Highlights from Westbury Forum
16th January 2024
16th January 2024
Those present – The meeting was attended by 17 members of the public in addition to two of our Councillors, Geoff Gollop and Steve Smith
Apologies received from Councillor Sharon Scott and Jill Kempsall
Crime Statistics: Unfortunately no police representatives were able to attend so Malcolm Neave summarised the data given on the Police website. There had been a sharp increase in shoplifting cases from mid-30s for most of the year to 56 for November. It had been suggested that some of this rise might be related to the rise in the cost of living over recent months but it could also be due to more incidents being reported and so being recorded in the statistics. If these figures were removed, other crime statistics were fairly static. Issues of concern for our area have not been updated on the website since last quarter.
We now have the December figures and the summaries for 2022 and 2023 are at the end of these minutes.
E-bikes: an attendee has experienced at least 4 near collisions with riders of non-hired e-bikes or e-scooters on the footpath between Passage Road and Westbury Fields during the last week or so. There have also been problems with careless riding in a dog-walking field nearby. He had wanted to ask police about the situation. At the October meeting, we had been told that police were under instructions not to follow or attempt to stop these bikes, in case of an accident. Instead, they were looking to obtain details of people owning such bikes, so that they could then interview them.
Councillor Updates:
Bristol Waste Geoff Gollop reported that the company had changed the waste collection routes near to Christmas. Councillors have received many complaints from residents as waste collection was slower and became erratic. There has been no communication from the waste company as to when collections would happen. The Council is not paying the waste company enough to cover costs so it couldn’t recruit more drivers. The advice was that, if a collection is missed on the due day, residents should report it the following morning.
Clean Air Zone: following the introduction of the Clean Air Zone, a report has been produced, stating that the air quality has improved.
Future Budgets: It is predicted that there will be a Budget overspend this year of £19 million. Budget proposals for the coming year had not been published at the time of the meeting. It was expected that Council Tax will be set to increase by 5% for the next 2 or 3 years.
Road works: Steve Smith explained that those in Stoke Lane were due to gas mains installation and that further closures were likely as side roads were attached to the new main along Falcondale Road. A timetable of proposed work has been published which covers the period to the end of May.
Libraries
There have been an increased number of closures over the last couple of months, due to staff shortages because of illness. Traditionally, the Library Service has a pool of bank staff and also uses over-time to cover absenteeism; however, Council budget restrictions mean this has been stopped, with all use of overtime, agency workers, bank staff and recruitment being put on hold. The Library Service is in the black but the money is needed to cover overspend by other services.
Following protest in Council, these restrictions have been removed and the staffing situation will hopefully start to improve…
Traffic Issues
There is a list of 41 road projects which are ready to go but held up due to increased costs. Because of substantial inflation over the last two years, contractors are unwilling to take on these projects at the current valuations and the contracts will need repricing. The traffic lights at the Henbury Rd junction should be replaced April/May. The zebra crossing on Canford Lane will be done, although the timescale is uncertain.
Bob Murphy raised the danger to pedestrians from traffic making a right turn from Henbury Road onto Falcondale Road, once the central refuge has been removed.
It appears that work on the Henbury Road/Falcondale Road junction will start on March 18th and last until May 10th. Particular concern has been expressed about the existing “rat-run” via Southdown and Hillsdon Roads, especially as it appears the right-turn from Henbury Hill onto Falcondale Road will be closed for some of the time.
There is no news yet on the proposed car park charges in Westbury. Due to the delays there is likely to be no income raised this financial year from the car park. However, it is likely that the current administration will want to pursue car park charges as our car park will bring in the majority of the proposed revenue.
“We Love Stoke Lodge” - Emma Burgess
She summarised the present situation which has become even more complicated.
Although Stoke Lodge was officially registered as a Village Green in August 2023 with the backing of Bristol Council, Cotham School have not agreed and refuse to remove the fence as they intend appeal to the High Court. They have asked the High Court to investigate the whole situation going back 15 years. The Council, as land owners, is now backing Cotham School and will therefore, effectively, be suing themselves. In an upcoming court case the High Court will judge on the City Council being allowed to act on both sides and whether Cotham School can have costs protection. As “We love Stoke Lodge” are again in litigation they need good legal representation and their barrister is quoting £30,000 just for the first hearing. Emma explained that they had covered half of this, and were asking for donations to cover the remaining costs.
Since the meeting, the appeal has taken place, with the judge deciding that Bristol Council could not appear on both sides and that Cotham School was not entitled to cost protection. However, it appears that Cotham School may now appeal against this decision…
Apologies received from Councillor Sharon Scott and Jill Kempsall
Crime Statistics: Unfortunately no police representatives were able to attend so Malcolm Neave summarised the data given on the Police website. There had been a sharp increase in shoplifting cases from mid-30s for most of the year to 56 for November. It had been suggested that some of this rise might be related to the rise in the cost of living over recent months but it could also be due to more incidents being reported and so being recorded in the statistics. If these figures were removed, other crime statistics were fairly static. Issues of concern for our area have not been updated on the website since last quarter.
We now have the December figures and the summaries for 2022 and 2023 are at the end of these minutes.
E-bikes: an attendee has experienced at least 4 near collisions with riders of non-hired e-bikes or e-scooters on the footpath between Passage Road and Westbury Fields during the last week or so. There have also been problems with careless riding in a dog-walking field nearby. He had wanted to ask police about the situation. At the October meeting, we had been told that police were under instructions not to follow or attempt to stop these bikes, in case of an accident. Instead, they were looking to obtain details of people owning such bikes, so that they could then interview them.
Councillor Updates:
Bristol Waste Geoff Gollop reported that the company had changed the waste collection routes near to Christmas. Councillors have received many complaints from residents as waste collection was slower and became erratic. There has been no communication from the waste company as to when collections would happen. The Council is not paying the waste company enough to cover costs so it couldn’t recruit more drivers. The advice was that, if a collection is missed on the due day, residents should report it the following morning.
Clean Air Zone: following the introduction of the Clean Air Zone, a report has been produced, stating that the air quality has improved.
Future Budgets: It is predicted that there will be a Budget overspend this year of £19 million. Budget proposals for the coming year had not been published at the time of the meeting. It was expected that Council Tax will be set to increase by 5% for the next 2 or 3 years.
Road works: Steve Smith explained that those in Stoke Lane were due to gas mains installation and that further closures were likely as side roads were attached to the new main along Falcondale Road. A timetable of proposed work has been published which covers the period to the end of May.
Libraries
There have been an increased number of closures over the last couple of months, due to staff shortages because of illness. Traditionally, the Library Service has a pool of bank staff and also uses over-time to cover absenteeism; however, Council budget restrictions mean this has been stopped, with all use of overtime, agency workers, bank staff and recruitment being put on hold. The Library Service is in the black but the money is needed to cover overspend by other services.
Following protest in Council, these restrictions have been removed and the staffing situation will hopefully start to improve…
Traffic Issues
There is a list of 41 road projects which are ready to go but held up due to increased costs. Because of substantial inflation over the last two years, contractors are unwilling to take on these projects at the current valuations and the contracts will need repricing. The traffic lights at the Henbury Rd junction should be replaced April/May. The zebra crossing on Canford Lane will be done, although the timescale is uncertain.
Bob Murphy raised the danger to pedestrians from traffic making a right turn from Henbury Road onto Falcondale Road, once the central refuge has been removed.
It appears that work on the Henbury Road/Falcondale Road junction will start on March 18th and last until May 10th. Particular concern has been expressed about the existing “rat-run” via Southdown and Hillsdon Roads, especially as it appears the right-turn from Henbury Hill onto Falcondale Road will be closed for some of the time.
There is no news yet on the proposed car park charges in Westbury. Due to the delays there is likely to be no income raised this financial year from the car park. However, it is likely that the current administration will want to pursue car park charges as our car park will bring in the majority of the proposed revenue.
“We Love Stoke Lodge” - Emma Burgess
She summarised the present situation which has become even more complicated.
Although Stoke Lodge was officially registered as a Village Green in August 2023 with the backing of Bristol Council, Cotham School have not agreed and refuse to remove the fence as they intend appeal to the High Court. They have asked the High Court to investigate the whole situation going back 15 years. The Council, as land owners, is now backing Cotham School and will therefore, effectively, be suing themselves. In an upcoming court case the High Court will judge on the City Council being allowed to act on both sides and whether Cotham School can have costs protection. As “We love Stoke Lodge” are again in litigation they need good legal representation and their barrister is quoting £30,000 just for the first hearing. Emma explained that they had covered half of this, and were asking for donations to cover the remaining costs.
Since the meeting, the appeal has taken place, with the judge deciding that Bristol Council could not appear on both sides and that Cotham School was not entitled to cost protection. However, it appears that Cotham School may now appeal against this decision…
Planning Update - Andy Renshaw
15 Westfield Road – the builders have hard-pruned and killed or almost killed the trees on the property.
Bristol Local Plan latest version was published in November 2023, considering Bristol’s development needs up to 2040. It allocates land for development and outlines its policies for this development. The consultation was open until 26th January.
The major development areas are:
- Central Bristol (Broadmead, Temple Quarter, St Philips Marsh, West Harbour and Frome Gateway)
- East Bristol (Lawrence Hill and Fishponds)
- South Bristol (Bedminster, Brislington, Hengrove, Knowle)
- North Bristol (Lockleaze, Lawrence Weston, Southmead)
- Green field sites in Ashton Vale and Brislington
- Westbury on Trym – St Ursula’s School, and at higher density, the former elderly persons’ home in Canford Lane where the University Hall is intending to build 500 units
The Westbury on Trym Society have made representations on a number of issues, including:
- Westbury on Trym and the Plan’s town centre policies,
- Design policies
- Absence of consideration of sites for permanent van dwellers on the Downs
- Concern about densification of open spaces
- Support for policies on trees and allotments
Our Local Post Office - Malcolm Neave
As our Post Office is now based in the local Costcutters, its opening hours are now 8am to 7pm on weekdays and 8.30am to 1.30pm on Sundays. With the rapidly reducing number of banks in Westbury, Malcolm reminded people that you can use the Post Office for most transactions, including paying in cheques and cash. One difficulty of moving accounts for organisations such as WoTSoc is that very few banks provide community accounts.
The possibility of a banking hub was raised, but this was felt unlikely as Westbury did still have some banking facilities. Barclays Bank has opened an office at the Greenway Centre on Mondays and Thursdays. While this will offer advice and support, there will be no counter or cash services.
It was pointed out that the Morrisons store at the end of Charlton Road has a post office open until 10pm.
Open Forum:
The Old Post Office will be a gym which is opening soon.
Alexia requested that Geoff and Steve make representations to BT about the phone boxes which are in very bad condition.
St Christopher’s Site: there is no news and discussions are at an impasse so we do need to be careful what we wish for. The developers “Fore Partnership” could appeal and put in a new application, or they could put it up for sale. The campaign group want to register it as a public asset and then they could buy it.
Date of next meeting
Given the upcoming Council elections in early May, it was decided that the next community forum meeting in Westbury Library will be in June. The exact date will be decided and circulated nearer the time. The Councillors’ zoom sessions will be on the first Tuesday in February (6th) and March (5th).
As the Council elections meant that we had three new Councillors and those elections were followed by a General Election, it was decided to postpone the next Forum until the Autumn. The new date is now Tuesday October 1st.
Crime Statistics Summary
Crime Statistics Summary
