Who will voters in Knowle go for?

The Lib Dem vote share in the polls has fallen. The Greens poll share has risen. Cuts, broken promises and the huge compromises of being in coalition with the Conservatives are turning people away from the Lib Dems. In my ward, Knowle, the Lib Dem vote is likely to reduce for these reasons in addition to local reasons and it will be very interesting to see where votes go. As the Evening Post has said, the extremely unpopular and controversial policy of selling off green spaces, including part of ‘The Jungle’ in Salcombe Rd, Knowle, could cost the Lib Dems votes. Hundreds signed a petition opposing the sell off and the man in charge of the sell off policy, Knowle Councillor Gary Hopkins, dismissed these concerns, controversially suggesting that local people were pressured into signing. Cllr Hopkins has seriously upset campaigners working to save their green spaces all over Bristol. As a long term and consistent campaigner for the protection of and increase in green spaces I hope people concerned about this issue will vote for me.

The Post also says that the regeneration of Knowle West is another big issue. A small slice of Knowle West (from Salcombe Rd to Newquay Rd) falls within the Knowle Ward, with the majority in Filwood Ward. This issue may be on the minds of some voters, though it has not become a matter of much party political debate. Political parties have not really involved themselves in the issue very much except where they are in direct decision making roles eg on the council Cabinet or in some cases being the local councillor. I have had some involvement in the issue and contributed in some detail, ideas on sustainably developing the area, where I spent my primary and secondary school days and where both my parents were also brought up. I’m a strong and consistent supporter of the detailed – and pretty green – regeneration plans put forward by the Knowle West Residents Planning Group which I was directly involved with for a period. The council should actively be helping this group bring their ideas to fruition but instead have often been more a part of the problem than the solution! I hope anyone who wants to see the principles of community-based regeneration and sustainable development truly put into practice will vote for me as a long term and ongoing advocate.

A HOMEOWNER who faces the prospect of seeing his house demolished as part of a massive makeover for Knowle West has vowed to save it from the bulldozer.

Such is the determination and efficiency of Bristol City Council to fully involve people in decision making about the future of their homes and community that this poor chap didn't know about the plans, which include possible demolition, until this July! In fact the council are frustrating the attempts of locals to participate and manipulating meetings and events to favour the development plans that they have favoured since the start.

A HOMEOWNER who faces the prospect of seeing his house demolished as part of a massive makeover for Knowle West has vowed to save it from the bulldozer.

Knowle West residents own regeneration plans are best

Excellent work being done by residents in Knowle, well supported by groups like the Neighbourhood Planning Network, Bristol Civic Society and others. I was involved with them for several months, up to this spring (general and local elections then took me over) and put forward a range of sustainable devlopment ideas to the council and the consultants they employed. More on the Knowle West regeneration issue shortly.

RESIDENTS in Inns Court have spoken out against plans to demolish their homes and rebuild the estate as part of a massive regeneration project for Knowle West.

Also see this coverage from yesterday:
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/DEMOLITION/article-2720157-detail/article.html

Exhibitions about the regeneration of Knowle West, Inns Court, part of Bedminster and Knowle

Copy of a news release received today: Local residents planning for the future of their area

The Knowle West Residents Planning Group (KWRPG) will be running exhibitions about the regeneration of the wider area, including Knowle West, Inns Court and part of Bedminster and Knowle, at local community centres on Tuesday and Thursday evenings in the last two weeks of May.

KWRPG is a group of local people who are developing a residents’ draft plan for Knowle West, which includes community buildings, shops, facilities, transport, green spaces, schools and more. This plan is NOT set in stone. The group would like other local people to come along to see the ideas they have come up with so far and want to find out what their community thinks about it.

The dates and times are:

1. Eagle House, Newquay Road 18th May, 7-8.30pm
2. Filwood Community Centre, Barnstaple Road 20th May, 7-8.30pm
3. Novers Social Club, Novers Park Road 25th May, 7-8.30pm
4. The Mede Centre (by Inns Court shops) 27th May, 7-8.30pm
5. City of Bristol College, Marksbury Road 3rd June, 7-8.30pm

Alister Palmer, chair of the KWRPG said:
"We are very pleased that Bristol City Council have now made a firm commitment to working with the Residents Planning Group. KWRPG have been meeting every week for 15 months, and meeting with the Project Board and consultants Urban Initiatives at key stages throughout the process. Last month the Project Board and Urban Initiatives came to Knowle West to hear our ideas so far and we await their plan, but in the meantime come and see ours."

"We want all the local people to have their say on what happens with the regeneration in the area, but we realize not everyone can give as much time as the current group members do, so we decided to run the exhibitions. We have timed it so we can feed back local opinion on our ideas to the consultants when they come back in to do more consultation."

For more information about the Knowle West Residents Planning Group and how to get involved call Anita Pearce at Community in Partnership Knowle West 0117 908 4248, or email Iris Eiting at Re:store on Filwood Broadway iris@reworkltd.org.uk

For regular updates or a catch up on what’s happened so far go to www.knowlewest.co.uk and see ‘Regeneration’.

-ends-

Media queries

Anita Pearce, Community in Partnership: 0117 908 4248

Iris Eiting, Re:store: iris@reworkltd.org.uk

One Planet Knowle?

At the first meeting of the Knowle West Team on 29 Sept, which I attended both as a local resident and to represent Knowle’s Transition group Sustainable Knowle, I was concerned that the term sustainability was pretty freely used eg featuring prominently in consultants Urban Initiatives own draft vision statement, but that no sustainability benchmarks, indicators, measures, assessment processes...were discussed. I made a note to raise the issue at the meeting but did not get the chance, thus this note.

It strikes me that sustainability is at the heart of the vision and objectives drawn up by Knowle West’s residents*, who have a broad-based and inclusive definition of land and development value, compared with the narrow, purely financial, view on the value of land and development expressed by someone else at the meeting on the 29th. [*See this Bristol City Council page on Knowle West Regeneration].

I brought this issue up at the Knowle West Residents Planning Group meeting on 6 Oct and said I would circulate some thoughts on sustainability benchmarks. I think the following principles are excellent as a sustainability guide to residents, campaigners, designers, architects, planners, developers – and there are some very good practical projects that are based upon them…

One Planet Living is a ‘global initiative based on 10 principles of sustainability developed by BioRegional and WWF’.

‘The ten principles of one planet living are a framework to help us enjoy a high quality of life within a fair share of the earth's resources:

*

Zero Carbon
Making buildings more energy efficient and delivering all energy with renewable technologies.

*

Zero Waste
Reducing waste arisings, reusing where possible, and ultimately sending zero waste to landfill.

*

Sustainable Transport
Encouraging low carbon modes of transport to reduce emissions, reducing the need to travel.

*

Sustainable Materials
Using sustainable products that have a low embodied energy.

*

Local and Sustainable Food
Choosing low impact, local, seasonal and organic diets and reducing food waste.

*

Sustainable Water
Using water more efficiently in buildings and in the products we buy; tackling local flooding and water course pollution.

*

Natural Habitats and Wildlife
Protecting and expanding old habitats and creating new space for wildlife.

*

Culture and Heritage
Reviving local identity and wisdom; support for, and participation in, the arts.

*

Equity, Fair Trade and Local Economy
Inclusive, empowering workplaces with equitable pay; support for local communities and fair trade.

*

Health and Happiness
Encouraging active, sociable, meaningful lives to promote good health and well being.’
*
More details on the above, including an expansion on what the 10 principles are all about here. Several practical examples of projects, at various levels, such as: BedZed UK; One Brighton; One Gallions, Thames Gateway; One Planet Sutton; RuralZED, can be found here.

The building products supplier Kingspan sponsored ‘Lighthouse’ demonstration zero carbon project at the Building Research Establishment (pictured), the work of Mount Pleasant Ecological Park and the principles developed at the Eden Project may or may not be fully realisable in practice, as yet, but they can certainly be used to inform our sustainable decision making, design and construction.

See http://zerokarb.com/projects.asp for more examples of zero carbon home designs and here
http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/greenfutures/articles/Green_House_Effect70 for debate/discussion on green homes.

Imposed goals or goals that emerge from the community?

I'm off to the Knowle West Futures Conference at The Park in Daventry Rd tomorrow representing the perspective of the Sustainable Knowle group I coordinate (I also have a strong personal interest as I'm from this area and because I'm now lecturing in environmental decision making in addition to my usual environmental science/technology/studies lecturing work). My key hope is that what happens in Knowle West emerges from the work of the community and not due to a set of goals that come from outside, though the signs are not good on this. There is a good deal about the regeneration of Knowle West isues on the council website (here and here especially). The conference organisers say,

'We would like to invite you to take an active part in shaping the future of Knowle West. The Knowle West Futures conference is the first in aseries of events where we from Urban Initiatives, working on behalf of Bristol City Council, need your ideas, knowledge and feedback to make the best possible plan for Knowle West.'

*

It will be a busy day as there is a lot on the agenda and many interrelated issues will arise, including issues of green space use that were not discussed at the local Area Green Space Plan meetings and issues of decision making processes...(Knowle and Windmill Hill wards were discussed at several meetings but we were told by council officers that consideration of Filwood ward would have to wait - so Filwood's green spaces are not being dealt with by the same process as the other two Neighbourhood Partnership wards).

Hengrove Park Regeneration Project: how green will the planning/development process be from now?

Today I received an A5 envelope in the post addressed to The Occupier (very likely along with many others in South Bristol). It contained an A4 full colour, 8 page brochure detailing the Hengrove Park Regeneration Project, (http://www.hengrovepark.com/) 'a joint public and private sector initiative to redevelop a large former airfield' (actually much, much more like a park for many years, thus Hengrove Park [!], if you ask locals and look at the glossy picture at the top of the brochure). I'm particularly interested in how the development will be 'Built to meet the highest level of design and sustainability standards'. Bristol City Council Leader Helen Holland says the development is '...potentially the jewel in the crown for South Bristol...'.

Planning permission has already been given for redevelopment. The brochure outlines the plans for a Healthplex with pool, leisure facilities and all sorts, Hospital, Skills Academy, Computershare HQ and more...(note: house building is briefly mentioned only) and invites peoples views. I will certainly be sharing my views, not least because of my involvement in trying to save Jubilee Pool from closure (see numerous posts on this blog), which is interlinked with the Hengrove development. In fact Lib Dem Councillor Simon Cook (then 'in charge') responded as shown in bold below to my campaign to save a locally available, quality of life enhancing facility (whose closure in 2010/11, I'd been told, is due to the pool at Hengrove Park opening). Extract from blog entry of March 19:
____________________________________________________________________

In a pretty desperate attempt to give the proposed Hengrove Leisure Centre, which will be built on open, green space by the way, a greener gloss, [closing my local pool also results in raised carbon emissions from additional travel impacts] he says, rather vaguely, 'We will also try to build in some sustainable technology - maybe having some solar panels on the top, or a wind turbine'. I get the distinct impression from his vagueness that these features have not so far been integral to any plans, though I will track his progress towards doing these things with some interest.

____________________________________________________________________
Anyhow, whilst its no longer Cllr Cook I will be tracking I will still be most interested to see how integral to the regeneration process and designs sustainability will be from now. All I could do today was send the email below (watch this space for more on this issue):

Please could you inform me whenever the Hengrove Park website (www.hengrovepark.com) is updated - just visited it to find it has little on it as yet!

What I'm particularly interested in is any info relating to 'the highest level of design and sustainability standards' referred to in the (not very environmentally friendly) glossy brochure I received in the post today.