Cotham Forum - 25th November

The next meeting of the Cotham Forum will be held on Thursday 25th November at the hall at the Tyndale Baptist Church on Whiteladies Road from 6.30pm to 8pm. The hall is just around to the right of the church, on the Imperial Road side.

The Forum is an informal and friendly (hopefully!) chance for councillors to discuss local issues with local residents and for residents to raise their own issues. The last meeting was very successful, with 20 or 25 people along and a lively discussion about a range of local problems, with some definite action points for me and other people to follow up. It's 'open house' and all Cotham residents are most welcome.

Issues on the agenda so far for discussion this time include:

• A 'you said, we did' report back
  
• Whiteladies bus route improvements
• Parks maintenance
• Recyling banks and 'clean and green' projects

Hope to see you there!

Redland House plans lodged

Just a quick note to inform people that the new plans for Redland House (the old Nat West building at the top of Blackboy Hill, facing the Downs) have been lodged and are open for consultation. You can see all the documents on the UK Planning website - the application number is 10/04509/F in case the link doesn't work.

I was broadly happy with what was being proposed at the preapplication stage, but I will obviously have another detailed look through now. I'll be thinking about the same stuff that was problematic with the previous application back in 2008 - impact on parking, loss of pavement and environmental impact.

Quality streets for all!

I am getting quite a few e-mails from residents backing a new campaign out of Sustrans called "Quality Streets". The thrust of the campaign is to back 20mph speed limits, but it is also more generally about making our streets safer and more pleasant for ordinary people.

This is an area that is quite close to my own heart and I am happy to back the campaign - although signing the petition would generate an automated e-mail to myself, so I've not done that yet! I am replying to all the e-mails that I do get with a message outlining what is happening in Bristol and specifically in Cotham on this issue, much of which has featured on this blog before in one form or another. Here it is, so that people more generally can see what I am saying - the links take you to previous blog posts:

1. 20mph zones. Two pilot zones have recently been launched in Bedminster/Southville and St Pauls/Easton. These are being used to evaluate how to most successfully roll these out and it is intended that the rest of the city will follow shortly. Certainly, I am strong advocate that Cotham should be included as soon as possible.


2. Walking Strategy. In my role as Assistant Executive Member for Sustainability, I am currently working to publish a walking strategy for the Council that will act as a focus for making walking in the city easier, safer and more pleasant. We have had a series of stakeholder meetings in order to gather ideas and I hope that a consultation version of the strategy will be published before the end of this year.


3. Whiteladies bus route. A consultation is on-going about upgrading the bus route on Whiteladies Road as part of the Greater Bristol Bus Network project. While this main focus will be about public transport, these opportunities are also used to improve the infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists. I have a few misgivings about the initial plans, but I am confident that once these are worked through the project will result in a more foot and cycle-friendly environment on Whiteladies Road.


4. Cotham Parking Review. The initial consultation closed on Friday for a safety review of parking in Cotham which I initiated. The aim was to tackle problematic parking on corners and junctions to improve safety, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists, through an increase in double yellow lines. Once the consultation results have been examined in detail, we are hopeful that the measures will be in place next year. In the meantime, two small schemes (Hampton Road and Cotham Park North) are progressing.


5. Clear pavements. I have been working with a couple of local disabled people to ensure that pavements on main routes are kept clear and in good repair. This is always a moving target, but we've been getting bushes cut, advertising boards moved and potholes repaired. The Council started enforcing parking across dropped kerbs in March to ensure that these are clear for disabled and older people, parents with buggies and other pedestrians; several hundred people have been fined on Whiteladies Road since.

Minor victories

One of the day-to-day acts as a councillor is spotting simple things that need fixing in the local area - things like potholes or overgrown hedges or dumped waste. One of the frustrations is that you don't always get told by Council officers when they've been done.

While I was out and about yesterday evening delivering Focus newsletters, I noticed that the road sign at the end of Trelawney Road has been replaced.

I reported the sign missing quite some months ago and never heard back - to be honest, I'd forgotten about it. It's great that it's been replaced, but I have no idea when it was done and I wish that someone would tell me!

Fame at last!

As a politician, you sometimes find yourself being quoted in some unusual places - publications for topics that you didn't think publications would exist for.

My latest outing is in the Municipal Journal, which is the magazine for local authority managers. I'm talking about climate change and the new flexibility for councils to produce and sell renewable electricity. You can click on the picture to the left to read it.

It's always funny when a 20 minute interview ends up getting boiled down to a few sentences, but I guess this is the basis of journalism. The typo, incidentally, is not mine!

I am hoping that there will be a big positive announcement about Phase 2 of our energy plans at some point in the next two months and fingers remain crossed...