Neighbourhood Partnership.

The following statements were received by the NP for consideration:

1) South West Transport Network – transport and land use planning.  It was explained that this statement had been submitted to all Neighbourhood Partnerships in this round of meetings to raise the profile of this issue.  The statement was noted.

2) Cllr Clive Stevens – Bus Services no 8 and no 9

Cllr Stevens spoke to his statement which raised the following issues:

·       Residents living near the north of Pembroke Road are served poorly with regards to getting to Clifton Down eg Sainburys

·       Bus stop needed along Clifton Park.  Current stops are a long way apart so the Clifton Cllrs have taken this on as an action

·       Unused bus stops east side of Pembroke Road.  Clifton Down Cllrs will be investigating and speaking to the Cabinet Member Transport about what the situation is short and long term regarding the use of these stops.  Any feedback from NP members to Matthew Jones/Cllr Stevens would be helpful.  Action: all

3) Roger Grimson, Chair of Bishopston, Cotham and Redland Green NP (BCR NP) – Hampton Road Crossing Enhancement.  This related to Agenda Item 8 pages 83 and 87 and was considered alongside this item later in the agenda.

Update on the future of Neighbourhood Partnerships

The following key issues were noted:-

·       Timetable for consultation to be published before 4th February

·       ‘Locality’ event on Saturday 4th February. NP members attending

·        Consultation continues with input from all interested parties

·        Our chance to work through what we like and what we would like to see differently

·       Will arrange an NP meeting end Feb  / Early March for NP discussion and to start the design process

·       Last NP as we know it June 2017

·       First NP community led NP October 2017

The NP Chair introduced this report of the Neighbourhood Partnership Co-ordinator.

A)  The following issues were NOTED by the NP:

·       Update on Section 106 and Community Infrastructure Funding (CIL)

·       Updates on Neighbourhood Forum

·       Update from Neighbourhood Officer and Neighbourhood Plan

·       Statement on behalf of CCH NP submitted by Fraser Bridgeford (NP Chair) and Cllr Clive Stevens (NC Chair) to Cabinet 30 January in respect of Budget recommendations to Full Council.

·       Update and progress of Park Projects

·       Wellbeing report – on 29 November, BCC had announced a spending freeze from the General Fund (this includes wellbeing grants, highways, clean & green and any other NP budget).  Four applications to the wellbeing fund were received and the Wellbeing Panel members are considering how these projects can seek alternative funding.

·       The Environment Sub Group and Traffic & Transport Sub Group meeting notes

B)   NP Transformers Youth Fund. 

Avon and Somerset Police Community Trust has been managing the Transformers Fund, a small grant aimed at working with young people and delivering youth activities.  The Trust has found it difficult to attract enough projects and has therefore agreed to devolve £5000 to each of Bristols Neighbourhood Partnerships.   The fund will be administered through

       the existing small grants process and must be allocated by March 2017 and

       projects must be delivered by February 2018.

It was noted that the deadline for applications is 17^th February 2017 and the

decisions on the allocation of funds from this source are made by the 

Neighbourhood Partnership, not only the Neighbourhood Committee.

The Neighbourhood Partnership AGREED to accept the £5000 Transformers Youth funding and abide by the funding conditions as set out in the report.  

The NP were asked to publicise the youth funding through organisations that they know and secure applications.  Action: All

Fraser Bridgeford NP Chair introduced the report of the NP Co-ordinator.  Cllr Clive Stevens was the Neighbourhood Committee Chair during the decision making process.

The following recommendations of the Environment Sub-group were considered by the Neighbourhood Partnership and an overview of each project was provided:-

A) Outdoor Bar Gym – up to £20,000 CIL or S106 to be allocated subject to relevant permissions from Bristol City Council

The Neighbourhood Committee unanimously RESOLVED that up to £20,000 (CIL) be awarded to Outdoor Bar Gym

B) YMCA - £50,000 (CIL) to support the development of a youth hostel which would specifically be used to fund the energy saving measures to be installed.

The Neighbourhood Committee unanimously RESOLVED that £50,000 (CIL) be awarded to YMCA

The NP particularly felt that it was good to be able to support a project for homeless young people

C) Friends of Brandon Hill - £2000 (CIL or S106) for a Pergola in Brandon Hill to replace the vandalised structure

The Neighbourhood Committee unanimously RESOLVED that £2,000 (CIL) be awarded to Friends of Brandon Hill

D) Incredible Edible - £1,000.  This would be used to ‘green’ the outer walls of the Bearpit to deter tagging/graffiti

Comments were made that this was an excellent sustainable and low cost solution to cover up an otherwise ugly grey concrete space and address tagging issues.  It was noted that the project had used community volunteers and it would be good to look at using this approach for other ‘hot spot’ areas in the City.  It was suggested that the Environment Sub-group consider this in further detail.  Action: Matthew Jones/Environment Sub-group  

The Neighbourhood Committee unanimously RESOLVED that £1,000 (CIL) be awarded to Incredible Edible

E) ParkWork Programme - £10,000 (CIL) to continue their work.

It was noted that a presence at Brandon Hill and advertising had generated 160 hours of community volunteering in addition to ParkWork with 12 new volunteers joining the team since November 2016.

Suggestions from the NP as to other locations included St John’s Burial Ground and Strangers burial ground but ideas for any others were welcomed.  Action All

The Neighbourhood Committee unanimously RESOLVED that £10,000 (CIL) be awarded to ParkWork

Progress on Environment Projects

An update was provided, the following main issues were noted:-

·       Arlington Gardens.  A response was outstanding from Richard Fletcher.  Action Matthew Jones to chase a response.

·       Park Place. It was noted that Richmond Road Residents Association would very much like to be involved in the consultation including the location of the benches and the grit bin.  Action Environment Sub-group

The Neighbourhood Partnership NOTED the progress of ongoing Environment projects

Fraser Bridgeford NP Chair introduced the report of the NP Co-ordinator.  Cllr Clive Stevens was the Neighbourhood Committee Chair during the decision making process.

The following recommendations of the Traffic and Transport Sub-Group were considered by the Neighbourhood Partnership and an overview of each project was provided:-

A) Hampton Road Crossing – £4000 to fund LED haloes as a safety improvement.  At this point Roger Gimson, Chair BCR NP spoke to his public forum statement referred to earlier in the meeting which had been submitted on behalf of BCR NP.  He explained that the original proposal was that BCR NP and CCH NP share the cost of enhancing the zebra crossing at the Cotham end of Hampton Road, however as all spending by NPs from their general fund was now currently frozen (but still possible for NPs to use CIL money) they were no longer able to contribute towards the costs as they had already allocated its CIL funds.  As CCH NP appeared to have considerable CIL fund available they were being asked to fund the full cost of £4000.

The Neighbourhood Committee unanimously RESOLVED that £4,000 (CIL) be allocated to the Hampton Road Crossing Enhancement subject to the white line markings being made good and appropriate measures being taken to ensure the overgrown trees which currently obscure the crossing are dealt with.   Action BCR NP to speak to landowner or report to BCC Highways as appropriate.

At this point Cllr Jerome Thomas joined the meeting.

B)  Victoria Square Bus Shelter – Installation of two new two-bay bus shelters at a cost of £18,000.  Alternatively, a second cheaper option would be to fund one bus shelter at a cost of £13,000 for a large three-bay shelter or smaller two-bay shelter at £10,000.

During discussion the following issues were noted:-

·       Concerns were raised that there is no guarantee that there would not be changes to the bus routes in future so the stops could potentially be made redundant.  In response, officers confirmed that the commercial operator decides the service and the statutory notice is 56 days.  It was noted that depending on the strength of feeling, petitions etc in some cases the stops can be re-instated.

·       Officers indicated that there was spare real time info equipment (from redundant stops) that could be used for this shelter, at no additional cost to the NP. Action: Stephen Pick

The Neighbourhood Committee unanimously RESOLVED that two new 2-bay bus shelter be installed - £18,000

C) Brunel Swing Swivel Bridge (restoration project)  – £25,000.  The project is now at a critical stage as Avon Industrial Buildings Trust (AIBT) is about to apply for a substantial grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.  Match funding from the NP would demonstrate a financial commitment from the Council for the delivery of the project and would strengthen AIBT’s chance of their HLF bid being successful.

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

·       The project will provide a focus for regeneration of this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.