Kingsdown Conservation Group

7.30 p.m. Monday the 10th March 2008 at the Ark, Cotham Road South.

The meeting approved the agenda and appointed Tony Kerr as chair for the evening. 40 residents attended. Apologies were received for their absence from David and Penny Mellor, Carolyn Harman and Paul and Lorna Robinson.

Minutes of the 2007 general meeting were approved.

The report of the past year
The report summarised last year’s business and was circulated at the meeting and it can also be found on the Kingsdown Conservation Group’s website. The report was adopted. Next year will be very active because the University and the Hospital will continue to pursue their development plans. Peter Ferne was thanked for his continued help in running the website. The Committee thanked the 20 residents who responded to Andy King’s questionnaire about UBHT’s redevelopment proposals for its surplus land. It is vital, whenever the Committee meets third parties that it can demonstrate that it has significant local support.

The treasurer’s report
The treasurer’s report
Pauline Allen presented the Group’s accounts for the year, which showed a reserve of £6,593 split between the general fund of £3,928 and £2,665 in the “Spring Hill Restoration Fund”. During the year there was a surplus of £222.75 of income over expenditure. KCG had contributed £340 towards the fees of Richard Pedlar, who prepared a conservation architect’s report to support KCG’s objections to the proposal to build eight four-floor houses on the Somerset Street display gardens. The developer subsequently withdrew the planning application. The meeting thanked David Mellor for his professional assistance that he gave free of charge

The meeting resolved to spend £160 to restore a traditional box lantern on the cast iron lamp post at the bottom of Spring Hill. In response to members’ questions, the Committee confirmed that it planned to replace the fallen tree in the garden at the corner of St. Matthews Road. The meeting thanked Stephen and Jean Macfarlane for grinding out the stump of the old tree. The Committee will investigate whether a working lamp can be installed in the lamp holder above the Kingsdown Parade entrance to Montague Green. Since our report last year, a tree on the north side of Kingsdown Parade and the trees around Prior’s Hill Flats have been replaced. The report was adopted. The meeting thanked Pauline for her work. The Committee welcomes any ideas to invest the reserves to enhance Kingsdown.

Please check to ensure that you pay £5 and not the former £3 subscription.

Membership
Bridget Parker presented the Membership report. Seven newly arrived residents joined KCG last year. Please encourage more residents to join KCG. The more members we have, the more we are listened to. Membership forms can be downloaded from the website or paper copies obtained from Malcolm and Bridget Parker at 43 Kingsdown Parade. The meeting thanked Bridget and Malcolm for their work. They agreed to continue as membership secretaries.

The 2008/09 committee
The Committee appealed for new members. Charles Grant volunteered to rejoin the Committee and the current members agreed to stand again. Next year’s committee was elected unanimously. It will be: Pauline Allen (treasurer), John Frenkel (minutes), Charles Grant, Tony Kerr, Nick Kidwell, Andy King, Jeremy Newick (Conservation Advisory Panel representative), Helen Phillips (secretary), Ottilie Shorcott, Nigel Tasker and Mary Wright. Committee Members’ contact details appear on the website.
The committee emphasise that any member who wishes to come to a committee meeting is most welcome. If you think that you would like to become a Committee member, invite yourself as an observer to a Committee Meeting. The Group needs more committee members to share the work.
Tell us your views on local developments and what we should be doing. Please contact the secretary at secretary@kingsdown.org.uk, or use the ‘contact us’ link on the website.

After the formal meeting, Mary Wright spoke about “The greatest aesthete of them all”. She gave a tour d’horizon of the life of the Bristol architect, E W Godwin. In his personal life he was a friend to James Whistler and Oscar Wilde and the father of Ellen Terry’s two children. His architectural practice brought him international recognition. All aspects of design interested him. He designed fabrics, tiles, wallpaper and furniture. In his corporate life he reformed the Bristol Society of Architects.

Mary spoke forcibly about our City’s neglect of Godwin. In his lifetime, he won the City Council’s architectural competition to build new Law Courts but the City gave the contract to its own surveyor. There was a national scandal. Godwin moved to London. Today, Godwin’s pioneering Carriage Works in Stokes Croft stands ruined and neglected by its owners and the City Council. In contrast, Northampton has restored Godwin’s town hall and renamed its Council chamber, “The Godwin Room”. Godwin’s furniture is displayed at the V & A and has appeared in international furniture exhibitions. In 1947, Godwin’s daughter made a bequest of 14 pieces of his furniture to Bristol City Museum. The Museum has exhibited the furniture once, in 1976 after which, it has remained in store. The Museum has no current plans to display it.

If you share Mary’s anger at the City’s treatment of the Godwin bequest please write to press for Godwin’s furniture to be permanently exhibited. Kate Brindley is the Director of Museums – Kate.Brindley@Bristol.gov.uk or Bristol Museums and Art Gallery, Queen’s Road, BS8 1RL. Councillor Rosalie Walker is the Cabinet Member for Health and Leisure – Rosalie.Walker@Bristol.gov.uk or The Council House College Green BS1 5TR.

Well, at least no-one’s suggesting a 14-storey block now (as far as we know, anyway).

CLICK on the picture for a bigger version and other old clippings

Thanks to Kingsdown resident Ian Abrahams for passing on the following information received from sally.lloyd@bristol.gov.uk:

On 15th November 2007 Bristol City Council’s Cabinet agreed a report on the introduction of Residents Parking Zones around the City Centre to minimise the impact of commuter parking in residential areas.

You can download the full report (PDF 32pp 4.3MB) from the council website.

Over the next few weeks we will be setting up a web page under the heading of Bristol Residents Parking Project. The web page will explain the intended basic operational principles and will have a section of frequently asked questions, to help explain to people how such a scheme will impact on them. There will be an opportunity for individuals to comment and an e-mail address to send any additional queries to. We will publicise the setting up of the site and currently expect the web page to be operational towards the end of March 2008. You may however wish to keep an eye on progress by checking on the Bristol City Council Website.

The Citizens Panel were asked for their views on the operational principles of Residents Parking in February 2008, and their responses will be analysed and reported on in March. The next stage will be to embark on a large-scale consultation exercise covering the Inner and Outer Rings that are highlighted in the Cabinet Report.

All residents, businesses and local organisations in the Inner and Outer Rings will be contacted, and asked whether they would like to have their street considered for Residents Parking. The results of this exercise will be used to establish where the initial “Early Adopter” Residents’ Parking Zones will be promoted.

Subject to general support within these initial zones, it is anticipated that detailed design and full implementation will start in the latter part of 2008 in the hope of having the first few schemes completed and operational by late Spring 2009. When these schemes are complete, the experience gained will be used to inform and facilitate the promotion of additional schemes, subject of course to the support of residents.

If and when the Inner Ring becomes fully established we will turn our attention to the Outer Ring. Subject to the continuing support of residents we currently hope to have both the Inner and Outer Rings fully established by the end of 2012.

We trust that this information is of assistance to you, and look forward to any additional comments that you would like to make.

Terry Bullock
Traffic Manager

There will be copies at the AGM (for details see two items further down the page), but here’s one to download if you want to read beforehand.
Annual Report 2007

Your chance to influence the Council. There’s been a planning application to allow the Jester on the Green to be retained. Whether you agree or not, you can influence the Council’s decision by sending an email to
north.planning@bristol.gov.uk and quoting reference 08/00565/F

Thanks to the 20 people who gave us their views on our draft response - it’s really helpful when we deal with the hospital and other authorities to know that we are fairly representing what Kingsdown residents think. All 20 supported our draft, but many also made very useful extra points.

In summary, we all understand the need to develop, but there is a strong feeling that the hospital’s plans would overdevelop the sites, so they should be revised.

If you want to see the revised document that Andy King sent in, it is attached here: UBHT response.

Our guest speaker will be Mary Wright who will give an illustrated talk entitled “The Greatest Aesthete of Them All”, an account of EW Godwin, a Bristol born architect and designer.

All welcome. Come and join fellow Kingsdown residents; enjoy a glass of wine and find out what has been happening in your neighbourhood in the past year and what might be going to happen, including University and Hospital proposals and Conservation Area Enhancement Plans.