The Dings Community Meeting – 14/08/2024
1. Welcome to all
Welcome to our guests, Luke Scadding – PCSO6688; Sophie also from the Police, Harry Simpson – Old Market Community Association
2. Newly refurbished Safe Ouse
Thank you all for coming and welcome to our first meeting in the refurbished Safe Ouse.
The Bristol Temple Quarter group suggested the Safe Ouse was a good local project to invest in given the amount of change going on.
The works were funded by Prior + Partners, the urban design team behind the emerging Temple Quarter masterplan, as part of their social value contributions.
Companies contracted by Bristol City Council have social value commitments as part of their contracts, to ensure their work brings additional and lasting benefits to local people.
In this case, it was felt that the best thing to do was to support the refurbishment by paying for a tradesman to undertake the work (many thanks to Keith from Renovate Building Services). Shanks, the Architect from The Nudge Group worked with Sal Caseley to create the design as well as manage the project and secured some incredible additional benefits like the free kitchen from Wren.
We are hoping to get a group of residents of all ages together to come up with ideas of how we can use the building more. Some ideas so far are parent and baby mornings, a games night, films … Let us know if you would be interested in being part of this.
We are also setting up a group of volunteers to look after the Safe Ouse. Thanks to Alice, Lee and Nerys for offering to manage renting and being first point of contact for any issues, thanks to Mark for managing any maintenance (the gutters are now clear !), Dan to look after Policies and safety and Lea for setting up an online booking and admin system.
3. Street Champions
We are building a group of people who will be champions and contact points for each street.
They will distribute minutes, sell raffle tickets and be a point of contact for the street when needed. Thank you to those who are already in place.
A list of your champions is below:
- Kingsland Road – Sheila, No. 71
- Shaftesbury House and Emmaus – Alice, Shaftesbury House
- Union Road – Michelle, No. 1
- Dings Walk + part Barton Vale – Liz, No. 8 / Dings Deli
- Birkin St (top) – Shahla, No. 31
- Birkin St (bottom) – Helen, No. 10
- Barton Road – Dan and Lea, No. 50
- Tyler Street + part Barton Vale – Nola, No. 23
- Oxford Street – Alena, No. 10
If anyone else would like to be part of the group, particularly for the flats, please let Nola know.
4. The Dings is getting a bus service ! Update from Harry Simpson
We are very excited to announce that, in partnership with Dings Community Association and the Big Lemon, the Old Market bid for WESTlocal funding has secured a bus route that links the Dings to Brislington and Central Bristol.
WESTlocal is a fund from the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority. Funding for the scheme comes from the Department for Transport’s Bus Service Improvement Plan.
The bus service (Route 61 – a number inspired by Marilyn, who has campaigned for a bus for some time now) will commence at the beginning of September and will operate 7 days a week. The stop in St Annes will be about 11 minutes’ walk from Sainsbury’s. The bus will also stop in Old Market, central Bristol and Hotwells which will allow you to link up with other bus services.
The Big Lemon are a bus company from Brighton The Big Lemon | Friendly, affordable bus and coach services in Brighton & Hove, using zero-emissions electric buses, powered by renewable energy and owned by the local community–
There was a round of applause and big thanks for Harry from those who attended the meeting. He designed the route, created a petition, found a new bus provider (The Big Lemon), submitted to the fund and worked really hard over the last 3 to 4 weeks to get the submission through the last few hurdles.
The WECMA will produce a leaflet providing route details that will be distributed to all residents on the bus route. There will be a photograph taken of Dings residents at the bus stop as part of the publicity around the service. The first photo shoot will be on Tuesday 20th August at 2 pm. It should be a fun thing to be part of 😊 We will also hopefully have another photo shoot to celebrate the arrival of the bus ! Details to be shared on the Facebook page once we know it.
5. The Dings is getting a Nursery
The good news keeps coming. Little Adventures Nursery is opening in the old Trunki building in September. They had an open day for Dings residents on August 13th which gave local parents a chance to look around and ask questions. The building is beautiful and the team were lovely. What a great addition to the neighbourhood.
6. Lights on the Basketball court
Update from the Council: “I have just chased the Lighting Team as I gave them the go ahead in June 2024 to get the lights repaired. The problem they’ve had is the electrical points box has been suffering with unauthorised access and altering the lights. They are now going to be fitting a secure box around it to prevent this happening. As soon as I’ve heard back from them and know when they will be carrying out the work, I will get back to you”
7. Treasurer’s Report:
We have made two funding submissions, one to keep the Youth Club running for the next year (update – we were unfortunately not successful with this one) and one to help with running costs while we find new ways to create some revenue. We hope to hear back from them in September and have our fingers crossed.
We have some groups renting the Safe Ouse which will give us a small monthly income and need to find other ways for it to generate revenue.
We will be setting up a group for people interested in coming up with ideas. If this interests you keep an eye out for details in the next month or so.
8. Development updates
Wates building – alarm testing has been driving everyone a bit mad over the last few days. That should now be finished for this month. There will be a few more days in September but they have said they will give prior warning for that. The lights on at night are reported to the site regularly and they are reviewing why that is happening.
Calor Gas site – Nola Hersey spoke at the Council Planning hearing in support of the Dominus development. While being mindful of the impact on the Invisible Circus these are the reasons for the support – they are the only developers to have properly consulted and engaged with the community. They made amendments based on concerns from Kingsland Road residents and architectural input from the Old Market Association. There were a number of benefits for the Dings in their proposals – a community space, affordable supermarket and a safe crossing on Kingsland Road. The proposal was unfortunately rejected by Planning. See the BBC article for more information – Bristol Invisible Circus gets reprieve as student flats rejected – BBC News
Silverthorne Lane – Silverthorne Lane Passage and the footbridge are apparently closed from August 20th 2024 to February 2025. This has not been communicated to local communities and will have a real impact on those wanting to walk to Avonmeads. Dan from the Cider Box has written to the council for more information.
9. Crime – PCSO Luke Scadding – PC6688.
KEEP REPORTING CRIMES – 999 FOR IMMEDIATE DANGER, 101 FOR OTHER CRIME, OR VIA https://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/report. These will be shared on the Facebook group as well. Unfortunately the police don’t have resources to follow up everything, but when there are a lot of reports in one area, this gives justification to get more funding to tackle the problems.
Suggestion from Sheila – write a letter from The Dings to our Councillors and MP’s detailing the issues we are experiencing and the resourcing issues the Police are experiencing.
Issues raised by residents:
- Issues experienced at Shaftesbury Crusade with homeless loitering and being aggressive towards residents
- Area doesn’t feel safe to walk to and from work for those doing shift work.
- Dealing happening under tunnel between basketball court and playground, and behind Safe Ouse ? A registration number was reported. Luke to follow up.
- Antisocial behaviour around the car on the cycle path. Lucy provided landlords contact details to Luke. Luke to follow up.
- Further issues with antisocial behaviour in the new houses near the Barley Mow. Luke and Sophie to follow up
- Issue with Trader reported but not followed up by Police. Luke and Sophie to follow up during the week.
- Deliveroo drivers – drive too fast and possibly involved in other activities.
- Kids having increased exposure to the drug dealing and taking in the area. Option for the Police to come and chat with them so they know what to do when they either find drugs or see something they want to report. Luke to discuss with Luis about doing a session at Youth Club
- Police presence not felt in The Dings
- Police were asked what they saw as the main problems in the area and what they were doing to tackle those.
- What is done to help those who are arrested to try and stop the cycle.
Police update
- Still only 2 people on the beat. Resources are short.
- Beat coverage – beat includes St Philips Marsh, The Dings, Newtown, half of Old Market and along St Philips Causeway to St Anne’s
- Late shifts – community team have been on earlier shifts but are moving onto later shifts which will help with the follow up of some of the issues raised.
- Observation from Sophie who is new to the beat – drugs are main issue in the area.
- Recent activity included a number of stop searches – some positive and some arrests.
- Gathering intelligence on a known drug dealer with the aim of arresting and gathering more information on those further up the chain.
- Deliveroo drivers – There’s a vehicle form that they can ticket them and remove their vehicles. They will be followed up. Some of them don’t have the correct licenses (CBT) so unsure if they are insured.
- Once they are ticketed then the company stop employing them.
- Driving in pedestrian area over bridge – danger to children – give times as there’s good cameras over there and they can be ticketed. Luke and Sophie to follow up.
- Dings Walk – notes from last meeting – at night homeless people are making fires and taking drugs on the lane. Concerned about flammable fences, as well as Electrical station and Calor gas nearby. Luke to inform fire and patrol more often.
- This month – Mark has put out a request for people to help clear the lane on Wednesday August 21st.
- Help for people who are using drugs, sleeping rough etc – police are working with Bristol Drugs Project (BDP), Bristol Outreach Services for the Homeless (BOSH), Streetwise team, St Mungos and other organisations. Police will pass details over to partner agencies as well as signpost people. Support is offered when people are arrested. Only some will take it up.
- CCTV Cameras– notes from last meeting – what is the criteria? Luke applying for cameras currently. If anyone has private cameras – we can send footage to police. Luke will check if we can send livestream. Do not need a face shot, people can be identified by clothing or the way they move. Alice to see if Shaftesbury can upgrade their cameras. Zone residents to campaign for Hillcrest to install cameras as well.
- Notes from this meeting – Luke to follow up with the Council about the installation of one of their cameras near the courts. Nola to include Luke in the email about lighting on the courts.
10. Dorcas and Kerry – Public art project update
Notes from last meeting: Dorcas has been commissioned to make some artwork for the new ‘Welcome’ building on Anvil street by the trainline. A huge crocodile being built for outside the door, based on the legend of the Bristol Crocodile, and lots of small ones for inside the building.
Update: Dorcas will be at the Fun Day to talk about the project and get the community to help make the textured skins for the baby crocodiles.
11. Fun Day – Save The Date.
Saturday September 21st at the Safe Ouse
We have a template we have used to organise the last few years that can be used again this year. We will need volunteers to help make it a success. Please let your street champion, Nola or Sal know if you want to get involved.
12. AOB
We currently have a vacancy for the role of Treasurer for the Dings. Responsibilities include assisting with funding applications, tracking and reporting back on successful funding, paying bills, submitting Confirmation statement and accounts to Companies House and to HMRC. We don’t have many transactions in a year and help is available when needed. On average I would estimate it to be 10 to 12 hours a month. If this is something you would like to get involved with please contact Nola Hersey on 07974 125 911.
13. Date of next meeting – TBC