Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

The Democratic Services Officer will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out on the Agenda.

The Democratic Services Officer drew attention to the emergency evacuation procedure.

There were no apologies for absence or substitutions.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest, (as defined in Part 4.4 Appendix B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

There was no urgent business.

There were no items from the public.

To confirm the minutes as a correct record for signing by the Chair.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of 20 June 2024 be confirmed as a correct record for signing by the Chair.

Report – to follow

It was noted that this item had been withdrawn from the agenda and would be considered at the next meeting of the Sub-Committee. 

To consider a complaint received by a member of the public in relation to the removal of bollards/motorised vehicles accessing Alice Park and the associated risks to children using the park.

The Chair reported that she had received 3 complaints since last meeting 2 of which related to vehicles accessing the park and the associated risks to park users, in particular young children and concerns about the removal of bollards preventing vehicular access.  She confirmed that the third complaint related to cycling and would be discussed later in the meeting.

The Sub-Committee raised the following points:

1.  There were instances of people sleeping in vehicles overnight in the car park.

2.  The car park was private and part of Alice Park and could be repurposed for an alternative use in the future. 

3.  Officers had advised that it would be expensive to install a system to charge for parking.  Asking for a voluntary donation towards the play park project was an option. 

4.  There needed to be a sign in the car park to advise users that they were using the car park at their own risk.

5.  Some vehicles did need access to the park to provide services and maintenance, such as Council vehicles, Healthmatic and community garden/café deliveries. 

6.  Re-installing the bollards was a solution to controlling vehicular access.  These would be controlled by a combination lock and the code shared with authorised users. 

7.  A barrier could be installed in the interim – the Chair undertook to ask Volker if the barriers being providing for the Youth Festival could be used until bollards had been reinstalled.

The installation of bollards would be considered under the next item.

RESOLVED that the complainants be informed that the Sub-Committee had considered their complaints and were investigating solutions to restrict vehicular access to the park.

The Parks & Greenspaces Team Manager reported that he had passed on the request from the Trust to install bollards restricting vehicular access to Alice Park to the Council’s Property Team, and they had responded with a quote of £2934.00 to install 4 bollards.

RESOLVED

1.  Authority be delegated to the Chair and the Parks and Greenspaces Team Manager to agree a suitable location and secure the installation of 4 bollards.

2.  Two signs be erected in the car park – one to ask for a voluntary contribution to the play project in return for free parking and one to advise users that they were using the car park at their own risk. 

3.  The Director of Place Management to provide more information about the rules about the use of a private car park.

4.  An update report be provided for the next meeting.

To note a concern from a member of the public about children cycling in no cycling area and the need for signage to be re-painted.

To receive an update on works carried out to the children’s cycle path by Volker.

The Chair reported a complaint from a park user about children cycling on the path by the tennis courts.  She confirmed that historically the path had been designated as a “no cycling” path and that the signage had faded over time. 

The Sub-Committee raised the following points:

1.  Members questioned whether there was a need for cycling to be prohibited on the path in view of the fact that it led to the cycling area where a lot of young children learnt to cycle. 

2.  The designated cycling area was signposted as a shared path, and it may be more appropriate for other paths in the park to be used in the same way to teach children about sharing space with other users.

3.  It was noted that it was primarily under 10s who cycled within Alice Park and a lot of local people had learnt to cycle within the park as children.  It was also noted that the park had been left in Trust as an area for children to play and that cycling met this objective.

4.  Leafleting/signage to educate users about “sharing with care” was a way forward. 

5.  In the event of anti-social behaviour, this could be reported in the usual way.

RESOLVED that a future event be organised to celebrate children cycling in Alice Park and to promote positive messages about sharing space.

To agree a fee and invoice the Grand Cru Petanque Club for the use of facilities at Alice Park.

The Chair asked for the views of the Sub-Committee on charging for the use of the Pétanque facilities and confirmed that the club had been requested to pay £150 for using the facilities in the previous year.

In response to a question about charges in Council run parks, the Parks& Greenspaces Team Manager confirmed that the situation was nuanced, and there was not a standard charge for the use of pétanque facilities.

RESOLVED that Bath Grand Cru Pétanque Club be charged £150 for the use of facilities at Alice Park and be requested to make a donation towards the play park project. 

In response to a request for the Sub-Committee to be advised when benches were removed from the park, the Parks & Greenspaces Team Manager responded that previously, a play inspector would remove a bench on safety grounds, but this was no longer the case, and benches would no longer be removed from parks.  He also reported that the Parks Team were moving towards an asset management system so that the monitoring of equipment would be more efficient in the future. 

To update on costs for new flags.

The Chair updated that following the last meeting, the flag pole had been repaired and that a rainbow flag had been flown but this had been removed without consent and the incident had been reported to the police.  She confirmed that the flag with the Alice Park logo was broken and the cost of replacing it would be £111.54.  She asked for the views of the Sub-Committee on whether money should be spent on replacement flags.  It was noted that if there was a future ambition for green flag status, the park would need to fly a flag at all times, usually the green flag, but this could be replaced with alternative flags on certain occasions.

Bryan Johnson reported that he had been in contact with St Marks School to discuss the possibility of the school working with the park to design and print flags which students would take responsibility for flying at Alice Park.  He asked the Sub-Committee if they supported him pursing this as an opportunity and this was agreed.

RESOLVED that Bryan Johnson liaise with St Mark’s School with a view to the school taking responsibility for designing, printing and flying flags at Alice Park.

To receive an update on the Youth Music Festival/Alice Park Tree Trail Map Launch taking place on Sunday 8 September.

The Chair updated that the 2 new maps for the tree trail had now been printed and would be available in the café, Mayor’s Parlour and at local shops in Larkhall.  She thanked Mary LaTrobe Bateman for her work on the project alongside the Bathscape Urban Treescape Team and the Parks Team.  She confirmed that the trails would be launched on Sunday 8 September at 3pm by the Bath Mayor and that there would be a commemorative plaque by the cherry tree avenue, highlighting the connection between the city of Bath and the Japanese city of Beppu.

The Chair also confirmed that the Youth Festival would be taking place in the park on Sunday 8 September, with a full line up of young performers between 12 – 5pm, stalls run by young people selling products as well as information stalls for young people and their families.  She thanked the café staff for their help in organising the event and confirmed that it was a free event for the local community which would not raise any money for the Trust and that there would be a review of the event which would be reported back to the next meeting.

The Sub-Committee welcomed the update and thanked all those involved in the events taking place on Sunday.

To receive an update on the Alice Park Play Area Project.

The Chair updated as follows:

1.  There were proposals from 2 companies in relation to designing and installing the new play equipment and the Sub-Committee was asked to agree which company should take the project forward. 

2.  The Trust did not have to through a procurement process to select a company.

3.  Confirmation was being sought on whether the Trust would need to pay VAT. 

4.  £75k had already been secured via Community Infrastructure Levy (CiL) funding.

5.  A leaflet about the project had been printed and this would be circulated at the event taking place on Sunday.  Buckets had also been purchased to collect donations.

RESOLVED

1.  That DBD Play be selected as the company to take the Alice Park Play Area Project forward.

2.  That Cllr Joanna Wright and Bryan Johnson be delegated authority to take forward the fundraising initiative.

3.  That the Parks & Greenspaces Team Manager be kept updated and invited to attend a meeting with DBD Play.

To receive an update in relation to Alice Park Public Conveniences.

The Waste Strategy & Project Delivery Manager circulated responses to the questions raised at the previous meeting and gave a further update as follows:

1.  Work was being carried out by Property Services to map the drainage following incidents of the toilets being blocked.  Healthmatic had been advised to channel any further issues/complaints about drainage to the Property Services Helpdesk.

2.  There had been overall improvements in the service, and the toilet doors had been painted. 

The Sub-Committee requested a further update at the next meeting in relation to the drainage issues.

Any Other Business

1.  Spreadsheet

The Chair reported that she and the Senior Finance Manager had agreed a system for dealing with requests to use the park/information about payments which could be shared with the Sub-Committee.

2.  Independent Remuneration Panel

The Chair reported that she had been invited to attend the Independent Remuneration Panel on Monday 9 September in her role as Chair and would share the questions she had received in advance with the Sub-Committee.

3.  Bins and Recycling

The Chair stressed the need to look at the location of bins and the provision of better recycling facilities within the park.  The Parks & Greenspaces Team Manager undertook to feed this back to the appropriate officer.