Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Barry Parsons, Nicola Beech, Hibaq Jama, Farrah Hussain, Tim Wye, and Yassin Mohamud.

Resolved; That the minutes of the previous meeting on 8^th December 2022 be approved as a correct record.

There was none.

Members of the public may make a written statement ask a question or present a petition to most meetings. Your statement or question will be sent to the Committee and be available online one hour before the meeting. Please submit it to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk.

The following requirements apply:

. The statement is received no later than 12.00 noon on the working day before the meeting (Wednesday 24^th May 2023) and is about a matter which is the responsibility of the committee concerned.

. The question is received no later than 5pm three clear working days before the meeting (Friday 19^th May 2023).

There was none.

The Community Resources Manager introduced the item and noted that there was one item to be approved at the meeting which was discussed as follows:

Bloy Street Renovation Project

At the Committee meeting in December 2022, there was some uncertainty around the proposals for the Bloy Street Renovation project and Members were unclear on the costings. There  was a requirement for the Transport team to carry out work on the public highway, but had not been  accurately reflected in the costs. Following this, residents were asked to review their proposals and resubmit.

The team had meet with residents and the relevant officers to discuss the proposals and established that the budget would have to increase to £37k in order to complete the project. This was mainly due to a revised costing for bike shelters which were originally priced at £3k but would in fact cost £15k.

It was confirmed that the additional funding would need to come from last year’s CIL funds and the breakdown would be a total of £20k allocated to the BCC Transport Department and the remaining £17k allocated to the Eastside Community Trust . Members discussed the updated proposal and agreed that the Committee was supportive of the project. It was unfortunate that it would now cost more than initially anticipated but the Committee would still like to go ahead with the proposals.

Resolved; That the Committee approve the funding for the re-presented Proposal on the Bloy Street Renovation project, with new costings which reflect their new delivery plans negotiated with BCC Transport.

(Cllr Pearce left the meeting at this point - 18:45)

It was noted that no further funding decisions were required but there were other items for Committee Members to discuss.

The Community Resources Manager introduced Harry Simpson, who had joined the meeting as a representative from a the Old Marker Neighbourhood Development Plan Forum, a community group who support the Neighbourhood Development Plan 2014-2026. Discussion points were as follows:

·       Harry raised the concerns around the Temple Way underpass which he thought acted as a barrier to the local community and businesses. The underpass is a main cycle network for people accessing the City Centre from the east of the city and was used regularly by pedestrians, but the route feels very unsafe. It’s dark, secluded and there are often reports of antisocial behaviour.

·       It was noted that the Neighbourhood Plan was a previously approved initiative to improve the local area which was allocated £300k but this funding was still unspent. The community were told that there would be a project to improve the underpass, but this was quite some time ago and they hadn’t seen any plans to date.

·       It was noted that the structure of the underpass could not be altered but the local community would like to see improvements such as better lighting, mirrors  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.