OUT AND ABOUT IN BRISLINGTON WEST WITH JOS AND ANDREW

Communities cut off: The full impact of the loss of supported bus services will be felt this week as hundreds of local children attempt to return to school. The Hungerford Road area in Brislington, as well as large parts of neighbouring Stockwood and Whitchurch and Hengrove wards, now have no bus service at all as the new WESTlink bus service doesn’t cover those areas.

Together with other councillors, we are trying to arrange an urgent meeting with West of England Combined Authority transport officers to get WESTlink extended into these ‘bus black hole’ areas. Unfortunately, we have heard that it could be several months before any changes to the area of coverage can be implemented. We will push hard to get this process speeded up. WESTlink is not intended to be a replacement for regular bus services but it’s better than nothing.

Community litter picks:

We want to say a big thank you to Jamie Park, landlord of the Lodekka, who organised a litter pick at Repton Road Car Park recently. Despite our complaint to the council about the appalling state of the car park last month, no action was taken, so we are always very grateful to local residents who take matters into their own hands.

If you want to get involved, we have two more community litter picks this Saturday 22 April. One is in the Sand Hill and Whitby Road area of the ward, meeting in Repton Road Car Park at 11am with all equipment provided. The other is in the Callington Road Nature Reserve, meeting at 10am with all equipment provided. Take your pick!

FOODBANK DONATIONS:

With the price of food continuing to rise, foodbanks are a crucial lifeline for more and more low-income households. Unfortunately, the demand for food is surpassing the number of donations they are receiving. Foodbank reserves are running down and many of them are completely out of some items that make up a foodbank parcel. If you can donate food or other essential items, no matter how much or how little, it really will make a difference. Find out how you can donate and what items they really need. South and East Bristol Foodbank: https://eastbristol.foodbank.org.uk

• Buy items at supermarkets and place them in the collection areas in the store or at a community collection point. Locally, that includes Sainsburys, Castle Court, or Lidl, Brislington.

• Donate through their online shop: https://www.givetoday.co.uk/sebfoodbanks/

• Make a financial donation: https:// eastbristol.foodbank.org.uk/givehelp/donate-money/

• Download the Bank the Food app and follow South and East Bristol Foodbank to get notifications about what they need and where you can donate: https://www.bankthefood.org

• Follow the foodbank on social media to see what their most needed items are

Donations needed: tinned fruit, tinned fish, tinned meal meals, jam, long life milk, tinned potatoes, toilet roll, instant coffee, shampoo, custard. Thank you.

BLOCKED DRAINS:

We recently reported a blocked drain on Kensington Park Road that had almost completely disappeared under layers of grit and gravel. Unfortunately, when contractors turned up they were unable to access it to cleanse and unblock it due to parked vehicles. Therefore, contractors will be making a repeat visit in order to do the work. Please let us know if your local drain is blocked, preferably with a photo and exact location, and we will report it on your behalf.

POTHOLE SEASON!

We have reported several large potholes on Hampstead Road. We are also pleased to see some potential action at the junction of Hungerford Road and West Town Lane, which we have been battling for several years! If you know any other problem areas, let us know, preferably with a photo and exact location and we will report them for you.

Funding opportunities for local improvement schemes:

We would like to invite local residents, either as individuals or as part of a community group, to submit applications to fund local infrastructure projects using the Community Infrastructure Levy fund (CIL), which is money paid by developers to the council to offset the environmental impact of their developments. You will find an updated webpage with all the information you need to engage in the 2023 CIL process here: https://www.bristol.gov.uk/people-communities/funding-local-projects

Main points:

Local groups and organisations should be putting forward their ideas for potential projects from 3rd April - 18th May 2023.

Everyone needs to write them up on the Stage 1 Outline Proposal Form, which is available on the webpage above.

Everyone needs to send it to us, as your local councillors, AND to the Area Committee inboxes. We are Area Committee 5.

Greater Brislington Together (GBT) will be holding a public meeting once all the bids are in, so that residents can select their local priorities. We’ll let you know the date of this meeting as soon as we have it.

The council is holding a series of community information sessions to inform people who are considering putting in outline proposals about the CIL and S106 funds, what they are, how to put a good proposal together, etc. A public information session will be held online on Thursday 20 April from 7 to 8pm: Here

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