New Sainsbury's - license application

There is an alcohol sales licence application in for a new Sainsbury's store on Gloucester Road at the junction with Zetland Road and Elton Road. The shop used to be a Threshers off-license, so it already has the relevant planning permission for use as a supermarket (Use Class A1, as it is known). The application is for alcohol sales between 7am and 11pm, although the application suggests that the shop will be open 24 hours.

I have had a small flurry of e-mails about this in the last day or two, although it is technically just over the boundary in Redland Ward. I thought it would be useful to put up a little information here on the blog.

The first thing to stress is that this isn't a planning application and none is necessary. It is an application for an alcohol sales license. As such, the rules about what is relevant are quite different and there are only four bases on which people can object to a license (known as the 'licensing objectives' of the 2003 Licensing Act).

• the prevention of crime and disorder
• public safety
• the prevention of public nuisance
• the protection of children from harm

This means that any arguments about the desirability of a supermarket of any flavour in this location and the economic or community impacts are irrelevant in law. The only consideration is whether having alcohol sales would impact unacceptably on any of these four areas. Given that the site was previously used as an off license without particular trouble (as far as I am aware), this may be difficult to prove.

The other difference between a licensing and a planning application is that there is a specific formal role for a number of public agencies, whose professional opinion is considered very important. These include the Police, environmental health, Fire and Rescue and so on. Local residents are allowed to make representations provided that they do indeed live locally and the law was changed this February to allow councillors to participate too.

The application number is 10/01390/PREM and you can find the details on the Council website. The deadline for representations is tomorrow - 1st July - and these can be sent by e-mail to licensing@bristol.gov.uk.

Student waste clear-up

As in previous years, the two universities are subsidising a special waste clear-up service where students have moved out of houses and either they or their landlords have dumped inordinate amounts of rubbish on the pavement. Whereas the Council does not usually pick up 'side waste' not in a wheelie bin, during June and July, residents can call in to report dumped items - especially things like sofas, white goods, furniture and the like.

It's quite straightforward - either e-mail customer.services@bristol.gov.uk or call on 0117 922 2100. Make sure you stress that it is student waste and then it should be removed within a day or so. I have just reported a big mess outside a property on Whiteladies Road.

Clearly, it isn't ideal that the waste is being dumped in this way and serious cases can lead to legal action. However, the universities and the Council have worked together to come up with a pragmatic solution to stop residents being overwhelmed with rubbish at this time each year.

Like in previous years, I do want to give due respect to the Student Community Action folk at Bristol University who organise an annual 'Big Give', collecting stuff that students are throwing away to pass on to charities. This helps to stop literally tons of landfill and ensures that things are being reused.

If you are a student or landlord with a load of rubbish who wants to do the right thing, you have two options. Either organise a special bulky waste collection or take the stuff along to one of the household waste recycling centres.

Planning policy consultation open

A couple of weeks ago, the consultation period started for the... wait for it... Site Allocations and Development Management Development Plan Document. Despite the impenetrability of Council paperwork, even I've never seen a document with the same word in it twice! But this is an important document and I will beg a couple of minutes to explain.

Firstly, forget the site allocations bit from a Cotham perspective. This is all about identifying land that is fit for redevelopment, but there isn't any in Cotham at all - I have been sent a bizarrely blank map.

It's the Development Management bit that's important. This sets out the detailed planning policies that the Council will use for the next 15 years to assess planning applications and decide whether they can go ahead and in what form. This follows on from the Core Strategy policies which are high level and deal with principles, providing much more detail, for example about the allocation of parking spaces or how many trees have to be replaced when some are felled.

Still not grabbing you? All I can do is stress that this is where the Council will make the rules that affect how the city will look in 2026, so if you don't like the way that planning decisions are being taken now, this is the chance to say.

The relevant bit is laid out as 24 policies, with explanations and runs to 35 pages of well-spaced text. It's not a riveting read, but it's a very worthy one. It's a first attempt at pulling this together, so there may well be other things that people would like to see addressed. For example, I am making representations about renewable energy equipment and the conversion of front gardens for car parking.

I'd be delighted to hear people's thoughts here on this blog, but it's also important to feed them back into the formal consultation process. All the details are on the Council's website and the consultation runs until 29th October.

Nursery on Cotham Road

Just a very quick note to say that I've had confirmation this evening that the application for a new nursery on Cotham Road (opposite the back of Cotham School) has been withdrawn. There was significant local opposition to what was a dreadfully put-together application, full of contradictions and omissions. It's a poor site for a nursery, on a busy road which already has road safety and traffic flow problems. I don't know whether they will resubmit, but I hope they get someone to help them with it if they do - the last application was an insult!

Temporary Event Notices

A busy day today! One of the things I did today was to make a statement to the Licensing Committee on Temporary Event Notices (TENs). I've had to wait a while to do this as the Committee only meets in full once or twice a year.

The jist of my statement, which you can read online, is that there needs to be an urgent review of the way in which TENs operate. They are effectively short-term licenses either for places that don't usually have alcohol or entertainment licenses or to extend the licenses of those that do. They were intended for things like village fetes and private parties and the like. However, many bars and clubs routinely use them to get around the restrictions on their own licenses - they are allowed to have 14 a year which can permit them to sell alcohol until pretty much any time they like, as well as music and so on.

Now, don't get me wrong. Before I get publicly spatchcocked by my friends who run pubs, the TEN system does have a purpose, in allowing them to have occasional special events. However, the system is so weighted to the applicant that local people and councillors aren't even allowed to have a say. Considering the impact that they can have, this is ludicrous. It is particularly ludicrous for those places that are within a Cumulative Impact Area - zones where licensed premises are already known to cause problems for local residents.

Anyway, the Licensing Committee have agreed with me and they have agreed to write formally to the Secretary of State to ask them to review the law. Whether this makes any difference or not, I don't know... but it can't hurt. In the shorter term, they are also going to have a dialogue with the Police about clamping down on inappropriate TENs (the Police are the only people who do get a say), as well as tightening up the TEN procedure in Bristol as much as they can within the law when the local policy is reviewed later this year. A good result!

Post-election catch-up

So, I'm back after a couple of months off for the election - I prefer not to blog during elections so that it doesn't turn into a silly slanging match which just turns off the casual reader who is interested in what's happening in Cotham and the wider city. Anyway, I'm back at the coalface (with a new design!) and here's a quick update on the stuff that I'm working on at the moment:

• Opposing the tropical biofuel plant at Avonmouth. This was rejected by the planning committee in February. However, the operators (W4B Energy) are now appealing and there will be a public inquiry in August or September. Tropical biofuels (mainly palm oil) play havoc with the environment and social structure of the places where they are grown and it is entirely unpalatable to see Bristol powered by crops grown in the developing world. There is a coalition of environmental organisations, led by Friends of the Earth, coming together to put the green case to the inquiry. More on this one soon.
• Opposing a new nursery on Cotham Road. There is an application in to convert a residential house on Cotham Road, opposite Cotham School, into a nursery for children up to 14 (which seems a little old for a nursery!). The application is one of the most derisory that I've ever seen and so I am opposing it on the basis of the impacts in terms of road safety, traffic flows and parking, among other things.
• Getting a new crossing on Cotham Road. Just a 100 yards away, I'm working to get a new zebra crossing put in at the rear of the Cotham School site, which will be used more regularly once it reopens. This is moving along slowly but surely and I am meeting the Head and one of the students this week to talk about what happens next.
• Dealing with troublesome bars and restaurants. Lots doing in this area at the moment, partly due to the World Cup. I successfully worked with residents to fight off an application from Dominos Pizza to open til 5am, although they have been allowed to do deliveries until this time. I'll be keeping a close eye on this to ensure that it doesn't develop into a nuisance. There are a couple of catering outlets on Cotham Hill that are flouting planning regulations and I am working to ensure that these are enforced correctly to protect customers and the long-standing traders, who are struggling a little at the moment. Finally, I have my usual list of bars that are misbehaving and Anthony and I are working with the Police and the Council's licensing department to try to keep them in line - we are looking for opportunities to use our new powers. More on this soon too.
• Parking review for Cotham. I successfully pushed for funding through the Neighbourhood Partnership for a review of parking across Cotham Ward. The aim is to improve road safety by cutting dangerous parking on corners and junctions. This is something that I've been pushing along for a while now and I'm very happy that it's happening. In practical terms, this will mean additional yellow lines to give drivers, cyclists and pedestrians better lines of sight. A draft map is being drawn up at the moment and should be out for consultation in July - I'll post it up here when it's done.
• Eco council housing in Lockleaze. Ok, so this one's off-patch a little bit, but I'm pursuing this with my citywide sustainability hat on. The Council has got a grant to build 30 new council houses in Lockleaze and I am working with officers to try to ensure that we make this some of the most eco-friendly housing in the city. There are lots of opportunities (e.g. solar, district heating etc), but we are up against the clock with the grant and it's all about the art of the possible in uncertain times. I'll do a fuller blog piece on this when more details have emerged.
  

And a couple of other bits of citywide news that I've been involved in:

• Bristol got a very positive OfSTED inspection for its services for children in, and on the edge of, the care system. We were assessed as 'good' with 'good' capacity for improvement and this is one of the best assessments of anywhere in the country. Regular readers of this blog will know that this is something that I hold very dear to my heart and in which I invest a significant chunk of my limited time - I am delighted that the Council has come out with this result. This doesn't preclude something terrible happening here too, but it shows that we are doing a good job of reducing the risks.
• The new Green Community Challenge Fund was launched this weekend. This offers small grants to community organisations to help them to fund local work to cut carbon emissions in a range of ways. This is funded out of the £500,000 uplift for climate change work which I negotiated into the Council's budget for the coming year. If you are interested in applying, follow the link above for details.

I think that's it for the time being - I'll be getting back into regular blogging again now, so watch this space, as they say!