How Twerton Park Redevelopment aligns with B&NES Corporate Strategy
Bath and North East Somerset Council has recently adopted a new Corporate Strategy for the next four years and we at Bath City FC are pleased to highlight how comprehensively our proposed redevelopment of Twerton Park and Twerton High Street fits within their objectives. All text in bold is from the B&NES Corporate Strategy published in draft earlier this year and adopted by the council in February.
Our planning application will go before the committee on Wednesday 11th March at 2pm. Full details, including the list of committee members, can be found here.
Bath and North East Somerset Council Corporate Strategy
We have two core policies – tackling the climate and nature emergency and giving people a bigger say. These will shape everything we do.
Key Priorities
Tackling the climate and nature change emergency
Our development will refurbish High Street flats and retail outlets to higher energy efficiency, while the new Grandstand will replace an old structure with one with 21st Century standards of energy efficiency – likewise the new student, shared and affordable living accommodation.
We note that the Planning Officer has commented on a lack of additional parking in our application, but the Council and the UK Government’s policy is not to increase parking which only encourages traffic. Instead we are in discussion with FirstBus about ensuring strong provision of bus services.
Inequalities in life experience
It is widely noted how Twerton suffers the worst inequalities of life experiences in Bath. Bath City FC and its Foundation already does fantastic work hosting 3rd sector organisations for free in our offices (including the new Citizens Advice weekly clinic) and working with over 600 young, old and disabled individuals each month to engage them in healthier lifestyles. Rejecting the application would risk losing this, accepting would unlock much more good work anchored with our public-use 3G pitch and the new community hub. It would create a seven-day a week destination, reconnecting Twerton with the rest of the city.
Budget pressures in delivering our statutory social care duties to support vulnerable residents
“Supporting the 21 children with the most complex needs cost over £3m in 2018/19.”
The Bath City FC Foundation directly addresses this with its Dream Big initiative led by our first team manager Jerry Gill, engaging and inspiring young people in the two most challenging streets in Twerton.
Working better with local communities
“Our residents have an important contribution to make meeting our key challenges, whether being a good neighbour, making healthy choices, or volunteering in a community project.”
Bath City FC is community owned and run by as many as 200 volunteers across multiple functions, including school children, university students, retired people and working people who all give up their time for something they know is a power for good and social cohesion. Our 650 community shareholders provided the funding to develop and maintain this socially powerful business and have created this development project to see it sustained in Twerton for years to come.
“We need to listen to local people about what is working in their area and develop solutions which work for them, rather than imposing an approach from above.”
91% of the 800+ people who commented on the planning application portal voiced their support for this scheme. Hundreds of residents in Bath pooled their resources to take majority ownership of the club and create this solution for long-term sustainability in the heart of the community that needs it.
One overriding purpose – to improve people’s lives
The scheme introduces a new publicly accessible 3G pitch in the heart of the most inactive part of the city; it ensures the continuity of the good works of the Bath City FC Community Foundation with 600 people per month and promises much more in the future; it provides huge volunteering opportunities for people across all generations; it continues the club’s engagement with local schools and 3rd sector agencies including the Citizens Advice free weekly advice clinics; it confirms Bath City FC’s continuing presence as a high level football club in the city – a club which is beloved by many and has seen popularity and crowds surge in recent years. Furthermore the improvements to existing residential accommodation, delivery of new co-living and affordable housing give people new or better places to live, while the PBSA reduces pressure on HMOs and enables students to live in the type of accommodation they are increasingly choosing.
Rejecting the application doesn’t just risk failing to build on what we’re doing at Bath City, but may even rip the whole club out of the city.
