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AGM

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Feb 082023
 

Wednesday 15th February 2023

The AGM of the Kingsdown Conservation Group will take place at Cotham Parish Church, Cotham Road, on Wednesday 15th February. Doors will open at 6 for a meeting at 6.30 pm to 7.30 pm

There will be the formal business of the election of committee members; report on the work of the committee and presentation of accounts. This will be followed by a general discussion of what lies ahead in our locality planning-wise, such as the developments of the Hospital on Marlborough Hill.

 Posted by on February 8, 2023

Planning Application for 5G Mast [now REFUSED]

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Oct 052022
 

Planning Application for a 5G Mast Adjacent to Redland Grove Park

Members may want to comment on a controversial planning application 22/04215/Y, which proposes locating a tall telecoms pole, and various associated cabinets, on the pavement diagonally opposite the Grade II* listed Main Entrance Gates to the separately listed Grade II* Redland Court, on Redland Road.

The application can be seen on Bristol City Council’s website via the link below.

https://pa.bristol.gov.uk/online-applications/simpleSearchResults.do?action=firstPage

Kingsdown Conservation Group objects very strongly to this proposal.

ADDENDUM 23 October ’22: We are pleased to say that this application has now been REFUSED. It is also encouraging that a very similar application near the tennis courts at Kings Drive, Bishopston was also refused earlier this month

 Posted by on October 5, 2022

Kingsdown Sports Centre Update

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Mar 012022
 

There will be a meeting in the White Bear, St Michael’s Hill on Wednesday 16th March to discuss the process for saving the Kingsdown Sports Centre. Below is a communication from the High Kingsdown Community Association, the group organising the resistance to the closure of our local Sports Centre.

UPDATE :

Following on from the first Public Meeting organised by High Kingsdown Community Association in October 2021, a small Steering Group of local residents and Sports Centre users has been exploring the options for keeping the centre open as a major asset in our community.

The focus of attention until now has been to try and make the case for the centre to remain part of the Council’s portfolio of leisure centres when it re-lets the contract for their operation over the coming year.

Unfortunately, the Mayor re-confirmed his decision not to include the Sports Centre in the leisure centre contract at the Cabinet meeting on the 8th February. However, at the same meeting he also made clear that he was not taking a decision to close the Centre, and that the next year would be used to find another operator who could run the facility at no net cost to the council. As there have already been some expressions of interest in doing this, he was optimistic that this outcome can be achieved.

The Centre now faces a year of uncertainty, with a risk that an operator won’t be found, or that the extent and access to the facilities at the centre by the local community may become more restricted or costly, or both.

An alternative view would be to see this decision as a positive opportunity for a community led (or backed) proposal to come forward. There are plenty of inspiring examples of this nationally and locally, and within our own local community we already have talented individuals who have the experience and drive to help make this a reality.

In fact, the centre could become a more vibrant, inclusive, and welcoming community facility than it already is, if we can work on a new vision and secure new investment in its facilities.

The way the centre is currently operated means that is does not quite cover its running costs, so this would need to be addressed, and any plans for an expansion of facilities at the site would also need investment: but the site has clear potential to become an even more valuable community asset for a much wider number of people than it is currently able to do.

High Kingsdown Community Association are holding a second Public Meeting to discuss the options for the future of the centre and to see if we can establish a clear community-backed set of proposals to be discussed with the Council.  We would like to either enable the community to take on the running of the centre, or to influence the plans of like-minded partners so the best outcome is delivered for the community.

Please register your interest in attending the meeting which will be at the

The White Bear, St Michael’s Hill, High Kingsdown at 6.30 – 8.00 on the 16th March 2022

Please register to attend by emailing : briony.waite@gmail.com

 Posted by on March 1, 2022

Dove Street Flats

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Aug 262021
 


Evidently discussions have taken place recently about the future of some of the city’s high-rise residential buildings, in particular Dove Street Flats. This Bristol Cable article https://thebristolcable.org/2021/08/high-rises-under-scrutiny-as-council-considers-rebuilding-social-housing/ makes interesting reading.
There has been minimal communication with the residents of Dove Street Flats in the past. Any such proposals would need much better involvement and consultation.

 Posted by on August 26, 2021
Mar 042020
 

Today, 4th March 2020, is the formal closing date for comment to be submitted in response to the University’s planning application to build a new library on the site of The Hawthorns. However, it is likely that comment lodged in the coming few days will continue to have an effect.
Residents are encouraged to read Kingsdown Conservation Group’s letter of comment, which is on both this website and the Bristol City Council website, along with comment from Historic England, the Victorian Society and others.

 Posted by on March 4, 2020
Feb 252020
 

Kingsdown Conservation Group has objected, as follows, to the University’s planning application to build a new library on the site of The Hawthorns, at the corner of Woodland Road and Elton Road, opposite the Grammar School. 

Residents are encouraged to view the application on the Bristol City Council website and act accordingly. Comment should be submitted by 4th March.

Planning Application 20/00433/F. Proposed new university and associated road closures.

Kingsdown Conservation Group strongly objects to the proposed closure of Tyndall Avenue to two-way motor traffic. The ramifications of such closure would severely interrupt traffic’s ability to navigate the city. Traffic volumes would increase elsewhere. St Michael’s Hill, Park Row and other streets are virtually intolerable as it is. Meanwhile, the streets in which many university buildings are located would become increasingly quiet parking lots, utilised largely by those university staff members allocated residents’ parking permits and busy only during weekdays in term time, otherwise horribly empty of life, particularly at night. It is extraordinary that the University’s governing body is insensitive to this issue. 


Bristol University is favoured for not being a campus university. Its buildings and landscape should celebrate the fact that the university is intertwined with the city as a whole.


The Group feels the same argument applies St Michael’s Park, which should also remain two-way. The current proposal to split the road so that one half is one-way while the other half two-way is confusing and, given the proposal not to separate the cycle route in the one-way section, potentially quite dangerous.


To turn to the library, the size of the proposed building demonstrably exceeds that determined by SPD11. The Group regrets it is unable to support the height, scale and mass of the current proposal. It would be against the grain of the conservation area and of the immediate context. It would overwhelm the nearby buildings of Bristol Grammar School, the former Baptist College and the Victorian villas of Woodland Road and Elton Road. 


In addition to the sheer size of the proposed library, its demanding architectural character would be discordant with the wider cityscape and, when seen from more distant viewpoints, the design would exacerbate the building’s immense scale. The unsettled, cubic forms of the proposed building would cause it to appear ill at ease both with its location and with itself.


The Group recognises the University’s ambition to continue to expand but feels what has been asked of the Hawthorns site should be reconsidered. The brief has asked too much of a finite location. 

 Posted by on February 25, 2020
Feb 122020
 

The University has now lodged the following application:


20/00433/F | Demolition of existing structures and redevelopment of the site to accommodate a new University of Bristol Library. The creation of an enhanced public realm within the surrounding area between Woodland Road junction with Tyndall Avenue, Elton Road and St Michael’s Park; with associated works (Major Application). | The Hawthorns Woodland Road Bristol BS8 1UQ


Members are encouraged to look at the application, on the Bristol City Council website, which involves not only the building of a new library but also significant changes to traffic use, including the closure of nearby roads to motor cars. The ramifications would be extensive.


The closing date for comment is 4th March 2020.

 Posted by on February 12, 2020
Dec 012019
 

This coming Saturday, 7th December. 9.30 – 11.30 am

As before,  we will be in the cosy  Kingsdown Vaults to enjoy our absolutely delicious bacon and scrumptious vegan butties and homemade cakes (all donations again warmly welcomed).  With of course, very good coffee and a variety of teas.
Come to support a good cause, be sociable, friendly, chat, talk and discuss local issues or major events and what we in Kingsdown can be doing. Please invite your neighbours. All welcome, young and old.

All monies raised go to the aiding the homeless during the chill of January.

There is now a section on this website for events on our Calendar. We will try to keep it updated with news of appropriate talks, meetings, concerts or other community events and deadlines.

 Posted by on December 1, 2019
Nov 092019
 

Some of the matters discussed by the Committee at their October meeting:

  • University Library. We oppose the inclusion of the large library and its public realm surroundings in a single planning application. We strongly oppose the road closures, but not the proposed library itself.
  • Hospital Car Park. Following Refusal, the applicant is going to Appeal (Informal hearing 21st Jan).
  • Laundrette. The owner’s eligibility for small business rates appears to be sound. Next move to be discussed
  • 12E Alfred Place. Follow up Enforcement notice for removal of unauthorised roof extension.
  • Discussed bike racks near Kingsdown Vault for the use of pub users
  • the group supports David Mellor’s initiative to get the ban lifted on Cotham School children using the shops in Cotham Road South.
 Posted by on November 9, 2019
Oct 232019
 

Kingdown Conservation Group was deeply opposed to the BRI’s proposal to demolish thirty-six flats, and an appropriately-scaled multi-storey car park, in order to build a single monstrous multi-storey car park. 
The application to do so was refused for many well-argued reasons: the council traffic department, which examined the projected traffic flows in great detail, rejected the scheme as unworkable given the area’s already congested and illegally-polluted roads. 
The thirty-six flats are affordable inner-city housing, which should be cherished not flattened. The scheme ignored the destructive visual impact such a huge building would have on Bristol’s historic centre.

The Group recognises that the BRI, as an inner city hospital, should be easier to get to for the infirm, the elderly, wheelchair users, and staff, but believes this could be achieved using infrastructure already in place. There are already serviceable multi-storey car parks in the area, which given the will could be used as part of the transport hub hospital managers say they want.

Destroying perfectly good housing to build a car park is thinking rooted in the 1960’s  The Council was absolutely right to turn down this hopelessly outdated proposal and the Group urges the Inspector now to refuse the appeal.

 Posted by on October 23, 2019