Brooks site campaign

bristol | community | news report Wednesday October 21, 2009 09:46 by fw

Brooks Planning Group update, Sept 15th 2009

Here is another update from the Brooks Planning Group. We are always happy for more people to join in the tasks of the Group. Call Judy on 07908 219834 or email saintwerburghs at gmail.com

Current state of play with site and owners. No further news. Do let us know if you see anything happening on the site.

Chimney Update. We applied for the Chimney and the small ‘workshop’ buildings on Morley St to be Listed earlier in the year. English Heritage have made their recommendation to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. EH are not able to tell me what that decision was, as it is only publicly available when DCMS make their decision, which I am told could still be some months, unless a planning application for demolition is submitted, in which case, a decision will be brought forward. Watch this space!!

Update on Community Consultation We have been working hard to do a broad consultation of all in our neighbourhood. The results will feed into the Community Plan for the site which will then be presented to community for feedback in early November (hopefully!).

Here’s what we’ve done so far.
We’ve finished Stage 1. Near neighbours survey
During June and July we did a survey of residents who live very near to the Brooks site. These residents will feel the impact of the development most of all, and therefore we started the consultation there. We got approx 38% return, which is good apparently for a survey. The results, in a nutshell, are that residents wish to see a mixed-use development that is mostly residential along with some small scale employment opportunities, particularly art workshops and to a lesser extent office space. Dwellings should be low rise, family homes for both private owners and social housing, and include supported accommodation for elderly people in the area. The scheme should have sufficient green space and trees.

Residents wish to see Mina Rd Park extended into the site, along with new pedestrian and cycle routes to improve access and connections to other parts of the neighbourhood. Community buildings and market space should be included in the scheme. Efforts should be made to keep existing buildings and the chimney in particular should be retained as a local landmark. Many residents would like to see low energy sustainable construction methods used in the design of a new scheme. A new development needs to address the significant concerns that residents have for street safety, particularly the routes used by car users wishing to short cut the journey to M32. A new development should provide sufficient car parking spaces for new dwellings.

Stage 2. More consultation! - in progress
This is what we’re currently doing:

• Running an online survey of the rest of the community around Brooks. You can respond to this at https://www.survey.bris.ac.uk/ilrt/brooks2 until 5th October

• We’re also talking to
established groups within the neighbourhood, eg Parks group.
Local businesses.
Local councillor.
Specific groups of residents to ensure that all residents of all ages and ethnicity are properly consulted.
Agencies like local police.

We aim to complete this by the end of September and analyse soon after. We will use this data, along with all the other data we’ve collected to develop the Community Plan. This will give an outline Plan of what the community wants to see happen on the site. We will submit this to the Council and other influential stakeholders.

Next steps and how you can get involved

1. Complete the online survey https://www.survey.bris.ac.uk/ilrt/brooks2 about what you want to happen on Brooks site. This is your chance to have your say!!

Come to a walkabout of the site! 2. We have organised a walkabout around the boundary of the site on Sunday 27th September. Meet at the little park on Ashley St at 2pm with family and friends to take part in an active event to seek your views. It will be guided by members of the Brooks Planning Group and aims to highlight the issues so far raised by residents. It will give all attending, including children, an opportunity to see the spaces around the site. We all know where it is, but we never really look properly do we? So come along – tea, cake and chat happens after the walk. This will take place whether it rains or not!!

3. Open meeting. Monday 12th October 7.30pm at the library space, St Werburghs Primary School. Use main entrance and follow signs. Come along to see how far we’ve got. We’ll present the results of the consultation and get your views on how to progress with the next stage which will be to write up the Community Plan and present it to community for final consultation. Then present final document to the council. We would particularly like to discuss with you all, the issue of the Brooks Planning Group having the ‘authority’ to speak/act on behalf of the neighbourhood when we finally get a scheme to look at from the owners/designers. If you cannot get to the meeting, please contact us with your thoughts.

More information – Judy is the main contact for the Brooks Planning Group. She’s very friendly and would love to hear from you. Call Judy on 07908 219834 or email saintwerburghs at gmail.com