St George Neighbourhood Partnership Environment Sub-Group
The sub-group was set up by the St George Neighbourhood Partnership (SGNP) to work with Bristol City Council to preserve and enhance the appearance of our area, its green spaces, trees and streetscene.
The group takes the lead on the following issues in the partnership area:
Street cleansing;
Recycling bring banks;
Parks and grounds maintenance;
Clean and Green projects.
The sub-group makes recommendations, with decisions being taken at the regular partnership meetings.
Find out more about the St George Neighbourhood Partnership >>
Sub-group meeting dates for 2012 - all Thursdays 7pm
Summerhill Methodist Church
Thur 19 January; Thur 19 April; Thur 19 July; Thur 18 October.
Sub-Group Adopted Terms of Reference
The sub-group has agreed that for issues in parks with existing park groups (currently only St George Park & Troopers Hill) then the primary contact should be between the park group and Bristol Parks. Park Groups could bring issues to the sub-group where they think the sub-group can help, but the sub-group will not take decisions on grounds maintenance in those parks without agreement of the park group. The sub-group will work to encourage people to form groups for the other spaces in St George.
Minutes of previous meetings:
Please see reports and action plan in minutes of the full St George Neighbourhood Partnership meetings
Fishing in St George Park
At its last few meetings the sub-group has considered the issues around fishing at St George Park Lake. This issue was also discussed at the June Partnership meeting.
Injuries to birds in the park caused by fishing line and other fishing litter has been raised at Neighbourhood Forum meetings as a priority to be addressed and concerns have also been raised about anti-social behaviour by some fishermen. In the AGSP consultation during 2010 'Ban fishing on the historic boating lake' was considered to be important or very important by 66% of those who responded.
At the June Partnership meeting it was agreed that something needs to be done and that the current situation is unacceptable.
An officer from Bristol Parks Neighbourhood Engagement Team has produced a report looking at all the options and this was considered at the sub-group meeting on 13th October 2011. It was agreed that further information / clarification was required on some issues. An update report was given to the January meeting and the sub-group then held a further meeting on 16th February to agree a recomendation to the March Neighbourhood Partnership meeting which can be seen via the link below. The Neighbourhood Partnership unanimously supported this recomendation.
Report & Proposal agreed at 13 March Neighbourhood Partnership meeting
The report to the October meeting and the list of actions agreed can be seen here:
Report and agreed actions sub-group meeting 13 October 2011
One of the actions was to consult with anglers in the park, this was done through the Consultation pages of the BCC website and also through Bristol Parks talking directly to those using the lake. Only a small number of anglers were spoken to as part of the consultation but they gave some valuable feedback.
Friends of St George Park produced a response to the report and also reported an incident in October where a pigeon got caught in fishing line.
Friends of St George Park response to fishing report
Report on swan rescue 26 Jan 2012
Report on pigeon rescue October 2011
For an earlier meeting, members of the Friends of St George Park prepared a report on the issue of fishing that can be downloaded from the link below.
Report - adverse effects of angling in St George Park June 2011
(pdf 7Mb)
Friends of St George Park have also commissioned a report from Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (Consulting) Ltd into the ecological status of the lake with recommendations as to its further management which can be seen here:
Report - Recommendations for Ecological Enhancement June 2011
St George Green Space Disposals
At its meeting on 13 March 2012 the Neighbourhood Committee for St George agreed to retain all four green spaces that had previously been proposed for disposal as part of the Area Green Space Plan Ideas and Options. The decision was taken by Cllrs Stone, Breckels and Pearce. Cllr Hammond was absent and sent his apologies.
St George Green Space Investment Plan
Download the St George Green Space Investment Plan >>
The council has been working towards an improvement plan for parks and open spaces in each Neighbourhood Partnership, known as Area Green Space Plans. Their role is to help decision making when investing in green spaces in the long term and they act at a strategic level and provide a broad framework and seek to deliver the policies and standards of the Parks and Green Space Strategy.
The overall aim is to provide an equality of access to different types of spaces and park facilities and set out the investment priorities for the area.
The Neighbourhood Partnership is deciding how and where money should be spent on the parks and open spaces in your area as part of a long term plan. This means drawing up a list of spending priorities – what parks are in most need of money and what facilities they need.
The sub-group was asked by the SGNP to take the lead in developing the plan and at our meeting in April we agreed to set up a series of workshop sessions to do this. The first session was on Thursday 30 June at the Air Balloon School, invitations were sent to people who have taken part in or expressed an interest in the earlier stages of the process, or been involved in the Neighbourhood Partnership. There was a good turnout at this meeting and the decision was taken to hold four further workshops, each covering a separate geographical area of St George.
The workshops took place as below:
St George Park
Tuesday 2nd August – 7pm at Beehive Centre, Stretford Road BS5 7AW - notes of meeting
Hudds Vale, Plummers Hill, Meadow Vale, Rodney Rd & Primrose Lane
Tuesday 9th August – 7pm at Meadow Vale Community Centre, Speedwell BS5 7RF - notes of meeting
Meg Thatchers, Furber Rd & Colebrook Rd
Thursday 18th August – 7pm at Wesley Church Hall, Bryants Hill BS5 8QS - notes of meeting
Troopers Hill, Dundridge, Magpie Bottom & River Avon Trail
Tuesday 23rd August – 7pm at St Aidan's Church Hall, Fir Tree Lane BS5 8TZ - notes of meeting
Having completed these meetings covering the four geographical areas of St George; we need to put together a plan for the whole of St George. Rather than holding an extra meeting we asked for residents' views on this via a survey at the St George Neighbourhood Partnership Forum on Tues 6th September at Air Balloon Primary School. The results of the survey are here:
St George Green Space Investment Plan Survey Results >>
A draft plan based on this and earlier consultations was considered at the Environment Sub-group meeting on Thursday 13th October. The final version of the plan was adopted by the Neighbourhood Partnership at its December meeting.
AGSP Ideas and Options for St George
Map of Green Space in St George
Response to AGSP Consultation for St George
Bristol City Council Parks & Green Spaces Strategy
St George Green Space Investment Plan - Next Steps
Download the St George Green Space Investment Plan >>
The Green Space Investment Plan will be put into action through a series of projects. Progress on these projects will be monitored by the Environment Sub-Group. The Neighbourhood Committee will be asked to allocate money to these projects from funds that have been devolved to the Neighbourhod Partnership. Where possible this will be used as match funding to help raise further money from other sources. We will be looking for resident champions to drive forward these projects.
Summary of aims, with projects in progress & proposed >>
Bristol Clean & Green Project
One of the roles of the sub-group is to make recommendations to the SGNP on the spending of money from Bristol's Clean & Green budget. Some money is allocated each year to St George and there is also the opportunity to bid for more money from a central city wide pot.
Discussions on spending the money from the 2011/12 budget started at our meeting in April. Our recommendations for the allocated budget included improvements to the communal garden at Butler House and work to the roof at St George Park Pavilion. From the central fund we have been awarded £3,000 for tree works and shrub planting to improve the island in St George Park Lake for wildlife. We were also given money to plant three more trees at tree stump locations on roads in St George.
In 2010/11 we recommended that the allocated money should be spent on bulb planting schemes and on hanging baskets at the Church Rd/Chalks Rd junction & in Kingsway Precinct. The SGNP agreeed and the hanging baskets were installed.
We were also successful in getting over £2,000 from the central fund. This has funded the new notice board recently installed in Kingsway Precinct. In addition four tree stumps which have been left where trees had to be felled in the past will be replanted with new trees in winter 2011/12. They are two on Summerhill Rd, one on Whitehall Rd and one on the Kingsway.
Urban Foxes
Issues related to foxes have been raised at the last two Environment Sub-Group meetings.
Bristol City Council have produced a booklet about urban foxes that can be downloaded from their 'Pest Control' webpage at www.bristol.gov.uk/pestcontrol - see related documents on the right-hand side of the page.
At its last few meetings the sub-group has considered the issues around fishing at St George Park Lake. This issue was also discussed at the June Partnership meeting.Injuries to birds in the park caused by fishing line and other fishing litter has been raised at Neighbourhood Forum meetings as a priority to be addressed and concerns have also been raised about anti-social behaviour by some fishermen. In the AGSP consultation during 2010 'Ban fishing on the historic boating lake' was considered to be important or very important by 66% of those who responded.
At the June Partnership meeting it was agreed that something needs to be done and that the current situation is unacceptable.
An officer from Bristol Parks Neighbourhood Engagement Team has produced a report looking at all the options and this was considered at the sub-group meeting on 13th October 2011. It was agreed that further information / clarification was required on some issues. An update report was given to the January meeting and the sub-group then held a further meeting on 16th February to agree a recomendation to the March Neighbourhood Partnership meeting which can be seen via the link below. The Neighbourhood Partnership unanimously supported this recomendation.
Report and agreed actions sub-group meeting 13 October 2011
One of the actions was to consult with anglers in the park, this was done through the Consultation pages of the BCC website and also through Bristol Parks talking directly to those using the lake. Only a small number of anglers were spoken to as part of the consultation but they gave some valuable feedback.
Friends of St George Park produced a response to the report and also reported an incident in October where a pigeon got caught in fishing line.
Friends of St George Park response to fishing report
Report on swan rescue 26 Jan 2012
Report on pigeon rescue October 2011
For an earlier meeting, members of the Friends of St George Park prepared a report on the issue of fishing that can be downloaded from the link below.
Report - adverse effects of angling in St George Park June 2011
(pdf 7Mb)
Friends of St George Park have also commissioned a report from Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (Consulting) Ltd into the ecological status of the lake with recommendations as to its further management which can be seen here:
Report - Recommendations for Ecological Enhancement June 2011
The council has been working towards an improvement plan for parks and open spaces in each Neighbourhood Partnership, known as Area Green Space Plans. Their role is to help decision making when investing in green spaces in the long term and they act at a strategic level and provide a broad framework and seek to deliver the policies and standards of the Parks and Green Space Strategy.
The overall aim is to provide an equality of access to different types of spaces and park facilities and set out the investment priorities for the area.
The Neighbourhood Partnership is deciding how and where money should be spent on the parks and open spaces in your area as part of a long term plan. This means drawing up a list of spending priorities – what parks are in most need of money and what facilities they need.
The sub-group was asked by the SGNP to take the lead in developing the plan and at our meeting in April we agreed to set up a series of workshop sessions to do this. The first session was on Thursday 30 June at the Air Balloon School, invitations were sent to people who have taken part in or expressed an interest in the earlier stages of the process, or been involved in the Neighbourhood Partnership. There was a good turnout at this meeting and the decision was taken to hold four further workshops, each covering a separate geographical area of St George.
The workshops took place as below:
St George Park
Tuesday 2nd August – 7pm at Beehive Centre, Stretford Road BS5 7AW - notes of meeting
Hudds Vale, Plummers Hill, Meadow Vale, Rodney Rd & Primrose Lane
Tuesday 9th August – 7pm at Meadow Vale Community Centre, Speedwell BS5 7RF - notes of meeting
Meg Thatchers, Furber Rd & Colebrook Rd
Thursday 18th August – 7pm at Wesley Church Hall, Bryants Hill BS5 8QS - notes of meeting
Troopers Hill, Dundridge, Magpie Bottom & River Avon Trail
Tuesday 23rd August – 7pm at St Aidan's Church Hall, Fir Tree Lane BS5 8TZ - notes of meeting
Having completed these meetings covering the four geographical areas of St George; we need to put together a plan for the whole of St George. Rather than holding an extra meeting we asked for residents' views on this via a survey at the St George Neighbourhood Partnership Forum on Tues 6th September at Air Balloon Primary School. The results of the survey are here:
St George Green Space Investment Plan Survey Results >>
A draft plan based on this and earlier consultations was considered at the Environment Sub-group meeting on Thursday 13th October. The final version of the plan was adopted by the Neighbourhood Partnership at its December meeting.
AGSP Ideas and Options for St George
Map of Green Space in St George
Response to AGSP Consultation for St George
Bristol City Council Parks & Green Spaces Strategy
Summary of aims, with projects in progress & proposed >>
The sub-group is looking for a volunteer to act as a 'Tree Champion' for St George. This person would represent St George at the Bristol Tree Forum and take the lead on promoting the planting of new trees in St George.