Minutes of Westbury on Trym Community Forum
held in Westbury Library on April 18th 2023
held in Westbury Library on April 18th 2023
1. Attendance and Apologies:
The Meeting was attended by approximately 22 residents, together with all three of our local councillors – Geoff Gollop, Sharon Scott and Steve Smith. PC Steve Harding and PCSO Azim Wazir were unable to attend as they were involved in an incident which led to an arrest shortly before the meeting. Apologies were received from two people who had prior commitments and five people joined the meeting by Zoom. Below is a brief résumé of the main points raised during the meeting, including relevant external links:
2. Police Update:
Unfortunately, Steve and Azeem were unable to attend the meeting owing to a sudden change of circumstances. They were called out to a shoplifting incident, where Azeem was assaulted and the assailant was then arrested by Steve. Steve had previously provided monthly crime figures, and these will be included in the background slides.
A question was raised from the floor as to what can be done to reduce the occurrence of parking on the approaches to the crossings at the war memorial and on the roundabout itself. This has been passed on to Steve and we will circulate any response we receive.
3. Update from the Councillors
Sharon Scott
Sharon has been picking up on reports of potholes in local roads. These are being repaired – slowly – but we are encouraged to report them via the “Fix My Street” website – www.fixmystreet.bristol.gov.uk – and also pass on details to Sharon.
Canford Park pond was cleared and was to be refilled, now that the Easter holidays were over, the paving edge was to be repaired and some planting was to take place. However, since the meeting, it appears that no subsequent work has taken place. Related to the emptying of the pond, local pond-owners were warned to protect their fish, as the Canford Park heron no longer has a local supply!
A couple of Voi E-scooter hubs have been removed due to antisocial behaviour of the users. In the future, there are proposals for parking hubs to come under the control of the Council.
Steve Smith
Bristol Waste have published a business plan for the coming financial year, responding to the financial difficulties caused by reduced funding by the Council. Charges, such as Garden Waste collection and replacement of damaged bins, have been increased and the opening hours of the Community Recycling Centres have been reduced. DIY waste brought to the tip will now be charged for. Elsewhere, the frequency of street cleaning has been reduced.
The planning application for the St Christophers site has been held back and probably won’t go before the planning committee until July or later.
Geoff Gollop
As people will probably be aware, Natwest is to follow HSBC in closing its Westbury branch in August. This is bound to have an impact on footfall in the village, as many people come from neighbouring areas to access the banks.
The Council Planning Department is in total disarray at the moment due to staff shortages. The recruitment freeze has now ended, but there is a six month backlog on domestic planning applications.
A report on the management of the WECA (West of England Combined Authority) raised a number of concerns. All of the top-level posts are short-term appointments. Problems with the transport system within and outside the city have been exacerbated by a lack of co-operation between the WECA mayor and the mayors of the four local authorities. In our area, funding problems between Bristol and South Gloucestershire mean that with bus services which used to go to the UWE campus and Parkway will now terminate at Southmead hospital, causing particular problems for students and rail travellers.
Tourism in the city centre is suffering – partly because of a lack of public toilets, but also because there are no timetables on bus stops or details of where to go to catch a particular service.
Two companies, Stagecoach and First Bus, run the majority of buses in the city. Services which are not financially viable are subsidised by the Council, and the number of these services has risen since Covid.
Questions
Andy Renshaw asked about the West of England fund to enable local communities to set up their own bus services. Steve Smith said that this was really aimed at rural areas. The DRT (Demand Responsive Traffic – a new version of Dial-a-Ride) is an experiment, and funding will be removed at some point.
Hilary Long asked whether the local Water Authority had been consulted as to the potential impact of an underground transport system would have on the water supply and drainage systems.
During related discussion, it was pointed out that Council elections in Bristol would take place in 2024, not this year, and it was at that point that the post of Mayor would be deleted.
4. Car Park Charging Proposals
A meeting of interested parties had been convened by Hilary Long, Chair of WoTSoc, to discuss the Council’s proposals. Attendees had included representatives of the Methodist and Parish churches, the Surgery, local businesses, various community groups, and Steve Smith representing our Councillors. Following the meeting, a leaflet was produced, outlining the proposals, the concerns raised and a possible alternative pricing structure. Copies were distributed through the surgery, the churches and local businesses and given to motorists using the car park. A copy is included in the Background Slides. At this point, the need is to be ready to respond quickly when the Council announces the obligatory public consultation – especially as it was felt that the announcement might be low-key and the consultation period short… Everyone is encouraged to register their interest by emailing wotcarpark@gmail.com so that they can be added to a mailing list and contacted as soon as details of the consultation arrangements are announced.
There was then a discussion regarding possible alternative charging strategies. It was generally agreed that the current proposals would cause problems for people attending the Surgery. One of the stated aims of the introduction of charges was to deter all-day parking, and Barbara Neville asked if this was a problem in Westbury. Tony Hoare of the Transport Group said that they had carried out a survey recently which showed that most parking was short term (less than an hour) and that very few vehicles stayed longer than 3 hours (the maximum permitted at present, and LESS than the 4 hour maximum proposed).
The question was raised as to whether people could have their parking charge cancelled by giving their registration details to the Surgery, the Church, etc. as happens in some supermarkets. This is unlikely as it would require installation of technology which is not currently used in Bristol.
On a related matter, Steve Smith confirmed that the Council does not use ANPR (Automatic number plate recognition) systems in its car parks – although it was then pointed out that they do use it for the Clean Air Zone…..
Sharon Scott voiced the concern felt by many that on-street parking would increase if car park charges were introduced, and Bob Murphy referred to an increased incidence of people parking on the zig-zag markings at crossings – which is a criminal offence. We have referred this to Steve Harding and will add any response we receive…
5. A O B
Jill Kempshall voiced concern that a developer has applied to cut down a number of ash trees in a nearby wooded area, Sheep Wood. Andy Renshaw responded that the owner had commissioned a survey of the whole wood and appears to be planning to manage it responsibly. It also appears that the trees scheduled for felling are suffering or expected to suffer from “ash die back”.
Hilary Long spoke about a leaflet that WoTSoc had produced and circulated, encouraging people to produce garden displays for a “Coronation Summer”, with the possibility of prizes later in the summer. A copy of the leaflet is included in the Background Slides. The Society would be working with SusWoT to weed the area around the War memorial and the neighbouring shop fronts and gutters in readiness for the Coronation.
A comment was made that the War Memorial marble was looking rather dirty. The Memorial is looked after by the Parks department and Sharon Scott agreed to raise the matter with them.
Geoff Gollop announced that Hilary Long had been awarded the Lord Mayor’s medal for community service and that the presentation had been made earlier that day. Hilary commented that she couldn’t understand why she had been selected and that the others present were much more worthy – Steve Smith responded that, when he had presented medals the previous year, every one of the recipients said the same thing! He then added the brave statement that, for once, Hilary was wrong!
6. Future Meetings
The next three Councillor Zoom meetings will be on May 9th, June 6th and July 4th.
The next meeting of the Westbury Forum will be on July 18th at the Library. Refreshments will be available from 7:30pm and the meeting will start at about 7:45pm.
The Meeting was attended by approximately 22 residents, together with all three of our local councillors – Geoff Gollop, Sharon Scott and Steve Smith. PC Steve Harding and PCSO Azim Wazir were unable to attend as they were involved in an incident which led to an arrest shortly before the meeting. Apologies were received from two people who had prior commitments and five people joined the meeting by Zoom. Below is a brief résumé of the main points raised during the meeting, including relevant external links:
2. Police Update:
Unfortunately, Steve and Azeem were unable to attend the meeting owing to a sudden change of circumstances. They were called out to a shoplifting incident, where Azeem was assaulted and the assailant was then arrested by Steve. Steve had previously provided monthly crime figures, and these will be included in the background slides.
A question was raised from the floor as to what can be done to reduce the occurrence of parking on the approaches to the crossings at the war memorial and on the roundabout itself. This has been passed on to Steve and we will circulate any response we receive.
3. Update from the Councillors
Sharon Scott
Sharon has been picking up on reports of potholes in local roads. These are being repaired – slowly – but we are encouraged to report them via the “Fix My Street” website – www.fixmystreet.bristol.gov.uk – and also pass on details to Sharon.
Canford Park pond was cleared and was to be refilled, now that the Easter holidays were over, the paving edge was to be repaired and some planting was to take place. However, since the meeting, it appears that no subsequent work has taken place. Related to the emptying of the pond, local pond-owners were warned to protect their fish, as the Canford Park heron no longer has a local supply!
A couple of Voi E-scooter hubs have been removed due to antisocial behaviour of the users. In the future, there are proposals for parking hubs to come under the control of the Council.
Steve Smith
Bristol Waste have published a business plan for the coming financial year, responding to the financial difficulties caused by reduced funding by the Council. Charges, such as Garden Waste collection and replacement of damaged bins, have been increased and the opening hours of the Community Recycling Centres have been reduced. DIY waste brought to the tip will now be charged for. Elsewhere, the frequency of street cleaning has been reduced.
The planning application for the St Christophers site has been held back and probably won’t go before the planning committee until July or later.
Geoff Gollop
As people will probably be aware, Natwest is to follow HSBC in closing its Westbury branch in August. This is bound to have an impact on footfall in the village, as many people come from neighbouring areas to access the banks.
The Council Planning Department is in total disarray at the moment due to staff shortages. The recruitment freeze has now ended, but there is a six month backlog on domestic planning applications.
A report on the management of the WECA (West of England Combined Authority) raised a number of concerns. All of the top-level posts are short-term appointments. Problems with the transport system within and outside the city have been exacerbated by a lack of co-operation between the WECA mayor and the mayors of the four local authorities. In our area, funding problems between Bristol and South Gloucestershire mean that with bus services which used to go to the UWE campus and Parkway will now terminate at Southmead hospital, causing particular problems for students and rail travellers.
Tourism in the city centre is suffering – partly because of a lack of public toilets, but also because there are no timetables on bus stops or details of where to go to catch a particular service.
Two companies, Stagecoach and First Bus, run the majority of buses in the city. Services which are not financially viable are subsidised by the Council, and the number of these services has risen since Covid.
Questions
Andy Renshaw asked about the West of England fund to enable local communities to set up their own bus services. Steve Smith said that this was really aimed at rural areas. The DRT (Demand Responsive Traffic – a new version of Dial-a-Ride) is an experiment, and funding will be removed at some point.
Hilary Long asked whether the local Water Authority had been consulted as to the potential impact of an underground transport system would have on the water supply and drainage systems.
During related discussion, it was pointed out that Council elections in Bristol would take place in 2024, not this year, and it was at that point that the post of Mayor would be deleted.
4. Car Park Charging Proposals
A meeting of interested parties had been convened by Hilary Long, Chair of WoTSoc, to discuss the Council’s proposals. Attendees had included representatives of the Methodist and Parish churches, the Surgery, local businesses, various community groups, and Steve Smith representing our Councillors. Following the meeting, a leaflet was produced, outlining the proposals, the concerns raised and a possible alternative pricing structure. Copies were distributed through the surgery, the churches and local businesses and given to motorists using the car park. A copy is included in the Background Slides. At this point, the need is to be ready to respond quickly when the Council announces the obligatory public consultation – especially as it was felt that the announcement might be low-key and the consultation period short… Everyone is encouraged to register their interest by emailing wotcarpark@gmail.com so that they can be added to a mailing list and contacted as soon as details of the consultation arrangements are announced.
There was then a discussion regarding possible alternative charging strategies. It was generally agreed that the current proposals would cause problems for people attending the Surgery. One of the stated aims of the introduction of charges was to deter all-day parking, and Barbara Neville asked if this was a problem in Westbury. Tony Hoare of the Transport Group said that they had carried out a survey recently which showed that most parking was short term (less than an hour) and that very few vehicles stayed longer than 3 hours (the maximum permitted at present, and LESS than the 4 hour maximum proposed).
The question was raised as to whether people could have their parking charge cancelled by giving their registration details to the Surgery, the Church, etc. as happens in some supermarkets. This is unlikely as it would require installation of technology which is not currently used in Bristol.
On a related matter, Steve Smith confirmed that the Council does not use ANPR (Automatic number plate recognition) systems in its car parks – although it was then pointed out that they do use it for the Clean Air Zone…..
Sharon Scott voiced the concern felt by many that on-street parking would increase if car park charges were introduced, and Bob Murphy referred to an increased incidence of people parking on the zig-zag markings at crossings – which is a criminal offence. We have referred this to Steve Harding and will add any response we receive…
5. A O B
Jill Kempshall voiced concern that a developer has applied to cut down a number of ash trees in a nearby wooded area, Sheep Wood. Andy Renshaw responded that the owner had commissioned a survey of the whole wood and appears to be planning to manage it responsibly. It also appears that the trees scheduled for felling are suffering or expected to suffer from “ash die back”.
Hilary Long spoke about a leaflet that WoTSoc had produced and circulated, encouraging people to produce garden displays for a “Coronation Summer”, with the possibility of prizes later in the summer. A copy of the leaflet is included in the Background Slides. The Society would be working with SusWoT to weed the area around the War memorial and the neighbouring shop fronts and gutters in readiness for the Coronation.
A comment was made that the War Memorial marble was looking rather dirty. The Memorial is looked after by the Parks department and Sharon Scott agreed to raise the matter with them.
Geoff Gollop announced that Hilary Long had been awarded the Lord Mayor’s medal for community service and that the presentation had been made earlier that day. Hilary commented that she couldn’t understand why she had been selected and that the others present were much more worthy – Steve Smith responded that, when he had presented medals the previous year, every one of the recipients said the same thing! He then added the brave statement that, for once, Hilary was wrong!
6. Future Meetings
The next three Councillor Zoom meetings will be on May 9th, June 6th and July 4th.
The next meeting of the Westbury Forum will be on July 18th at the Library. Refreshments will be available from 7:30pm and the meeting will start at about 7:45pm.