Meeting the Metro Mayor

MEETING WITH DAN NORRIS, METRO MAYOR

Last Wednesday we finally managed to get the Metro Mayor, Dan Norris, to Brislington East to pay us a visit and sit down to have a serious talk about public transport. We met Dan at St Anne’s House so that he could also see the great work going on there. As he looked out across St Anne’s, Dan’s first comment was “wow, you really do have a lot of trees here!”

Our discussions focussed particularly on the lack of decent bus services in the area. We went over the St Anne’s station bid and explained that, whilst the recent report to government identified a real need for transport improvements in the area, it suggests that a costly railway station may not be the answer. The final decision for this rests with government, but if we are not to get our station, then we really need a step-change in bus services and also improved walking and cycling provision. Dan spoke about how funding of regular bus services on non-profit-making routes is a very expensive way to crack this particular nut, and talked about alternative ideas such as ‘on demand’ buses, which would act a bit like Ubers in the local area, picking up people and delivering them onto the major arteries like the A4 where fast and frequent services can be delivered profitably. 30 Dan also said that he is looking to makereal impact in a particular area with the money he has obtained from government, rather than spreading it thinly across the whole city – so we ended our conversation with a big pitch to suggest that he use Brislington as a pilot area to show what can really be done with some money and some innovative thinking. He was very open to this idea, which was very pleasing. We will have to wait and see if we can secure this “pilot”, but we will continue to push for the improvements that we need for Brislington East and we thank Dan for giving us almost an hour of his time. He has agreed to come back to Brislington to host a ‘meet the residents’ session in the near future, which we will try to organise as soon as possible.

WECA EXTRA-ORDINARY MEETING

The following day I attended an extraordinary meeting of the WECA committee to discuss the fate of subsidised bus services in Bristol and the rest of the WECA region. The tendering process for these services has revealed a 43% increase in cost, due to both driver shortages and rising fuel costs. The money must now either be found from somewhere or subsidised services in the region will be lost. You can read my full statement I made to the committee on my page here

The meeting was eventually adjourned with no solution having been agreed. From the WECA papers and later feedback I have received it would appear that Brislington’s 513/4 service likely to be safe for the time being, although the improvements to the service that we have been pushing for will probably be delayed by a further year, which is very disappointing.

COUNCIL TAX REBATE

Since payments began, over 96,500 households of the approximate 180,000 properties in bands A-D have received their government rebate of £150. This should include all eligible households for whom the council holds payment details. All other households are now being asked to provide the council with payment details via an online form which is live on their website here: https://news.bristol.gov.uk/council-tax/council-tax-rebate The people who should be completing this form are:

Those who pay by direct debit and have not yet received a rebate Non-direct debit payers

ST ANNE’S PARK – READING CIRCLE AND BOWLING

On Sunday I spent a fantastic day in St Anne’s Park. Firstly, I attended the Wick Road Library outreach event to christen the new reading circle in the park. This was created with funds from the council’s Library Improvements Fund. It was fantastic to see so many children, many of whom grew up indoors during lockdown, having such a fantastic time enjoying the books and the outdoor space. After this, I popped in to the Bowls club, who were hosting an open day to show potential new members around. I thought I’d stay for half an hour, but ended up playing bowls all day. I received a very friendly welcome from the members there and I have signed up to join, although I’m not quite sure when I’ll fid the time to play if I’m honest!!

COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE LEVY MEETINGS – DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Meeting dates for residents to discuss the proposals for spending this years Community Infrastrcture Levy in the local community have now been finalised. There will be a Zoom meeting online on Wednesday 15th June, followed by an in-person meeting on the 16th June at St Peter’s Church. We hope this will mean as many people as possible can have their say on which proposals go forward to the Area 5 Committee in November. Further details from Greater Brislington Together shortly.

BRISLINGTON MEADOWS

As many of you may know, Homes England have now submitted their outline planning proposals for Brislington Meadows. If you would like to add a comment you can do so here

I have already called in the application to ensure it comes to Planning Committee, and the Council has already expressed its universal opposition to building on the Meadows in light of the Ecological Emergency we are now facing.

Many residents are organising to fight the proposals, and you can learn more on the Brislington Meadows group here cllr.tim.rippington@bristol.gov.uk cllr.katja.hornchen@bristol.gov.uk