Celebrating ‘pupil power’

IT was fantastic to see over 150 young people from 60-plus secondaries right across the West of England at my Schools Summit - our region’s first ever.

It was held under the wings of Concorde over at Aerospace Bristol in Filton - and I could tell the moment I walked in this was going to be a supersonic event!

How right I was - local students took part in thought-provoking and really fun sessions designed to get them thinking about what our West of England region might look like in the future, how they want to shape it, and what part they will play in this.

As you might expect, the climate crisis was a big, big topic of conversation, because this region’s youngsters, and young people in general, will be most impacted by our changing climate, and will be taking some very difficult decisions in the future.

If you had seen the session organised by Bristol Energy Network it would have all looked a bit nuts, with students jumping around on a giant Monopoly-style board wearing chicken hats. But I promise you, there was a serious message there about how to cut our energy use!

Another favourite was Atkins’ workshop, where I saw curious young people finding out about being engineers and planners through a LEGO model of a city.

Other big employers, including Airbus, Deloitte and Firstbus, ran sessions on the future of transport, culture and sport.

The ideas of the young people were all noted down, so as to directly influence the future of West of England policy.

That’s important - the ideas students came up with could, genuinely, change our West of England region for the better. And I’m already taking steps to ensure this is the case, visiting participating schools like Yate Academy and others to update them on how mayoral combined authority policy – like our upcoming plan for transport – will be changing thanks to their awesome ideas.

Meanwhile, at the ‘marketplace’, students could pick up some wildflower seeds to help me in my efforts to make the West the bee and pollinator capital of the UK, meet a robot dog and learn about the routes to becoming an apprentice.

And I got to play Duncan Bannatyne when a dozen students pitched great policy ideas to me in a live Dragon’s Den-style event.

My thanks to all the students for sharing their ideas, which will really help me get on with making our region an even better place to live, study, and thrive. My thanks also to their teachers, and all the local businesses and organisations who helped make it a success. I came away feeling buoyed by these young people, the true change-makers and system-shakers - their imagination truly has no limits.

I call that Pupil Power. Now I have the task of harnessing this energy and turning these ideas into reality.

I know they’ll be making sure to hold me to my promises!

Filton Town Council

Chair of Filton Town Council Report

Cllr Darryl Collins

Firstly I would like to thank all my fellow councillors, officers and staff for their support with this continuing difficult period of outsourcing and reconstruction of our pool and recreation areas. It has been challenging and we still have some way to go but I look forward to the New Year (2024) when we should have completion.

Further to feedback from our residents there is now a positive drive to invest and volunteer in our community and I note our proud record of support for activities like our Community Garden, the Millennium Green, the Bulldog Gated Garden, Local Youth Clubs, Filton Twinning and the secured funding for our proposed Multi Use Games Area and the proposed consultation on a possible extension to our Skateboard Park and Pump Track.

Town Clerk Report

Lesley Reuben, CiLCA,PSLCC Town Clerk & Responsible Financial Officer.

This year has brought a whole new vision to my role, working in partnership with Active Nation to provide the new facility he re at Elm Park.

The new Active Nation Filton facility promises to be a modern well being hub which will provide residents with access to a wide range of sports and fitness activities. From swimming and gym facilities to group fitness classes, the centre is set to become a new hub for healthy living in the community.

With the completion of the structural steel work, the project is on track for completion in Jan 2024. This news has been met with great enthusiasm by residents and customers who are eagerly anticipating the opening of the new facility.

As the project moves forward, we can all look forward to enjoying a top class well being hub in our area.

The construction has brought many challenges along the way and we would really like to express our gratitude to all the loyal customers who have backed the project along the way.

I need to give a special shout out to our many volunteers who keep our Community Gardens looking so good. And driving our Filton Twinning Association. Not to forget litter picking and other activities that help Filton continue to be a great place to live and work. All these folk are a credit to the Filton Community. Should you wish to be a part of any of these volunteering activities please contact the office at Filton Town Council.

I commend you to this report and thank you all for your support.

Cllr. Alex Doyle Chair, Finance Committee 22 23

As the Chair of the finance committee, I am very pleased to say that it has been a very positive year for Filton Town Council, with the financial position of the Council significantly improving once again.

The Council reserves remain healthy, and the Council has been able to further increase the Contingency for the Leisure Centre Refurbishment as recommended by our accountant to ensure both the Council and the people of Filton remain protected from any unplanned cost increases.

Thanks to this the Council was able to freeze the precept for 2023 despite the significant increase in inflation and running costs. Whilst significantly increasing the funds available to support community development activities in 2023 – 2024.

The partnership with Active Nation continues to progress as planned, this relationship provides the council with an improved level of financial stability, and it is expected that the new council will be able to take advantage of this to benefit the local community.

Events

Childrens Christmas Party

It was great this year for Filton Town Council to be able to organise a free Christmas party for the children of Filton. This was such a success, and we hope to repeat this year.

Filton Festival 2023

We are in the process of organising the Filton Town Council are holding Filton Festival this year. It will be held Saturday 22nd July 2023 started at 11.30a.m and end at 6pm. Due to the ongoing works at Elm Park the venue this year is Millennium Green. Car parking will be at Elm Park which is a very short walk through the lane to the Festival. Disabled parking will be provided through the Northville Road entrance.

Millennium Green

Improvements to Millennium Green have included accessible gates that require radar key for less able users and pram/push chair access.

King’s Coronation

To commemorate the coronation of King Charles III Filton Town Council hosted Nature and Bat walks with Steve England in Millennium Green which were well supported and proved very popular. We look forward to funding similar activities in the future. FTC also gifted individual packs of sunflower seeds to the Filton primary schools for them to distribute to their pup ils

Community Grants Awarded

Twinning Association £800.00

Grants Youth Provision (Pyramid) £4,950.00

Grants Youth Provision (FACE) £17,500.00

West of England MS Therapy Centre / Brightwell £500.00

Filton Concert Brass £3,000.00

Filton Twinning Association £800.00

It was with great sadness in July 2022 that we announced the passing of one of our longest serving councillors Mr Keith Briffett He served the Conygre ward with pride for several terms. As a Town Council we are grateful for his commitment and passion to Filton.

As always, I would like to express my gratitude to the small team of staff that remain with Filton Town Council that help and support me on a daily basis.