Out and About

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Greenway hangs in the balance:

We have found it necessary to write to Bristol City Council Planning Department to complain about the lack of progress on the Greenway proposals for the former Brislington Railway Line and the poor treatment the applicant has received. The application to construct a temporary active travel corridor was submitted at the start of the year but it appears Labour-run Bristol City Council is determined to block it. Here’s our letter: “We are writing to express our concerns and frustrations with the planning process for an application in our ward of Brislington West, namely 21/00894/F Description of Tramway Project for path for pedestrians and cyclists along the old railway linking Tesco to the Council Depot and the riverside paths. This application was submitted at the start of the year and gained a huge amount of public support. You may recall that it came before the DCCA Agenda Conference in July, when we were informed that officers were recommending refusal. You asked for a deferral in order for issues to be resolved. We have since heard from the applicant, who has told us he is ready to walk away from the scheme due to his frustrations with the process. He feels he is being blocked and told us, “I fear that I just cannot go on trying to satisfy the planners' endless demands on the Tramway Project. It is a minute little piece of work and one wholly for the public benefit but they are frustrating the project at every opportunity.” In an email to the planning officer assigned to this application, which we have seen, he said, “It may be helpful for you to know that every other planning authority we work with in England accepts this type and scale of location plan as being appropriate. You are the only exception.

Another round-up of local news from your hardworking Lib Dem team

As you have now written a total of 17 emails to me without once offering any positive comment or support, I suggest that it is now time to move on and I am putting the matter of our despicable treatment, and your complete disregard of the desperate imperative of reducing climate change, in the hands of our local Members, who of course wish to see this modest scheme succeed.” The applicant, John Grimshaw CBE, is well-known and deeply respected in the sustainable and active travel community having founded the sustainable transport charity Sustrans in 1984 and being instrumental in establishing the National Cycle Network. Through Sustrans and his company, Greenways and Cycleroutes Ltd, he has been responsible for many successful schemes across the region and beyond. A quick glance at his website and you can see the success he has had such as the Ashton Court Greenway, the Brean Down Way, the Strawberry Line Extension, the Wye valley Greenway and many more. Mr. Grimshaw is clearly experienced at designing active travel corridors, submitting planning applications, working constructively with planning officers and getting approval. Therefore, we are exasperated and quite frankly embarrassed that he is encountering so much resistance for the scheme in Brislington West.

Alleyway clean-up:

We were delighted to join local residents to tidy up a back alleyway between Savoy Road and Bloomfield. The route is used as a convenient short cut by an elderly resident to get from her house to the bus stop. Unfortunately, she recently tripped on some bind weed, fell and knocked her head. Luckily, she has since made a full recovery but we wanted to make sure she had a clear path to reduce the risk of her falling again. Thank you to everyone who came and helped.

Burnt out motorbike:

Thank you to the local resident who phoned us about a burnt-out motorbike beside Wicklea Academy. After speaking to the school, we contacted the Council, who will hopefully be removing it shortly. Please let us know if there are any other issues we can report on your behalf.

New flats for Stockwood Road:

An outline planning application for the large, vacant site behind Orchard House at 515 - 517 Stockwood Road has just been submitted. The site is currently let on a three-year lease for a second-hand car sales business and the previous planning application for a care home has been dropped. The new application is requesting permission to construct 58 flats. We recommend looking at the plans on the Bristol City Council Planning Portal as there may be aspects of the proposals you wish to comment on. The planning reference number is 21/04340/P

Full Council feedback:

Two motions were debated and passed at this week’s Full Council. The first motion to provide additional protections for the Green Belt and our green spaces was supported by Lib Dem, Green and Conservative councillors but Labour councillors failed to support it. The second motion on improving the carbon efficiency of new buildings passed unanimously. Unfortunately, due to our mayoral system of local government, the Mayor can ignore these decisions as he did with the Bristol Arena. Following the meeting, Bristol’s three opposition party group leaders found it necessary to write to Mayor Rees to express their disappointment at his conduct at Full Council. In the letter, the Group Leaders said, “In your State of the City address in 2019, you said that ‘we urgently need an improvement in the quality of our civic discourse’ and we are all in agreement with that statement, but unfortunately, we do not feel that your comments in recent Full Council meetings meet the standard of quality civic discourse. To say that ‘your heart sinks’ when you see a specific councillors name on Member’s Forum, or to say that ‘the step down in integrity and dynamism is disheartening’ when referring to the chamber is very disappointing behaviour. We feel that your comments show rank hypocrisy when you have previously echoed Michelle Obama’s ‘When they go low, we go high’ quote.” Cllr Jos Clark, Liberal Democrat Group Leader, said, “Tuesday’s meeting of Full council showed that when the opposition parties work together, in this case on the green spaces protection motion, we can get stuff done. Unfortunately the Mayor does not seem to appreciate the work of active & engaged councillors, and resorts to frankly inappropriate language. I hope he will reflect and change his behaviour, so we can all get on and deliver for our residents.”

Jubilee Pool update:

We are delighted that the Friends of Jubilee Pool have formally begun the process of taking ownership of our local swimming pool through a Community Asset Transfer. This will hopefully secure its long term future and put an end to the continual threat of closure these last few years. The process needs to be successfully completed by March, 2022 when the current operator’s contract ends. Unfortunately, there is a possibility the CAT process may not be completed by then so we are trying to get an extension to the current contract to avoid any unnecessary closure of the pool.

By Jos Clark, Liberal Democrat Councillor (Brislington West) Email: cllr.jos.clark@bristol.gov.uk Mobile: 07584 370429

Andrew Varney, Liberal Democrat Councillor (Brislington West) Email: cllr.andrew.varney@bristol.gov.uk Mobile: 07584 183381