Friends of St George Park: What do we want to spend our money on?

February 03 2020
Friends of St George Park: What do we want to spend our money on?

A personal view from Nick Burroughs, chair of the Friends of St George Park.

I’VE written articles for the Voice over the past few months about what people have asked for in St George Park, as well as making even more of the park.

A recurring theme has been asking people to get involved in making these things happen. At the end of February, we have a chance to do this across all three St George wards (St George West, Central and Troopers Hill).

We get to influence how the council spends a big pot of money called the CIL fund. The Council charges the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) to everyone who builds in the city. This money is available to create things for the benefit of the community. Our local councillors get to choose what projects are put forward for funding.

We can talk to our councillors about what we want (or don’t want) and we can create projects. This starts with an open public meeting at the St George Community Centre, from 2.30-4.30pm on Sunday February 23.

In 2018, eight projects were submitted, including for the St George Park Lake Project, refurbishment community centres, one-way systems, traffic calming and tree planting. Project costs varied from £10,000 to £300,000. The CIL fund also paid for the toilets and kiosk refurbishment in St George Park.

If there is something that you and your community want done, this is a chance to get money make it happen. You need to:

  • Agree what the project is; it must be “infrastructure”, not operating or maintenance costs.

  • Talk to your local councillor(s) about the project

  • Go to the meeting on February 23 and tell people what you want to do

The St George councillors are:

  • St George Central – Nicola Beech, Steve Pearce

  • St George Troopers Hill – Fabian Breckels

  • St George West – Asher Craig

You can find more information at the website bristol.gov.uk/people-communities/funding-local-projects, including a form that you can fill in with your councillor.

If you want to find out what is being proposed and be part of choosing what gets funded, please come to the meeting on February 23: I hope to see you there.

And, with spring on the way, if you want to get involved in supporting St George Park, email info@friendsofstgeorgepark.org.uk.