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CHIS News

CHIS IS 41 YEARS OLD THIS YEAR!
The following news items are listed with the latest items first.

Forthcoming events summary

More details further down this page

Clifton Conservation Area Character Appraisal

Bristol City Council's Urban Design & Conservation Team will be producing a Character Appraisal for the Clifton Conservation Area. A Character Appraisal is a document that outlines the significance and special interest of a Conservation Area; it details the features that make that specific area unique. It is one of the documents that guides and informs planning policy for an area.

Officers are due to hold a public meeting on Wednesday 24 February 2010 6:30 pm, at Clifton Cathedral (Cathedral Church of SS Peter and Paul), Clifton Park, BS8 3BX.
This meeting is an opportunity to discuss the comments received during the initial public consultation held in December 2009, and present the findings outlined in the first Draft Clifton Character Appraisal. All are welcome and we would be grateful of any input from interested parties.
Copies of the Draft will be available to view at the meeting, and will be available to on-line after 24 February at www.bristol.gov.uk/conservationareas (follow link to Character Appraisal page) or hard copies are available on request. The deadline for comment on this draft will be 26 March 2010.

To start the process, Conservation Officers held a public meeting on Monday 7th December, where there was a brief presentation outlining the scope of the document and detailing how interested parties can get involved. A period of public consultation follows, when comments on issues officers may like to consider should be put forward and submitted in writing to Urban Design & Conservation, 2nd Floor Brunel House, St Georges Road, Bristol BS1 5UY or e-mail to conservation@bristol.gvo.uk. The public consultation period will close on Friday 15th January 2010.
The template can be downloaded for you to make comments on and send to conservation@bristol.gov.uk

Bristol currently has 33 Conservation Areas, and the city council has a statutory duty to review their character, special interest and boundaries.

Since 2006 the city council has committed to undertake a full review of Bristol?s existing 33 Conservation Areas, through the production of a Character Appraisal and set of Management Proposals for each area. Character Appraisals are a record of features that will inform sound decisions on the future management of the area.

To date, the following Character Appraisals have been adopted:

More information from the Media and PR team on 0117 922 2650
Further information on the public consultation can be found on the BCC website at www.bristol.qov.uk/consultation and on the Conservation Areas and Character Appraisals web page at www.bristol.gov.uk/conservation (following links to Conservation Areas and Character Appraisals).
Hannah Porter Conservation Officer, City Development Brunel House, St George's Road Bristol 651 5U1. Tel: 0117 922 3439 email: conservation@bristol.gov.uk

Regent Street lights

Xmas
Lights being put up in Regent Street.
CHIS has sponsored some.

Easter Garden, High Street

28 Oct: Easter Garden being targeted again! The solicitors are on the case again, and Bristol City Council and CHIS also support this award winning community garden. Do become a friend and support them.
For Sale By Public Auction Wednesday 28TH October 2009 Price Guide £38, 000+ A freehold site with development potential. The land is situated in a residential area close to the intersection of Whiteladies Road and Upper Belgrave Road. The plot has main road frontage to Wesley Place and the High Street to the rear. In June 1994 planning consent (thus lapsed) was granted for 2 houses (planning ref no. 93/02302/F). We are advised in September of the same year, planning was granted for use as a community wildlife garden.

Alice Roberts

Alice Roberts
Alice gave a fantastic, popular talk "The Incredible Human Journey" on 13 October.

Green belt development

Evening Post
Concerned residents and campaigners packed Bedminster Down School hall last night for a meeting to discuss the controversial Ashton Park plan. In the next few months, North Somerset District and Bristol City councils will consider an outline planning application for a plan to build about 9,500 new homes and other facilities in Ashton Vale over the next 20 years. Also within the plan for the area between the A38 at Dundry and the A370 Long Ashton bypass are shops and offices, a leisure centre, a new secondary school and as many as six new primary schools. The Government has said thousands of new homes will be needed in the Bristol area as part of the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS). And although the RSS has not yet been ratified nationally, council planners could make a provisional decision on the Ashton Park plans in January.

Suspension Bridge

4 October 09: More maintenance- this time by climbers on the chains
Suspension Bridge Suspension Bridge
5 April 09: Bristol's Clifton Suspension Bridge was closed on Saturday evening after a crack was found in one of its metal hanging rods. Dorothea Restorations came to the rescue.
Suspension Bridge
undoing the 150 year old stud after supporting the chains		 Suspension Bridge
the break can clearly be seen
Suspension Bridge
removing the broken rod		Suspension Bridge
David Anderson the Bridge Master looking at the stud

New Neighbourhood Partnership

Next meeting for the Cabot, Clifton and Clifton East Partnership. All welcome
13 October, The Pavilion (above Jacks Brasserie), 1Hannoer Quay, Harbourside BS1 5JE 7pm-9pm.
This months topic is Waste Management and Enforcement, street lighting and community safety. Now is your chance to talk about incongruous modern lighting outside grade II* listed buildings! and wheelie bins.
This is a chance for you to air your views of Bristol City Council Services For more details contact Ariaf Hussain on (0117) 922318 or email ariaf.hussain@bristol.gov.uk

Bristol is establishing 14 Neighbourhood Partnerships (NPs) across the city. These will be clusters of two or three wards, ie 20-30K people. A few of these structures are already well established. Most are in their very early stages. By the end of 2008 the whole city will be covered, at least on paper.

This sounds very familiar. For Network groups 'our' department is Planning and 'community involvement' is what we've been banging on about for years with regard to 'early, effective and ongoing involvement in the preparation of all development plans', S106 planning obligations, allocation etc.
The NPs themselves will be drawn from local residents (in practice that usually means local organisations), local businesses and elected representatives, ie councillors. These, hopefully, will build productive links with officers paid to deliver services in particular areas. It's early days yet, but the talk is of a transfer of some budgets to these bodies and that they will become significant players in determining 'neighbourhood' agendas. Some even talk of 'urban parishes', but that's way down the line.
The most successful NPs, so far, are those that have shown themselves to be independent of the statutory organisations and really interested in empowering local people.
NPs, we are told, will be the main focus and forum of neighbourhood working in the future for statutory agencies. Working with your NP is likely to be a good way to win friends and influence people. Time will tell....

The Neighbourhood Planning Network (NPN) http://www.bristolnpn.net administration group will identify those NPs in which there is no Bristol NPN member or the organisation is only concerned with part of the area and do what they can to get a good Bristol NPN representation in all the NP areas. They don't know how (or if) this is going to work in practice.

HOTWELLS, CLIFTON AND CLIFTONWOOD LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY


The aim of the society is to bring together everyone who is interested in the huge diversity of historical riches in the area.
Treasures gives an opportunity for invited people to share their enthusiasm about something special for 5 minutes each.
The second meeting will take place at the CREATE CENTRE at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 20th October.
John Parke will share some of the fascinating history he has discovered about the area at the bottom of Jacobs Wells, White Hart Steps aand Worlds End.
TREASURES By popular request invited local people will talk for around five minutes about something of interest. The willing volunteers include Ken Stradling of the Bristol Guild, Liz Golding who lives in the house where Hannah More died. Bryan Price a lifetime resident of Cliftonwood and Marion Roach with memories of Hotwells. .
Good news! There will be more time for people to get together afterwards to talk and enjoy a drink. Please bring along anything of interest to display!
There will be no charge but a collection will be taken to defray the costs. PLEASE TELEPHONE O1179277157 or e.mail sue.stops@aolcom to reserve a place.

West Bristol Art Trail 2009

The dates are 17th & 18th October.
After a fantastically successful inaugural year, the West Bristol Art Trail is back for 2009 and bigger than ever. This year the trail twists its path through the work of 120 artists exhibiting in over 50 homes and venues throughout the area. You will discover ceramicists, filmmakers, jewellers, painters, photographers, printmakers, sculptors and textile artists as you follow the trail from its bed in Hotwells and the richly historic docks, through a maze of cobbled lanes and secret passages to the summit, and the Georgian stateliness of Blackboy Hill.
CHIS has been a major sponsor again
More details on http://www.westbristolarts.org.uk/

Removal of grade II listed lamp post in Clifton Park

21 Sept 09: A grade II listed lamp post has recently been removed from Clifton Park just by the Roman Catholic Cathedral. It was knocked down by a Council dustcart. It was a particularly fine specimen with very ornate ladder rests, and had a traditional lantern. It also had a separate adjacent feeder pillar so was electrically safe too. It was also a very substantial post so very unlikely to have rotted. We are trying to get it repaired and put back under insurance. Any person looking at this post should surely have been aware that it was out of the ordinary. It was even well looked after and freshly painted! Pictures and more detail can be seen on the streetscape section

Observatory and Clifton Camp Fort

8 September 09: At the Downs Committee Meeting on 7th Sept 2009, there was a proposal on the agenda to hold a public consultation on the aims and options to restore the Clifton Camp Iron Age Hill Fort and Scheduled Ancient Monument is approved, with the results of the consultation and proposed implementation plan reported back to Committee in November. A report was presented by Peter Wilkinson- Service Manager of Parks and Estates (9223535). If people could understand and approve what was being proposed then the scheme would be carried out over a period of several years. The proposal was that a caravan would be parked nearby on DATE POSTPONED and that a consultation document for this site with analysis of peoples comments would be presented to the next Downs Committee meeting on 23 November at 4:30. If there was widespread approval at that meeting then the proposal to remove all the scrub and many trees would go ahead.
Read more in the trees section.

Window boxes

window boxes
1 July 09:CHIS sponsored £360 to put the window boxes outside the library in Princess Victoria Street

PACT Meeting

The next PACT meeting (Partners and Communities Together) for the Clifton Ward is to be held on Wednesday 13 January 2010 in the New Hall, Clifton High School. Entrance is via the main gates on College Road. The meeting starts at 19:00 hrs and will finish at 21:00hrs.
There will be a representative from Parking Services and Bristol City Council Liquor Licensing management; as well as local councillors and Police beat managers.
This is a chance for everyone to talk about issues and concerns within the area.
This is a public meeting, and anyone from within the Clifton Ward is invited, so please spread the word.
Hope to see you there.
Thanks
PCSO Richard Yule Clifton Beat, Redland Police Station

Sutton House, Clifton Down Bristol BS8 3HT (bottom of Canygne Rd)

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