Agenda and minutes

To elect the Chair of the Area Committee for the 2021-2022 municipal year.

RESOLVED – that Councillor Breckels be elected Chair for the municipal year 2021/2022.

Apologies for absence received from Councillor Jama.

To consider the minutes of the last meeting held on 9^th November 2020.

RESOLVED – that the Minutes of the previous Meeting held on 9 November 2020 be agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

To hear any declarations of interests from Councillors on the Area Committee.

There were none.

Please see the public information sheet attached to the agenda for information and detail about public forum processes.  For this specific meeting, the deadlines are:

·         The deadline for Public Forum Questions is 5pm on Thurs 22^nd 2021.

·         The deadline for Public Forum Statements is 12 noon on Tuesday 27^th July 2021.

Please email to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk

It would greatly assist in the planning of the meeting within covid safe practices if you could inform us if you plan to attend the meeting as a member of the press or public.  This would help us plan for the capacity of the meeting room.

Three questions had been received by the Committee:

Answers to the questions were published on the website prior to the meeting.

The report recommends funding decision on submitted Full Proposal for approval of S106 Tree planting funds 

The Community Resources Manager introduced the report and drew attention to the following:

The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) available to the Area Committee totalled £1,192,617.80.  This was broken down for general AC4 expenditure as follows:

·         For General AC4 expenditure £549,426.30

·         For Old Market ND Plan expenditure £643,191.50

The Section 106 (S106) available to the Area Committee totalled £386,507.54 of which £166,730 was designated specifically for tree planting and tree replacement.

The Tree Officer outlined the ongoing project, working with ‘Trees for Climate’ fund from DEFRA and also how the team linked to funding through private or corporate sponsorship of tree plots.

Bristol City Council and their partners aimed to plant as many trees as possible in the Local Authority Area. Bristol’s One City Action Plan has the

Environmental Objective of doubling the tree canopy in the city by 2046 and becoming carbon neutral by 2030.

Members commented:

·         Concern was expressed that not all the money could be used for tree planting in the Area Committee 4 area and that the 1 mile radius prevented the monies from being used in other parts of Area Committee 4.

·         Consideration needed to be given to creative and innovative solutions such as ‘living walls’ or ‘green walls’ where it was not possible to identify sites for tree planting.

·         Noted that the risk of the S106 monies being subject to clawback by the developer if not spent within the time limit was low.

·         The Area Committee boundaries would not be recognised by residents and it might be preferable to use the monies to plant trees elsewhere rather than risk losing it.

·         Councillors noted that a Tree Plan for the AC4 area would be helpful as a context for making the S106 decisions and to shape how more trees could be planted with sight of all the resources available.  They requested that officers attend the formal meeting in November with an overview. (ACTION)

The requirement was summarised as follows: