1. CAZ
This comes into force next week, so it is very much a case of watch this space. I imagine that there will be issues of one sort or another at the points of access into the Zone, at least, although I know the Council have been putting a lot of effort into ensuring a smooth roll-out.
2. CLEVELAND BRIDGE
Please see the attached report of the Transport Group.
3. NORTH ROAD
The Council's plans for this road have been released for comment/consultation. To say that the plans are controversial is something of an understatement (see for example last week's front page report in the Chronicle).
4. CITY CENTRE SECURITY PLANS
I recently met with Dine Romero, various other councillors and police representatives to discuss the Council's plans and I will update the meeting about these. Ian Perkins of TARA has kindly agreed to join our meeting to update us on his discussions with the Council and how he sees the plans being rolled out.
5. LIVEABLE NEIGHBOURHOODS/LTA'S
I have been asked by a number of RA's to add this to the agenda. There is increasing concern that there is a lack of joined-up thinking about the roll-out of these and especially how they will result effectively in gated communities and traffic displacement. There is a fear that those RA's that shout the loudest or have the most influential councillors will get the LTA's they want at the expense of neighbouring areas.
6. PLANNING
Please see the attached report of the Planning Group.
7. HIGH COMMON/ENTRY HILL
An impressive and coordinated effort by local RA's (The Cavendish Road Society, St James's, Cavendish Crescent, Lansdown Crescent, Sion Hill and The Friends of the High Common) successfully forced the Council into a U-turn over their intention to sign a deal for the provision of "frisbee golf" on the High Common. Residents have been promised a 2-year pause by the Council during which period the High Common will be treated as a park and remain free for use by residents.
Unfortunately, the outcome of the Entry Hill tender process was a BMX track in place of the existing golf course, the one outcome residents almost universally opposed.
8. BUSINESS GROUP
The Business Group will update us on their work and progress since the last meeting.
9. WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT CONSULTATIONS
There is growing disquiet over two issues: 1) residents are being swamped by survey after survey, many of which appear to be going over old ground covered by previous consultations and 2) some of the consultations appear to have been hijacked by special interest groups from outside Bath, the effect of which is to distort the results. This can be seen very clearly in the case of the Entry Hill consultation which had people from as far away as Scotland pressing for a cycle track. What if anything can FOBRA do about these issues?
10. TREE PLANTING INITIATIVES
You will have seen the very positive publicity about Bathwick's successful tree planting initiative. Alasdair Barron of BERA has kindly offered to speak to us about this and to encourage other local initiatives.
Justin Draeger
8/3/2021