Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair Councillor Plowden welcomed all to the meeting.

Apologies had been received from Councillor Mark Bradshaw.

There were none

Matters Arising from the Minutes:

a.      Page 10 of the minutes  section headed Knowle Ward, the bullet point discussion about Jubilee Pool Proposal.

                                i.            Cllr Hopkins believed that the correct interpretation of the situation was that the proposal could be funded but that the Mayor would not sign if off.  Proposed that members support the proposal going forward to a further funding round.

                               ii.            The Chair & CRM shared that the summary of the situation in the minutes to be correct.  That written confirmation had been received by email and shared with Cllr Hopkins that ‘ this facility was not taken forward as part of the Council’s leisure centre offer because it did not have the necessary footfall or impact on deprived communities – those that do were taken forward as part of the new successful leisure operating contract.  Therefore in the community asset transfer process, it was agreed that there would be no requirement for further public funding to make the community run model sustainable.  This is still the expectation and so the administration will not allow council funds, CIL or otherwise to be granted to jubilee pool’.

                             iii.            The minutes did accurately reflect the situation the next steps and it would not be appropriate to move the proposal for Jubilee Pool forward in this round.

                             iv.            That it would not be prudent to take action now that would pre-determine the decision making of a future area committee.

b.      Page 12 the last page of the minutes under the points raised during the discussion.

                                i.            That there concerns expressed about the deployment of the defibrillators and whether this proposal fell within ‘strategic’ action.  No assurances were given that the defib would be located in any of the AC 5 wards.  Not all wards will have a defib within its boundary so there will be gaps in an area of need.

Resolved to agree subject to the issues above being noted.

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Please submit it to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk or Democratic Services Section, City Hall, College Green, Bristol BS1 5UY.  The following requirements apply:

·       The statement is received no later than 12.00 noon on the working day before the meeting (12pm on Wednesday 21^st February 2024) and is about a matter which is the responsibility of the committee concerned.

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The Friends of Eastwood Farm representative was invited to address committee.

The public forum statements had been shared with members prior to the meeting.

Actions arising

1.       Wells Road Traffic lights; CRM shared that she sought clarity on the position of a future reimbursement from WECA and will consider to do so and report back.

2.       St Pauls Church; confirmed that funding had been released.

3.       Southville: Tree Planting meeting had progressed.

4.       Ashton Playing fields; the funding allocated to this project remains and an update was sought on the position with the football pitch.  CRM would make arrangements for an update to be provided.

The Chair invited CRM to address all the questions and comments put by members by working through the report.

No Pre-commitment of future CIL receipts.

Members attention was drawn to section 13 of the report that stated that:

a.       There is no option to go into a deficit CIL funding allocation and to over commit on the assumption of future receipt of CIL.

b.       Members were encouraged to allocate the sums available because area committee boundaries will change following the local elections in May.  The total number of Area Committees will increase from 6 to 9 which will result in the redistribution of funds based on the new boundaries and make up of each committee.

c.       The sum available for distribution to the proposals listed at stage 2 is £449,604.99; this is a slight increase to the figure given at the end of January.

Questions for Clarification:

d.       Members explored the possibility of further funds becoming available for distribution and looked to CRM to clarify the process should this be the case.

e.       CRM advised that Jim Ciffe would be responsible for identifying the funds available for which ward and how that would be mapped for the newly formed AC boundaries. 

f.        It was not possible to determine whether all the projects listed would come to fruition and it could be some may fall away but this will be monitored and reviewed by officers, and reported on at future committees.

g.       Members then went on to explore how best to distribute the funds available to the project proposals outlined in the report. 

h.       CRM confirmed that: 17 proposals had been submitted with 2 proposals withdrawn; that the following adjustments were required:

                                 I.            That project proposal AC523P92 Community notice board Bedminster Ward proposal required an additional £100.  This was to allow the organise to adhere to the requirement to work with an established accountable body to hold funds on the proposers behalf.  Sum required now £1100.

                               II.            The project proposal AC523P76 community notice board for Foxcote Rd Ashton, required a similar uplift of £100 as above.  £1320.

                             III.            The project proposal AC523P84 Bristol Jamia Mosque Disabled Access; sum required had increased to £75,000 from the original request of £35,000.

i.         Members considered the above determining that:

                                 I.            The increase for the community boards was an acceptable request.

                               II.            That the BJM should be advised to seek future alternative funding to meet the increase project cost and that committee would limit their deliberation to the original submission of £35k.

j.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.