Community Groups

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Old Market Quarter is filled with many active community groups all with their own areas of interests. The area is made up of over 35 languages over 42 communities and many interest groups. This is not a full list as groups are changing all the time but if you are an active group in the area please contact us to be listed.

Old Market Quarter Town Team was set up with two clear goals to regenerate Old Market Quarter and link the area up as a hub by using this community connect website and quarterly open meetings. This project is operated by Place Making Bristol CIC a non for profit company.

To find Out more please click on the Town Team Tab above.

The Dings is a community in the St. Philips area of Bristol, surrounded by industry, the river and the railway. Cut off from other parts of Bristol, it’s developed a unique character and spirit. Its our village in the city.

This is The Dings Community Association Facebook page. You’re welcome to have your say, and please come along to our monthly meetings at Hannah More school.

You are always welcome, why not get involved in your community?

http://thedings.webs.com

Chair: Sal Caseley

Vice Chairs: Sophie Sharples, Sarah Anstey

Secretary: Helen Leckie

Treasurer: Dominic Murphy

Additional Directors: Ali Hender, Helen Leckie, Lisa Vaughan

Contact Details:

For general enquiries

Sal Caseley

E-mail: sc007f9026@blueyonder.co.uk Tel. 0117 985 8179

The Zone is located in the Dings Neighbourhood. This group is a an amazingly welcoming group and this group is a place for residents to socialise, exchange tips/ideas, sell stuff.

If you have any security concerns or need to report things that need fixing by the management company, please email Maureen on maureen@holdshare.co.uk Tel: 01275 879068 or contact your neighbourhood watch co-ordinator via the “Ratcliffe Court Neighbourhood Watch” Facebook page. (If you have joined the scheme).

Political, religious and offensive posts will be removed.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/80496070830/photos/

Ratcliffe Court in the Zone is located in the Dings Neighbourhood. The group is a Place for Neighbourhood Watch Members to report any security concerns, inform each other of updates from the management company, police or The Dings Community.

Also a place to socialise so do not fear about posting about less formal things!

Ranting, unconstructive or offensive comments will be deleted.

A page for those who act rather than moan, and want to keep the Zone shipshape.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/176940515760967/

Kingsley House is located in the Dings Neighbourhood, One of the areas oldest resident Associations this Oasis in the city is home to a very active residents association when you move in pop down to the day room and catch up with Bette the Chair or Mike for a warm welcome to the Neighbourhood.

The Localism Act 2011 introduced statutory neighbourhood planning in England. It enables communities to draw up a neighbourhood plan for their area and is intended to give communities more of a say in the development of their local area.

Neighbourhood plans give communities the opportunity to direct the development of their areas through creation of neighbourhood plans. Local authorities have the responsibility to support communities who wish to engage in the neighbourhood planning process and have the responsibility to use the policies produced.

The Old Market Quarter Neighbourhood Forum has been set up with the intention of producing a neighbourhood plan for the area. The Forum comprises residents, businesses and landlords who live and work in Old Market Quarter. The Forum was designated by Bristol City Council in March 2013

The neighbourhood plan area agreed by the City Council extends to Cabot Circus shopping centre, Castle Park, Easton Way and the Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone. It includes St. Judes, Newtown and the Dings.

The Old Market Quarter Neighbourhood Plan identifies, designates, promotes and endeavors to bring about the development or redevelopment of sites within the area for among other things, housing, employment, recreation, green spaces, local services, and transport and the provision of social, recreation, retail, employment, business, transport and environmental services to improve the wellbeing of residents and businesses within the area. This provision reflects the needs of the area which has suffered many decades of low investment, separation from the city centre through the building of the inner city ring road and from east Bristol through the building of Easton Way, dislocation of its inner community due to swathes of slum clearances and population relocation. Old Market, St Jude’s, Newtown and the Dings have become isolated pockets of communities that have suffered many decades of decline in terms of local services and good community infrastructure.

The Old Market Quarter Neighbourhood Forum seeks to regenerate the area, giving the wider community better access to basic services and infrastructure and so improve the long-term sustainability of Old Market Quarter and the well-being of residents and businesses within the area.

Additional Notes

The area has potential for development growth in the future. There are several small to medium undeveloped sites which could be developed or built on to provide for new homes, jobs or other uses the area needs. The boundary includes the Protected Industrial & Warehousing Area in The Dings. We intend to assess its true value in terms of current occupation, employment and sustainable viability as it stands.

The area’s huge diversity in terms of built environment and community culture are both a great asset and yet a factor where carefully considered future development should be well planned. We are keen to promote development that will promote a mixed and well balanced community that can be sustainable for the long term within Old Market Quarter.

The central area, around Old Market Street and West Street, is designated as a Conservation Area and has been appraised accordingly, with some 60 listed buildings. This fact alone has done little to prevent the area falling into its current state and in many respects has been seen as a barrier,preventing proper investment in maintenance and renovation of some of these listed buildings.

There is a great opportunity to make better use of the existing building stock, including derelict, empty and neglected properties, or those which could accommodate new uses which would better serve the community.

The whole area was once intrinsically linked with Old Market Street being the historical high street. Post-war slum clearance, badly planned redevelopment and the over-emphasis upon motor vehicle through-flow has blighted the area leading to its present condition and need for regeneration. The population of Old Market Quarter has more than doubled in the last 9 years, yet in real terms the number of amenities have diminished. Old Market Street no longer functions as a proper high street for the local communities who find themselves severed from each other and the rest of the city and lacking basic amenities.

One of the aims of the group is to investigate and facilitate changes to the road system to ensure it better serves the sustainability of the area, which may also release future potential development sites, the largest of which is focussed around Lawrence Hill roundabout (even though this is outside the boundary of the application) and Clarence Road and Bond Street roundabout. Similarly, a key aim is to reconnect Old Market with Castle Park, hence the inclusion of the area around the Marriott Hotel within the proposed boundary.

The Enterprise Zone is expected to create a large number of new businesses and jobs. This highlights the need to ensure new development is appropriate and sensitive to the requirements of local residents and businesses. We are keen to ensure that links between Old Market Quarter and the Enterprise Zone are enhanced by future development for the mutual benefit of all concerned.

For More Information please click on the Neighbourhood Development Plan link in the menu above.