Agenda and minutes

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

RESOLVED – that Councillor Lesley Alexander be elected Chair for the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Ali, Cheney, King.

To consider the minutes of the last meeting held on 29^th July 2020.

RESOLVED – that the Minutes of the previous Meeting held on 29 July 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 Fri 16^th July 2021.

·         The deadline for Public Forum Statements is 12 noon on Weds 21^st 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.

There were none.

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 Committee would receive a update regarding CIL and Transport in August, including some historical project information. CIL increases over time so at the next meeting additional funds will be received and it was confirmed that funds must be spent on approved items generated from the development process.

The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) available to the Area Committee totalled £77,650.10. 

The Section 106 (S106) available to the Area Committee totalled £77,650.10 of which £26,879.72 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 how the team linked to funding through private or corporate sponsorship of tree plots. There was a delay to some planting in the last period due to suitability of plots. Area Committee 3 had been well serviced for trees, there have been some major planting projects. It was standard practice for tree planting to take place within 1 mile of the development.

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.

In response to questions from Councillors, the Tree Bristol Officer clarified the following points:

·         In Lockleaze there were a lot of fruit trees, but they did not seem to be utilised fully for recent planting. Part of the benefit of fruit trees is that they were feasible for the public to pick, as well as beneficial to wildlife.  There could be suitable locations for fruit trees, such as a community orchard in Gainsborough Square or a project with the new Trinity School. 

·         The Committee would welcome a map of trees in the area which the tree officer agreed to circulate following the meeting. 

·         BCC did not avoid fruit tree planting, but rather planned the right tree for the right location, e.g. replacing individual trees in a group with the same species. was noted however, that some members of the public did not like dropped fruit on paths and roads. They were also less likely to be picked from roadside due to pollution. 

·         There were some excellent community project orchards such as Begbrook Green which had an orchard from trees that were originally in prefab gardens.

·         It was confirmed that the budget was adequate to cover all trees from the appropriate s.106 funding.

The requirement and proposal for tree planting was summarised as follows:

Due to the late urgent nature of the report, the deadline for public forum questions will be extended to 5pm on the 21^st July 2021.

Questions can be asked and spoken to at the meeting - but answers cannot be guaranteed to be available prior to the meeting.

The Committee considered the item as urgent as agreed with the Chair prior to the meeting.

The Community Resources Manager outlined the report and highlighted the following:

1.      Greater Fishponds historically approved a £14k spend for a skate park at Hillfields, with the condition that there was an appropriate governance structure for the group developing the park. Item A showed Fishponds Local Action Group had submitted the appropriate certificates.

2.      The proposal was to alter the skate park to allow BMX riding.

3.      The money had been raised and BCC Parks Team were keen to start the build soon by going out to tendor in September (therefore the November Area Committee 3 meeting would be too late).

In response to the presentation the following was clarified in response to questions:

1.      Members had not seen the location and were concerned there was limited data available in the report.  Ideally, they would have liked a parks officer to be in attendance to answer queries.

2.      A Councillor had spoken to a local BMX rider, who had explained that the designed change was to allow for both BMX and skating. There was a large BMX park already on site and the old proposal was to build an adjacent skate park, however, the organisation now believed it would be more helpful for the park to have a dual purpose. There should not be much material impact.

3.      The purpose was to create a safe track for young children to learn and enhance the existing facility.

The recommendations were moved, seconded and following a unanimous vote it was:

RESOLVED that the Committee approved the request to allow Parks to use the £14,000 CIL and S106 funding approved by Greater Fishponds Neighbourhood Partnership on 23rd March 2017 to deliver the Hillfields Skate Park to support the amended project and deliver a training and warm-up BMX track