Post in FW: Windmill Hill

May 23 19:54 UTC

I thought you may be interested and want to comment on the reply I had from
Mark Bailey about the Windmill Hill issue after my post on this site which I
cc'd to Mark Bailey and Alf Havvock (councillors)

Nixie James-Scott
Therapist, Teacher & Reiki Master
0117 985 8036 / 07974 119428

Dear Nixie,

Thank you for the email. I have copied below my reply to Nancy Carlton on
this subject that sets out the circumstances which lead to Windmill Ward
being linked to Filwood and Knowle Wards. You will see from my reply that I
acknowledge that residents living in Windmill Hill would naturally assume
that we should be linked to the Bedminster and Southville partnership.
However, it needs to be remembered that these partnerships are based on ward
boundaries and not on individual areas within the ward. I therefore feel
that irrespective of which Partnership we are linked with some people,
depending on where they live in the ward, will not be convinced by the
argument or the logic behind the decision.

Having said all of the above Alf and I are intending to meet with the lead
council officer for Neighbourhood Partnerships as we are not convinced that
the present arrangements are working as well as they could.

Regards,

Mark

Nancy,

Windmill Hill, Knowle and Filwood wards were clustered together under the
Neighbourhood Management trial, a Government initiative back in 2005, which
was the forerunner of the Neighbourhood Partnerships. We were not given a
choice by the Government in 2005 so it did seem logical, because of the
links that were already established, that this arrangement should continue
under the Partnerships arrangements. If I was given the choice, and leaving
aside the operational difficulties, the best solution would probably be to
put half the ward in the Bedminster Partnership and the other half in with
Knowle and Filwood.

I can quite understand why some residents living in Cotswold Road and
surrounding area, given the close proximity to Southville, would wish to be
grouped with the Bedminster Partnership. However, I feel that there are
Windmill Hill residents living in Totterdown and half way up the Wells Road
that would probably give them an argument about this. Families from this
ward who send their children to Hillcrest School for example, which sits on
the boundary with Knowle ward, may not be convinced by your argument. People
living around Perrett's Park, which also forms the boundary with Knowle,
again would also not necessarily agree that Windmill ward has more in common
with Bedminster than Knowle.

I suppose what I am saying is that the judgement on what is the best fit is
coloured by where you live in the ward, where you shop, what schools your
children attend, where you go to work etc. Whichever partnership we chose to
join I think it is inevitable that some residents within the ward would
question the logic of the choice.

 However, this does not change the fact that large parts of this ward are
affected by what happens across the boundary in Filwood. For example the
most deprived areas of this ward around Marksbury Road and Lynton Road are
already tied to Filwood because they are included in the Community in
Partnership boundaries, which is a Filwood based organisation. Youth work in
this ward is controlled through Youth Moves which again works out of
Filwood. It also needs to be taken into consideration that the biggest
development to take place in this ward over the next couple of years will be
the re-development of the City of Bristol college and the Torpoint and
Kingswear sites. Both these sites are on the boundary with Filwood and will
be managed by the Knowle West Project Board which includes the councillors
from Knowle, Filwood and Windmill Hill.

Your remarks about being marginalized because we are grouped with Filwood
are valid. The groups in Filwood tend to be very well organised and fight
their corner and can be on occasions difficult to deal with. However, my job
as a local councillor is to make sure that problems in Windmill Hill are not
marginalized irrespective of which group I am dealing with; be it council
tenants from Knowle West or articulate middle class people from Southville.

Concerns about policing in this ward linked to what partnership we fall into
are I believe unfounded. Alf and I usually speak or meet with our
Neighbourhood Police Team several times a week. We have an excellent working
relationship with them and I cannot remember one single incident when their
ability to tackle problems in the ward was compromised because of the
Partnership arrangements. Our PACT meetings for example are not affected by
the partnership agreement and I know for a fact that our team work in
conjunction with the police teams from all the surrounding wards, depending
on what issues they are tackling.

Your concerns over the lack of investment in our parks because of the
partnership arrangements are again in my opinion overstated. We have just
signed off the Improvement Plan for Victoria Park with Peter Wilkinson, Head
of Parks. During this 12 month process it was never discussed or intimated
that any funding for this work would be conditional on what partnership we
were attached to. Over the last 5 years working with park groups like VPAG
we have been very successful in bringing more investment into our parks and
green spaces in this ward. With continued support from community groups
throughout the ward I am confident that this investment will continue.

While personally I have no strong opinion concerning what partnership we
should belong to I do feel on balance that, because of the existing ties and
the working relationships established over the last three years, we should
remain where we are. I must though make it clear that after three years of
going to meetings I am still to be convinced of the value of Neighbourhood
Partnership in general. In my opinion until a substantial budget is attached
to each ward through these partnerships, that can be allocated and spent by
residents, they remain nothing much more than talking shops. Also bearing in
mind the extremely low turnout at previous Partnership meetings and the fact
that not one resident from this ward attended the last partnership event I
am still not persuaded that this is a burning issue with the majority of
residents. I feel it is also fair to point out that at the time of writing
this email this is the only correspondence that I have ever received on this
issue, from someone who actually lives in the ward.

As you are already aware I am always willing to meet with resident groups or
individuals to talk through these kind of issues. If you would like to
arrange a meeting with one of your groups I will only be too happy to
attend.

Best wishes,