St George Project Ideas 2020

There was a good turnout for our meeting on 23rd February 2020 at the Community Centre discussing the options for the spending of funds available to the St George area from past developments – Community Infrastructure Levy or CIL – and the projects on which the available funds could be spent.

Here is the list from the flip charts at the meeting.

Ideas for CIL funding this year.

1 More litter bins, skips as a campaign to clear gardens, half price month for household waste

2 Beehive & St Ambrose Church combined entrance on Stretford Av to be visible from St George Park

3 Troopers Hill replacement slide – total £10k (quote from Parks) – £8K CIL, £2k crowdfunding

4 Dundridge Park Football Pavilion – provide toilets for public use to allow building to be used by the community during the 6 days not used by the Football Club – note CAT being progressed.

5 Wheel Park, St George Park – request for £250k from BCC as part of a much larger project. Note £100k required for repairs to current facilities to keep as is. Want to take advantage of the boost to the sport from this year’s Olympic Games where skateboarding is included for the first time. Need to consider how the project fits with overall plans for the Park, future of the bowling green, play area etc.

6 Beaconsfield Rd  – measures to address speeding, parking permit scheme? access to residents only?

7 Rodney Rd Playing Fields – play facilities so that residents can access facilities without crrossing a main road.

8 Hillside Av – traffic calming – extend scheme funded last year to the Kingsway.

9 Small wins on roads to address issues for walking.


Schemes needing further work to be considered for 2021 round.

1 St George Library improvements

2 St George Park play area – current wooden structure is nearing the end of its useful life. Idea for Parkour Frame for older kids added on post-it note.

3 Lighting on Crews Hole riverside path – possible increase in use by children & parents plus students if Silverthorne Lane development goes ahead.

4 Drinking fountains in St George Park – could be part of overall project to improve & restore the park.

The final decision on spending these funds is taken by Councillors through the Area Committee. The St George Councillors will now work through these ideas to ensure they are eligable for CIL funding. If necessary we will hold a further meeting next month to decide which projects should be prioritised for our area.

You can read about the projects that have been funded over the past two years on our website at stgeorgecommunity.org.uk/network/projects/
More details about the CIL process are available here: stgeorgecommunity.org.uk/network/projects/community-infrastructure-levy-cil/

Community Planning Meeting

We held a meeting in St George Community Centre on Wed 15th August 2018 to discuss the development of a Community Plan for St George and a permanent solution for toilets in St George Park. This is an opportunity for residents to work together to transform key local assets including St George Park, St George Community Centre, The Lake, Toilets, Library, community housing and more (photo, SG&R Voice).

The meeting, which was jointly organised with Cllr Asher Craig, was very well attended and there were some very constructive discussions. The meeting was attended by all of our four local Councillors, as well as our MP, Kerry McCarthy.

Below is a summary of the main issues discussed and the outcome of the meeting:

The need for a Community Plan – there are a number of community facilities in and around St George Park that need investment, there are options to raise funding through grants but there needs to be an overall plan to ensure that the different projects aren’t competing with each other – for example the library could be redeveloped as a community hub which could include a café, but is it better to create a new café building in the centre of the park with toilets and a community space similar to that at Page Park? This would be a Community Plan, it will need members of the community to lead it and to ensure it keeps moving forward.

Projects to be considered – St George Park Lake; St George Park Buildings (incl bowls / tennis pavilion); St George Park Play Area; St George Library; St George Community Centre. It would also be necessary to consider community facilities in the wider area such as Meadow Vale Community Centre and the pavilion at Dundridge Park.

Time-line – there would need to be extensive public consultation before plans could be drawn up and grants applied for. A business plan would need to be developed to ensure the long-term funding for the maintenance of any new buildings and planning permission might be required. Large grant applications are often a two stage process. It is likely to be at least three years before building could start, five years would be an ambitious target for completion.

Existing Temporary Park Toilets – Cllr Asher Craig to work with Friends of St George Park to apply for funding to extend hire until November.

Toilet provision after November – it was agreed that the best solution would be to use Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding to provide toilet provision in one of the existing buildings in the centre of the park while a long-term solution was developed. The four St George Councillors (who were all at the meeting) would aim to secure this funding for this at the Area Committee meeting in September. Further work would be done led by Cllr Asher Craig to look at options for paying for the cleaning and other maintenance required for the toilets, options include low impact advertising, inclusion in the café kiosk franchise, 20p charge for use.

More information is at www.stgeorgecommunity.org.uk/network/projects/

St George Park Lake – the ideas developed by the Wildlife & Wetlands Trust for Friends of St George Park can be seen below. These are provisional plans and a more detailed report is now being produced. Any project would need to consider the long-term maintenance of both the structures and the wildlife areas.

Click on images to view.

We will be arranging a first meeting of the Community Planning Group in late September, please let us know if you would like to be added to the list of those interested in joining the group.

Meeting 20th June – Report

We had a good turn-out with around 25 people in St George Library for our latest Networking Meeting.

The meeting came the day after Bristol’s Mayor, Marvin Rees, had announced that St George Library along with the 26 others in the City would be remaining open. These proposals are to be discussed by Cabinet on Tuesday 3rd July.

Cllr Asher Craig spoke about this and the need for communty involvement in considering the long-term future of the building at the meeting.

Cllr Craig also confirmed that it is intended to install a temporary toilet in St George Park near the café kiosk and play area in time for the summer school holidays.

The meeting heard about the work of the SGCN Topic Groups and in particular St George Breathing Better and their plans for the following day – Clean Air Day. You can keep up to date with St George Breathing Better by joining thier Facebook Group.

We then discussed further the options for the various projects that have been sugested and in particular those around St George Parks, more details of these can be seen on our Projects page which has been update following the meeting.

We are still aiming to set up a Community Planning Group to drive the process forward, please email network@stgeorgecommunity.org.uk if you would like to get involved.

The meeting also formed the AGM of the St George Community Network, Rob Acton-Campbell was re-elected as Chair and all of last year’s working group agreed to continue and were also re-elected. In addition Maria Needs and Pam Wade agreed to join the Working Group.

One piece of news that we were able to pass on was that St George Community Fair (postponed in March when the ‘Beast from the East’ hit us), will now be held at St Aidan’s Church and Hall on Saturday 6th October (11.00 – 2.00). Also don’t forget that Redfest is back in St George Park this year on Saturday 4th August – redfestbristol.co.uk.

Please do check out our Community Page for details of groups and organisations working in the St George area and let us know of anything that should be added or updated.

Meeting 20th June 2018

The next St George Community Network meeting will be on Wednesday 20th June at St George Library at 7.30pm.

As well as a chance to meet and talk to members of community groups throughout St George this will be a chance to continue our discussions on the various projects that were covered at our meeting in March.

The intention is to form a Community Planning Task & Finish Group, to work with the St George Councillors and others to firm up proposals and look at options for funding.

Cllr Asher Craig will also be there to give an update on the options for reinstating toilet facilities in St George Park for the summer as well as possible long-term solutions.

It is now 12 months since the SGCN formally came into existence, so this meeting will also be our AGM – but please don’t let that put you off, the formal part of the meeting will be kept very short.

If you would like to volunteer to join the SGCN working group to help run the organisation please let us know at the meeting or email network@stgeorgecommunity.org.uk to find out more about what is involved.

Project Ideas for St George – Meeting 14th March 7pm

Update 17th March: See our Projects Page for the outcome of the meeting.

St George Councillors are asking for suggestions for allocating Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) money to projects in St George.

Influencing the way these funds is spent is one of the most important roles of the St George Community Network and we are going to focus on this at our next Networking Meeting which will be held on Wednesday 14th March at 7pm at St George Community Centre, Church Rd.

The meeting is aimed particularly at community groups and organisations working in St George but all interested residents are welcome.

The meeting will update you on what the Network and other groups have been doing, including our Topic Groups and there will also be a chance to meet and talk to those running the groups.

The main part of the meeting will be asking how you think the money available from CIL should be spent in St George. So please come along with your ideas. Projects could be improvements in parks, to community buildings or other public assets. We are particularly interested in projects where work can start within 12 months but longer term projects that get community support could be held over to apply for funding next year. Highways schemes are being treated separately because of the long time it takes to get them started.

Read more about CIL and the process for agreeing how it is spent >>

List of potential projects in St George >>

If you are unable to come to the meeting but have an idea for a project you would like to see put forward then please email us.