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BRIDGEGATE EAST RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION (BERA) Minutes of the AGM held in The Albion, on Tuesday 30th January 2024

In attendance

Bill Grady (Chair), Fiona and Adrian Rushforth, Anne Grady, Jim Parrish, David Flood, Christina Mercer, Sue Matthew, Tony and Gwyneth Doggett, Jim and Patricia Lewis, Roy and Janet Webb, Hazel Roberts, Mark and Helen Foden, Tim Powell, Anna Newman, Katrina Kerr, Paul Chamberlain, Ben Walker

Apologies for Absence

Apologies for absence were received from John Bottomley and Daniel Squibb

Welcome by BERA Chair

Bill welcomed everyone to the meeting, especially our councillors – Katrina Kerr, Paul Chamberlain and Ben Walker. He thanked Christina Mercer for again allowing us to use the Albion and for her continued support throughout the year. He read out a card from Christina, thanking BERA members for their recent birthday gift.

Approval of 2023 AGM Minutes

The minutes of the 2023 AGM were proposed as a true record by Jim Parrish, seconded by Sue Matthew and unanimously approved

Matters Arising

• Quicks – Jim Parrish gave a brief review of the history of the submitted plans. Katrina Kerr confirmed that the Council are anticipating a new application from Bridgemer.
• Drill Hall Gardens – there has been little progress by BERA in the Drill Hall Gardens, apart from some strimming and tidying up. However, Adrian Rushforth and Tony Doggett reported that workmen had recently been working there and had pruned the trees. For further progress, Jim requested help from members, either by joining the exec or by forming a separate working group. There is money available, including money donated from the recent filming of ‘Archie’ in Albion Street, which is to be used for a community project. Katrina said that if benches were required to contact Vanessa Bond. Some members were concerned about placement of benches as they encouraged night time sleepers.
• Conservation area – Jim informed the meeting that in 2012, the Chester Characterisation Study was reviewed and this is a valuable tool for use in planning applications. He spoke of the difficulty in finding out which residences had to conform to Article 4 directions, mentioning a house in Albion Place which has gone ahead with work without planning permission being granted (although applied for in the middle of last year). Katrina said she would check the status with planning. Jim also mentioned that wheelie bins which had erroneously been delivered to properties in Albion Place have now been removed, although Anna Newman said that one house has put them in their yard.
• City Walls – Fiona Rushforth firstly gave the name of a Facebook page, Chester City Walls Repair Campaign Group, open to anyone who is concerned about the state of the Walls. In the BERA area, she said the Recorder Steps had been propped up since 2014, with no sign of any repair work. In 2022, the Council informed the residents of the Walls between The Recorder House and the Wishing Steps that there was money available to level the pavement and to investigate the footings of the houses to prevent ingress of water and hopefully repair the Steps. To this end, a surveyor spent time with all the residents, showing detailed drawings and saying the work would be completed by 2023. As nothing was then done, Adrian Rushforth wrote to the Council. He received a reply from Dylan Davies, the Principal Bridge Engineer, who said the council had changed contractors, so all would have to start again, but that it was ‘a high priority’. Nothing has been done so far. Location of City Walls Paypoint was mentioned

Action: Paul Chamberlain and Katrina Kerr asked for the emails to be passed on to them and they would investigate.

Report on 2023 BERA Activities

Bill reported that as the Pepper Street Car park development had taken up a lot of time, together with the resignation of Mike Hogg as BERA Chairman, which meant himself getting up to speed with the role of Chair, not as much had been done in other areas as might have been hoped. He said that we wanted to focus much more on immediate locality rather than city wide problems such as ASB in the city centre.

• Pepper Street Car Park – in spite of 41 objections by residents and a petition as well, both planning and licensing applications were passed. During the hearings, BERA raised awareness of the Cumulative Impact Policy (CIP), which covers our area. This was reviewed and adopted in 2022 and states that if there is just one objection to the licence the application must go to subcommittee and be refused unless the applicant can prove there will be no increase in noise, antisocial behaviour etc. This seemed to have no impact on the hearings. However, some concessions were granted. The planning application timeline was reduced from 5 years to 3, the opening hours shortened from 11pm to 10pm and the height of the acoustic screen raised from 1.8m to 2m. There was a verbal promise form the developer that no football matches would be screened and they have to have a noise management plan in place, which we can monitor. David Flood has made many people involved in the procedure aware of his concerns about safety and has produced a lengthy report which he has circulated to relevant parties and Councillors.
• Licensing hearing for Amni on Pepper Street – this was attended by Bill Grady and Jim Parrish. The CIP was referred to. The application was passed, but with conditions already imposed on other restaurants along that block, negotiated in the past by BERA. (NB This licence has subsequently been passed with the conditions attached).
• It was promised to bring up the CIP at the next CRAG meeting.

 

• Early morning refuse collection – Bill thanked David Flood for all his work on preventing the bins from the yard behind Artezzan from being emptied as early as 5am. He made the regulatory services aware of the problem and also involved CWAC. With the cooperation and help of Jim Dorrington from Artezzan the gates on the yard are now locked overnight. There has been an isolated incidence with Biffa turning up at 5.10am on the 19^th January, so David will continue to monitor. Patricia Lewis said they have a similar problem with ASH waste collecting Edgar House bins in the early morning. She was advised to bring it up with Mark Ellis from Edgar House, but if nothing improves to keep a diary of collection dates and times and BERA will put it on to their next meeting agenda and follow it up.

Note: There is a national and international definition of ‘night’ which is between 11pm and 7am. It is technically a criminal offence to disturb residents during these hours.

• CRAG – since the resignation of Mike Hogg, there has been no channel of communication between CRAG and BERA. Therefore, representatives of the exec have been attending CRAG meetings. It was felt that CRAG was very business focussed rather than focussing on residents, which was felt to not always give the necessary support to individual residents’ associations. It was therefore felt to be worthwhile for BERA to continue to send representatives to the CRAG meetings and so would continue to pay their £25 annual membership fee. It was noted that at least some of the people who had volunteered for CRAG working parties had not been contacted as yet.

BERA Website Review

Fiona reported that the hosting of the BERA website (www.berachester.com) had changed, so members may see some differences. One important addition is a link to useful Council contacts, and she stressed that if people had a complaint against issues such as rubbish collection or anti social behaviour they should use these links to report it. The more people who report an issue, the more likely it is to get a result. She also drew people’s attention to the news section, which includes community matters such as policing updates.

Once members have paid their subscriptions they will be able to access the members’ area of the website, which includes meeting minutes. They can also apply to join BERA via the website. She did ask people to check their junk mail for any notifications from BERA support.

Finally, Fiona asked members to consider any other information they would like to be included on the website

2023 Finance Report

Bill Grady, who has remained as treasurer in the Absence of any other volunteer, issued the report. Jim Parrish and Daniel Squibb  have reviewed the accounts and agreed they were a true record.

Priority Items for BERA for 2024

There were no suggestions forthcoming at the meeting, so members were asked to contact a member of the exec if there was anything they wished BERA to act on.

Appointment of Officers

John Bottomley offered his resignation from the committee.

The following were all unanimously re-elected to the BERA executive (proposed by Sue Matthews, seconded by Tony Doggett):

Bill Grady – Chairman and Treasurer

Jim Parrish – Deputy Chair

Fiona Rushforth- Secretary and Membership Secretary

Bill Grady - Treasurer

Anne Grady and David Flood – Street Representatives

This leaves the exec with three vacancies and Bill asked for volunteers. Adrian Rushforth and Helen Foden both volunteered and were proposed by Patricia Lewis, seconded by Sue Matthew.

Appointment of Two People to Review the 2024 Accounts

Daniel Squibb had agreed to continue to carry this out. Jim said he was not happy to continue to review the accounts as he was deputy Chair of BERA. Tony Doggett volunteered to review the accounts in future and was proposed by Bill, seconded by Jim.

Any Other Business

• Katrina Kerr said she had received complaints about the scaffolding around St Olave’s church. She had spoken to Tony Barton who reassured her that the inside of the church was sound. Nothing is likely to happen in the near future.
• Paul Chamberlain said, referring to the Drill Hall Gardens, that help could be gained from the Chester Localities team. He also said there was money available which could be applied for for specific projects
• Katrina Kerr suggested that a BERA representative join the History and Heritage Society
• Ben Walker informed the meeting that there was a members’ budget available, money from which could be applied for on the CWAC website
• Helen Foden informed the meeting that the scaffolding outside Albion Mews was so work could be carries out improving the front elevation of the building
• Paul Chamberlain asked for suggestions for any plats of lane in the area that would be ripe for development. Information about this has now been put on the BERA website

Close

There being no further business, Bill thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting

F Rushforth 30/01/2024

		BERA Accounts to 31/12 /2023
Date	Description	Expenditure	Income
31/12/2022	Opening balance			£339.29
	Membership fees (34x6)		£204.00	£543.29
	ITV Fee		£250.00	£793.29
	Printing – J Parrish	£11.00		£782.29
	Printing- F Rushforth	£75.73		£706.56
	CRAG 2023	£25.00		£681.56
31/12/2023	Bank balance			£660.56
	Cash in Hand			£21.00
	Total	£111.73	£454.00	£681.56

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The BERA Executive currently comprises the following roles: 

ROLE	CURRENT INCUMBENT	STANDING FOR RE-ELECTION (YES/NO)	NOTES
CHAIR	Bill Grady	YES
SECRETARY	Fiona Rushforth	YES
DEPUTY CHAIR	Jim Parrish
MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY	Fiona Rushforth	YES
TREASURER	Bill Grady	YES
STREET REPRESENTATIVES:
VOLUNTEER, STEELE & ST OLAVE STREETS.	John Bottomley	YES
ALBION & PARK STREETS	Vacant
ALBION PLACE & ALBION MEWS	Helen Foden	Voted in 2024
DUKE STREET	Anne Grady	YES.	(A)
CITY WALLS	Adrian Rushforth	Voted in 2024	(B)
THE WAREHOUSE	David Flood	YES
LOWER BRIDGE ST EAST.	Vacant		(C )

  NOTES IN TABLE: 

(A)         INCLUDING CLAYTON, WINDSOR & DUKES COURTS.

(B)         BETWEEN THE WISHING STEPS & BRIDGEGATE.

(C)          INCLUDING BRIDGE PLACE.