Sainsburys licence application

Congratulations are due to the folks at Sustainable Redland for organising a very successful meeting about the growth of high street supermarkets last Thursday, particularly focusing on the plans for a new Sainsburys in the old Woolworths store on Blackboy Hill. There were over 50 people present and a lively discussion ensued.

I was relieved to escape intact after bearing the bad news that the planning system offers very scant protection against this trend, especially when the building already has permission for retail use, as in this case. I was asked to check whether there were any historic conditions on the site. Unfortunately, it appears not - it's been a shop for so long that it drifts back into the mists of time before proper planning restrictions existed. The bottom line is that Sainsburys have all the permissions they need to open their store, though they may well need additional permissions for signage, air conditioning or changes to the rear area.

They do, however, have to get permission to sell alcohol. An application is now in and it doesn't make for great reading. They are wanting permission for 7am to 11pm, seven days a week. The application reference is 11/01124/PREM and the deadline for making objections is 17th June. I was asked at the meeting about how people can object to a licence application, so I will explain in a little detail here to save me having to rewrite it in lots of e-mails.

Anyone who is affected by a licence application can object to it. There are no hard-and-fast rules about this, but it broadly means that you have to live nearby, so perhaps within 500m or so of the premises in question. Most importantly, the objection must refer to one or more of the four so-called 'licensing objectives'. These are:

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

The objection doesn't need to address all four and most relevant ones in this instance would probably be the first and third ones in the list above. It has to explain why the application would cause additional problems in these areas - the more specific, the better... one good argument is better than four bad ones.

One facet that might be worth considering is that there is a Cumulative Impact Zone around the lower end of Whiteladies Road. Under the new policy, premises outside the Zone can be included if you can demonstrate that the negative impact is felt within the Zone. In other words, if a decent case can be made that there will be more public nuisance around the Clifton Down area as a result of Sainsburys on Blackboy Hill, that would strengthen any objection considerably. I'm thinking this one through at the moment.

Your objection needs to be sent to the Council's Licensing Department, quoting the reference number above and most easily by e-mail: licensing@bristol.gov.uk. They will decide whether your objection is valid or not - i.e. whether you are affected and whether your objection addresses the licensing objectives. If there is at least one valid objection (as I am sure there will be), the application will be decided through a hearing at the Licensing Committee of councillors, probably in August or September. Anyone who submitted an objection is entitled to attend the hearing and to speak at it, though if there are a lot of objectors attending, a combined statement might be requested.

An interesting parallel to the Sainsburys application is that the Tesco on Stokes Croft was refused an alcohol licence by the Licensing Committee, largely due to the existing street drinking problem there. This is good evidence that the process is not just a formality, though the decision is taken on the law and evidence presented, rather than on the number of objectors. It's also worth noting that Tesco carried on with the store even without an alcohol licence, so it's not necessarily a way of blocking the store.

For me, probably the most worrying part of the Sainsburys licence application is perhaps that it quotes the store opening hours as being 24 hours, seven days a week. This isn't germain to the off licence application (which is for 7am to 11pm), but it would set a very worrying precedent for Whiteladies Road. At the moment, I can't see a particular means of preventing this, but I am also thinking this one through too.

Burglary alert in Cotham

The local Police beat team have today issued a warning that there has been a recent spate of burglaries in the Arley Hill area of Cotham, which I thought it was be useful to pass on. Unfortunately, Cotham has historically been a burglary hotspot, largely due to the concentration of multiple occupancy housing which offers rich pickings. However, this has been improving rapidly due to awareness work, 'target hardening' (i.e. making houses more secure) and good old fashioned catching-the-criminals!

Anyone can sign up to the Police's e-mail alert service, which lets you know what the local Police team is up to, as well as providing information about particular crimes, appeals for witnesses and crime prevention advice. They send out a handful a week and it's generally very useful stuff.

Residents Parking - pilot period approaching

The Kingsdown Residents Parking Zone (RPZ) became operational on the 4th January, so we are now approaching the end of the six month pilot period.

As part of the six month review, the Council is writing to both (a) people living within the RPZ - this letter was sent last week, and (b) people living nearby, broadly including the area in Cotham south of the railway line - this letter is being sent next week. Both letters invite feedback about how parking and other road issues have developed since the RPZ was installed, with a view to informing the review as to whether there are things that can be done to improve how the RPZ works.

Anthony and I have been collecting feedback from Cotham residents throughout the last five months and the general pattern (with exceptions) is that those living inside the RPZ are very happy with it, with parking easier and the streets being safer and more pleasant. There also appears to be growing enthusiasm for the RPZ for those living outside it, where residents have been able to see the difference that it has made to their neighbours on the other side of Cotham Road/Brow.

However, we are also aware that the RPZ has, as we predicted, had a negative knock-on effect on the surrounding areas. We know that parking there has become more difficult and that there are problems both with illegal parking and 'circling', where drivers meander around looking for spaces. The problems have been particularly bad for people who are at home during the daytime, including young parents and older people. We also know that a proportion of people living inside the RPZ have been parking outside of it either because they can't get a permit or to avoid the cost.

Anecdotally, things seem to have improved somewhat in recent weeks. This could be the onset of summer, commuters finally getting around to finding alternative routes into work or people being deterred by better enforcement from the Police and the Council wardens. The Council will be better able to assess this when the feedback from residents comes in.

Based on the informal feedback that we've had so far and on our own assessment, Anthony and I are going to be pushing for a number of changes:

• An increase in the number of permits that each house can get, to cut the phenomenon of people parking outside the RPZ and/or driving to work where they didn't previously.
• Add a scheme whereby commuting key workers (e.g. nurses) are able to get permits if they are working shifts that overlap with the RPZ hours and into the night.
• Reduce the operational hours, to allow more of the day to be free for incoming visitors - or, at least, to resist any extension in the hours, which some residents are asking for.
• To make more visitor permits available to each household, especially for those people who organise community activities (e.g. mothers groups, book clubs) in their own homes.
  
• For the Council to have another round of discussions with the major employers around Kingsdown (e.g. the BRI, the BBC and the University) to see what can be done to encourage their employees not to drive and not to park in residential streets.
• To identify a number of unnecessary yellow lines that could be removed in order to create more parking space.

Any other ideas are most welcome and we'll happily put them into the mix. Alternatively, you can e-mail the Council directly on respark@bristol.gov.uk.

Cotham Forum and Sainsburys meeting

It's a double bill of public meetings this coming Thursday 26th May!

• The Cotham Forum is at 7pm at the Tyndale Baptist Church Hall on Whiteladies Road (around the Imperial Road side). Anthony will be chairing this one and the 'theme' for the meeting will be parking and parking enforcement. For more information about the Forum, see the Bishopston, Cotham and Redland Neighbourhood Partnership website. It's an open meeting and all are welcome to come along.
• Sustainable Redland have organised a meeting to discuss the plans for a new Sainsburys supermarket to open in the old Woolworths on Blackboy Hill. The meeting is at 7.30pm at the Redland Park URC Church (junction of Redland Park and Whiteladies Road). I'll be going along to this one to talk about planning law and what can and can't be done to stop the spread of supermarkets along our high streets. Again, it's an open meeting.

On the latter topic, Sainsburys are apparently going to be writing to local people to outline their plans. As the building is already designated for retail use, they do not need planning permission, though they may need permission for signage or any other external changes that they might want to make. I also understand that they have also applied for an off licence, but I haven't seen the details yet - they should be available next week.

New arts venue for Whiteladies Road?

Back and blogging after my usual election hiatus!

I met this week with the person who is currently campaigning to bring the old ABC cinema on Whiteladies Road (pictured here with Clifton East councillors Simon Cook and Christian Martin outside as I don't have a picture of me!) back into use.

The idea is to turn it into a multi-arts centre, based around a medium-sized theatre, with the opportunity to accommodate cinema, dance, comedy, music and visual arts. It all sounds great to me and they are aware of the issues with operating in a residential area, which is a good starting point.

The campaign has assembled an impressive collection of trustees and they are just in the process of setting up as a charity and getting together building plans to go with the outline business plan that they've put together. I have told them that I am supportive and that I'll help where I can, but that they have a mountain to climb to get together the money to resurrect the Grade II listed building!

They have a Facebook campaign group and if you want to get in touch to offer support or advice, their e-mail is mail@whiteladies-picturehouse.com.