Kingsdown Conservation Group

Kingsdown may not have precise boundaries these days but it does have strong local communities. For many good reasons the events that celebrated and brought those together have rather fallen away even before Lockdown – they can be hard to sustain. 

A few us wondered if the Jubilee weekend was an opportunity to enjoy those communities, to renew old friendships and make new and it was soon clear that many would welcome an event. Some saw it as a Jubilee celebration others as primarily a community celebration, but all were keen to engage.

A lunch was the original focus but a fancy dress parade with a band, some stalls, music and children games soon seemed good components.

Closing the roads was requested and notices acquired but could we find enough tables – for an unknown number and indeed would there be enough children for the fancy dress parade ?

As the weather forecast turned from sun to possible rain we secured a number of  gazebos. In the event optimism proved well founded. Lots of children – and adults – in the fancy dress parade with a great band; beautifully decorated tables well used for lunch; busy stalls including the much loved Whack the Rat (and  Catch the Carrot ); lots of enjoyable music including the singing of the Kingsdown song and many teas were served with delicious cakes.

It was a  happy day and with lots of communication (and the  rain only started as we were finishing !) 

The event raised over £1600, for  the British Red Cross Ukrainian appeal. David Mellor

At the end of 2021, with its covid troubles, we look back on all the inspiring work that’s been happening in Kingsdown this past year.

Firstly we would like to thank Graham Syrett for all his efforts to keep our community informed and connected. His Neighbourhood Watch email list has expanded to encompass many topics such as lost property, neighbourhood events and initatives, BCC’s timetables, and generally helpful and cheering news.

And thanks too to all the instigators of the many street WhatsApp groups that give support and connections to their neighbours.

Friendly Neighbours. One of these topics has been the setting up of a local group called Friendly Neighbours. They set out to do what friends and neighbours would do for one another, but scaled up to reach the wider community, particularly those who are less advantaged and in accommodation that doesn’t have the space and facilities that the rest of Kingsdown enjoys. 

Working through local organisations, from schools to food clubs, FN encompasses one community across the whole of Kingsdown – children, families and individuals  and are ready to offer engagement in activities, services and chats.  The support of Kingsdown residents, in cash and kind, has supplied food vouchers to those in need; supplied themed bags for outdoor play, and brought cheer and treats to isolating adults and children.

Younger members of the group also successfully helped with the application for funding for two projects – the improving of outside spaces for play and gardening, and the empowerment of women through English lessons. The Dove Street flats is now a community with its own newsletter The Dove and WhatsApp groups. If you would like to be part of Friendly Neighbours to wish to donate please contact.    friendlyneighbours@outlook.com

Kingsdown Sports Centre. Later in the year it came to our attention that our local Sport Centre was under the threat of closure from Bristol City Council.  This came to a head on 14^th December when over 30 local residents and Kingsdown Sports Centre users braved the December drizzle to make clear their concern about the possible closure of this longstanding and much-used community facility outside City Hall.  Although the Cabinet were meeting, the issue of the site’s possible closure wasn’t on the agenda this time.  However the group wants to begin to gauge community feelings, raise the profile and gain support for the campaign, before the matter is debated at the Cabinet meeting on the 8th February.

The Centre has been a feature of the local scene for 50 years in its present form, and we estimate it has 900 active users from all sections of the community.  We are hoping that the Council will continue to include the Centre as part of its leisure centre offer, but if not, we will work to see if a community-based approach to running and managing the Centre can be developed.
If you want to get involved please go to the Facebook page: savekingsdownsportscentre.

Advent windows. Our spirits were raised near the end of this year by the various creative displays along the streets of Kingsdown during Advent. The bold and ingenious displays supported the ‘Shine Bright for Bristol Children’s Hospital’ appeal,

You can still donate at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cotham-and-kingsdown-advent-trail if you wish.

Thank you to everyone who has cheered and inspired us this year and we wish everyone a Very Happy New Year and hope for a bright and safe 2022.

Bristol City Council has recently confirmed that the university’s planning application 20/00433/F includes the closure of Tyndall Avenue to eastbound motor traffic, apart from buses. Woodland Road would be closed to motor cars between the Senate House and the new library. Revised details can be seen on the city council’s website.
Together with other unrelated proposed changes in the locality to traffic movement, car journeys would be meandering and time-consuming. 
The closing date for comment is now 26th August 2020.

Application number 20/00433/F University Library and associated road closures

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. 

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.