Kingsdown Conservation Group

Date of meeting — 7.30 p.m. on Thursday the 18^th March 2010 at the Ark, Cotham Road South.

Andy King chaired the meeting. About 50 residents attended, but someone accidentally removed the attendance list and did not return it.

Minutes of the 2009 general meeting had been approved at the April 2009 committee meeting.

Annual report 2009–10 — John Frenkel summarised the annual report of the last year’s business, which was available at the meeting and posted on the KCG website and on the noticeboards. The meeting adopted the report.

The treasurer’s report — Pauline Allen presented the Group’s accounts for the year, which the meeting adopted. Capital payments this year will be provided to support the installation of more box lanterns.

Membership — About 95 households are members.

The 2010/11 committee — The meeting elected the officers and the committee who will be Pauline Allen (treasurer), John Frenkel (secretary), Nick Kidwell, Andy King, Jeremy Newick (Conservation Advisory Panel representative), Helen Phillips, Nigel Tasker, Wendy Tomlinson and Mary Wright. Tony Kerr promised to continue to maintain the website with Pete Ferne. Bridget and Malcolm Parker have agreed to continue as membership secretaries. Committee Members’ details appear on the KCG website, www.kingsdown.org.uk.

The committee emphasise that any member who wishes to come to a committee meeting is welcome. The Group needs more committee members to share the work.

The meeting noted that on the 25^th March 2010 the Council’s Cabinet will decide whether the Kingsdown Residents’ Parking Scheme will proceed.

The formal meeting then closed to be followed by a presentations first from Craig Bennett from CODA, the architects to UHB about the new Terrell wards and then by Councillor Mark Wright about the devolution of part of the Council’s budget to Neighbourhood Partnerships.

Andy and Lucy King very kindly provided wine and soft drinks for members.

Hospital business

Bedford Hill steps – the reinstatement of the steps will soon be complete and the site fence removed. The street light on the steps works again.

Southwell Street - around the car park entrance various road safety measures have appeared – a white paint path – notices that block the south pavement – a siren. KCG is pursuing a reply from the Council to our questions about UHB’s right to block the road with a barrier and the north pavement with parked vehicles.

Horfield Road – UHB showed the committee its plans to develop a row of houses on the site of the garden that it abandoned and boarded up. The committee have told UHB that in its view the size and the design of the proposed houses is suitable for our conservation area. The Council are following up KCG‘s complaint about the unsightly hoardings, which went up in April 2007 and damage the area.

BRI redevelopment/helipad

UHB anticipates that it will make four planning applications:

January – to modify the Maudlin Street entrance to enable the later work.

April – the Terrell Street Wards and Helipad.

April – the Children’s Hospital extension, and

April 2010 – re-cladding the Maudlin Street elevation of the QE Building.

The Terrell Street Wards development

UHB has outline planning permission to develop new wards in Terrell Street. The proposed block will be 2 / 3 floors taller than the outline permission. UHB’ says that it needs to extra space to replace the King Edward Building wards and to close Bristol General Hospital. The contractor’s temporary buildings will use the car park beside the Oncology Building, which will lose 30 car parking places, during the construction period. UHB hopes to open the Terrell Street wards in late 2014.

The Upper Maudlin Street elevation of the Queen Elizabeth building

UHB is committed to reface the QE Building. It will publish its plans in the Spring.

The next committee meeting will be on Tuesday the 2nd February. If you wish to meet the committee or bring any matters to their attention, please contact the secretary@Kingsdown.org.uk.

University Hospitals Bristol

KCG has written to UHB and to the Planning Department about its concerns

Bedford Steps (They join Horfield Road to Terrell Street)

The Closure Order is expired. UHB must reopen the Steps and make good the damage that its contractors caused when they lifted the paved footpath. The 2 metre tall security fence onto Horfield Road must be removed.

Horfield Road barrier

In April 2007, UHB fenced off the garden that it had maintained for 20 years. UHB closed the garden because it wants to sell the site for development. The barriers, after two and half years, are to all intents permanent. UHB has new plans for the site but KCG wants the barrier removed because they degrade the street.

Southwell Street

UHB blocks the Street with a barrier and chain, which forces pedestrians and cyclists through the narrow gap at the side next to the car park exit. The hospital car park entrance so narrows the south pavement that pedestrians prefer to walk in the road. At times the Street is full of pedestrians. KCG has asked the City:

1. Can UHB block the whole of one pavement with parked cars?

2. Has UHB legal authority to block Southwell Street?

3. If UHB can block the street, shouldn’t it install retractable columns? The barriers (there are two) are ugly, they degrade the street and spoil the appearance of the splendidly remodelled Boiler House.

Alfred Hill

Congratulations to UHB for installing traditional, box-type lamp posts at the bottom of Alfred Hill above the new steps into Cottage Place.

Congratulations to Bristol Water for restoring the setts so neatly after the replacement of the water main.

The next committee meeting will be on Tuesday the 5^th January. If you wish to meet the committee or bring any matters to their attention, please contact the secretary@Kingsdown.org.uk.

The following were discussed:

Matters to raise at the forthcoming meeting with the hospital authorities.- including the ‘temporary’ Pharmacy Building, on which there has already been one successful complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman, and which the hospital now wants to leave in place when planning permission expires this summer , the general dilapidation around it on the east side of Marlborough Hill, progress on reinstating the Woodland Walk and Bedford Place steps.

The gardens of 26-27 Somerset Street. The Committee was pleased that the new owners had made contact to explain their hopes and plans for this site, but we were unable to support their proposals, despite several positive aspects. Planning law is such that, if permission were granted for residential use, it would be hard to prevent a much less sympathetic future owner erecting a completely unsuitable building (such as the block of flats previously applied for). We decided, therefore to continue our support of the position set out in the City’s conservation policy for Kingsdown – that the garden is a valuable asset and should not be built on.

A small but significant matter is the City Council’s failure to remove or re-site a satellite dish on a house they own in Kingsdown Parade. Their position appears to be that they will take action against ordinary householders but can’t force themselves to comply with the rules. This odd interpretation cannot be left unchallenged and will be pursued with them.

BT has announced that it will remove all unlisted red telephone boxes, which would leave in place the one in Fremantle Square but NOT the one in St Matthew’s Road.

The Committee discussed several other matters, including the City Council Green Space Strategy and the English Heritage Review of Conservation Areas.

The next meeting is to be held on 8.00 p.m. Tuesday 28th  May at 22 Somerset Street. If there are matters you think should be discussed, please contact the secretary, John Frenkel: secretary@kingsdown.org.uk or  23 Somerset Street.

We met the new owners of the garden below 26 & 27 Somerset St., to hear about their proposal to build an underground house. We will discuss this at the March meeting, after careful study of the Conservation Area Character Appraisal and the reasons why the Planning Inspector dismissed an earlier appeal from prospective developers.

We reviewed recent contacts with the hospital and the university, both of which have now agreed to twice-yearly meetings, which we hope will help us find out about planned developments in time to influence them. Building of the hospital helicopter pad has been deferred for financial reasons; the UHB Trust intends to appeal against the city’s refusal of permission to build flats in the garden of the listed 42 Alfred Hill.

We simply gave up on one or two enforcement matters so that we can concentrate on the most important ones. Sometimes the effort of persuading the City Council to carry out its duties to enforce planning legislation is just beyond us, so we have to be realistic.

We revisited the Group’s objectives in preparation for the AGM, and reaffirmed that our main focus is on planning and heritage matters, but we are happy to support other Kingsdown community activities by making our website available.

Note that the AGM is this Thursday, 5th March at 730 for 8pm in the Ark, followed by a talk given by Madge Dresser of UWE’s  History Department – see www.uwe.ac.uk/hlss/history/staff_mdresser.shtml)

The next meeting is on Tues 31st March, 8pm, at 27, Fremantle Rd. KCG members should contact secretary@kingsdown.org.uk or telephone one of the committee if there are any items they would like to be discussed.

We have prepared a detailed draft response to the University’s latest plans for the Biology and Maths buildings, which have been criticised by both the Bristol Urban Design Forum and the Conservation Advisory Panel. Contact us if you would like to see a copy.

We will object to some aspects of the latest (in a long series) of plans for the Carriage Works in Stokes Croft, including the lack of real mixed use, the large number of small units, the height of the planned tower.

We agreed to make a list of all the old cast-iron lampposts in the area.

We decided not to comment on the latest application for a Jester on Montague Green, but we are going to press for the park to be officially registered as a Town Green (under the Commons Act 2006) to give it at least some degree of protection against unsuitable housing development. A Hedge Working Party is being arranged.

The AGM will take place on Thurs 5th March at 7pm in the Ark, and will be followed by a talk given by Madge Dresser of UWE’s History Department (see www.uwe.ac.uk/hlss/history/staff_mdresser.shtml).

The next meeting is on Tues 24th February, 8pm, at 64, Kingsdown Parade. KCG members should contact secretary@kingsdown.org.uk or telephone one of the committee if there are any items they would like to be discussed.

KCG December Committee Meeting – notes

Two meetings have recently been held with officers of the UHB Foundation Hospital Trust. They accepted a range of suggestions for improving their community involvement, and will be arranging biannual consultation meetings with us and other representative groups, in addition to the normal ad-hoc consultation on specific issues. On the matter of reinstating rights of way once work on the Heart Institute has finished, we have urged the Trust to look again at their proposals for the woodland path, particularly how to arrange easy access for prams at both ends. We want the right of way down Bedford Place steps to be reinstated, and, if possible, an alternative path created for people walking towards the bottom of Horfield Rd.

A draft KCG response is being prepared to the University’s plans for the Biological Sciences and Maths buildings (please contacts us if you would like to see this).

After sustained pressure on the Council they have finally obtained agreement from the owner of a house in Kingsdown Parade to reverse its illegal conversion into flats. Other enforcement matters are still working their way through the Council mills (though none of them at the speed proudly set out in the City’s Enforcement Policy).

We have now paid the City for an appropriate box lantern to be installed at the bottom of Spring Hill, and have taken up with officers our wish to see similar ones in Alfred Hill as part of the improvements funded through the hospital development.

We have hitherto not taken a position on whether there should be a Residents’ Parking Scheme, but now that it is going to happen, we agreed that it will be important to be involved in the detailed plans for the area.

We have agreed to work with the Parks Dept to plant a wildlife hedge on Montague Green. A new planning application for the site of the Jester has been submitted but details were not yet available on the Council website. We will try to register Montague Green as not suitable for development, in response to the Council’s current trawl for sites that are suitable.

The next meeting is on Weds 21st January, 8pm, at 73, Kingsdown Parade. KCG members should contact secretary@kingsdown.org.uk or telephone one of the committee if there are any items they would like to be discussed.

The City Council has asked to be notified of all suitable development sites, as part of its requirement to find places for 26000 new houses in the City. We agreed that all the possible sites in Kingsdown are already known to the Council through planning applications. The Council is also setting up yet another new community involvement programme – Neighbourhood Partnerships. Ironically, but not surprisingly, we weren’t involved in deciding which neighbourhood we belong to, and have been lumped in with Clifton and Clifton East. The first meeting – open to anyone interested – is in the Council House on Tues 25th at 630.

The UHB Foundation Hospital Trust received planning permission for the helicopter pad on the roof of the hospital. Two meetings have been arranged with the hospital officers – one to look at the old – but still relevant – issue of improving their community involvement – and the other to look at rights of way through the Kingsdown end of the BRI site. We have asked to discuss several other issues, including the lack of an overall Masterplan for the site and the plans for landscaping and planting once round the Heart Institute.

We have made various comments about the major developments in Stokes Croft (the Full Moon pub, Westmoreland House, Hamilton House) King Square and St James Priory (where the church authorities have improved their plans consdierably). Please contact one of the committee for more details if you are interested.

Montague Green – We will arrange a site meeting to find out the Council’s views on better trimming of the hornbeam hedge, a new hedge against the back wall and more seats, either where the rosebed is or round a tree.

The Council have now agreed to force Wessex Water to relay the setts they messed up in Somerset Street.