GCCC Minutes – 27 November 2024

Gloucester City Centre Commission

Notes of meeting held on 27 November 2024 at the Gloucester City Council Civic Suite

  1. Welcome and introduction by The Very Reverend Andrew Zihni, Dean of Gloucester

Dean Andrew welcomed everyone to the meeting.  A list of attendees and apologies presented is at Appendix 1.      

  • Notes of previous meeting, held on 19 March 2024

Noted                       

  • Review of progress on items considered at the previous meeting:
  • Together Gloucester – Louisa Davies, Head of Culture & Leisure, Gloucester City Council outlined the background and purpose of Together Gloucester funding, and she mentioned a few grant recipients. Funding is open until 10th January: the Animate Fund Explore-up to £1,000 to explore ideas for events, groups and activities and Animate Fund Grow- £1,001-£12,000 to create or develop significant events, projects or programmes that enable residents and visitors of Gloucester to take part in and experience relevant cultural activity.
  • Reducing rough sleeping and anti-social behaviour in the city centre – Emily Gibbon updated the Commission on recent activities and steps taken. The City Protection Officers, funded in partnership with Gloucester City Council and the Police and Crime Commissioner, help make sure Gloucester stays a safe and inviting place for everyone, from residents to visitors.  Gloucester BID does BIG Gloucester Clean Up every first Monday of the month. They do litter picking, weeding, tidying up.
  • The Eastgate regeneration scheme – David Evans advised that, having been awarded Levelling Up Funding from the previous Government, the City Council had recently received confirmation of the £11.2m funding.  Consultation and programme delivery will commence once key staff have been put in place.
  • The Gloucester Nature Park

Andrew McLoughlin gave a brief introduction to the Nature Park, emphasising its valuable role in providing amenity space and access to green infrastructure immediately adjacent to the city centre.  Amanda Forecast of The Visitor Business joined remotely, and gave a summary of her commission to research and make recommendations on how GWT and its partners might increase usage of the park, whilst protecting and enhancing the natural environment.

Amanda reported on the significant consultation carried out to inform the study, notably within the Westgate ward, but also amongst a diverse selection of community groups within the city. The research has identified attitudes towards green spaces and usage of the GNP and other spaces.

The commission will be concluded in December, making recommendations on how to take the GNP forward over the next 10 years.

Questions put to Andrew and Amanda related to how the park could mitigate the flooding that regularly occurs, and what steps the consultants have taken to engage a broad cross section of the community.

  • University City projects:

David Evans introduced the item, referring to the suite of projects currently underway to strengthen Gloucester’s role and identity as a recognised university city.  The projects are:

  • Embedding students with local employers
  • Cultural meanwhile uses in empty shops
  • Students Welcome here
  • The Guildhall review
  • Safety in the city centre

Matthew Andrews spoke about three themes guiding the University of Gloucestershire’s involvement in the city; firstly strengthening connectivity, secondly, maximising the impact of the new City Campus, and thirdly, creating and strengthening links in the city for students, for example between students in the city centre and leisure infrastructure.  He emphasised the inter-connectivity of the University’s campuses and the importance of moving students around the various campuses in Gloucester and Cheltenham.

Matthew advised that there will not be a dedicated Growth Hub in the City Campus; rather,  it will offer training and drop-in sessions as an outreach from the Oxstalls Campus.

Stuart Emmerson spoke about how Hartpury has strengthened its links with the city in recent years, including the graduation ceremonies held at the Cathedral. He also made numerous suggestions on how to improve those links between both Universities and the city.  These included:

  • Volunteering opportunities – maybe more we could do in this space. Feeds into the civic responsibility piece.
  • Hidden gems: Could more be done re promotion of the Guildhall (and other events) by Hartpury and the council with some of those events such as comedy nights and gigs offered as pop ups at Hartpury
  • Public transport: critical (eco friendly transport), more bike and pedestrian infrastructure, shuttle buses
  • Safe spaces: More and safer recreational spaces, student focussed events and festivals
  • Jobs: Part time job opportunities targeting students
  • Enterprise: More entrepreneurial support
  • Student apps?
  • International support: More support for international students (visas, integration)
  • Lifestyle pitch: There are interesting stats around young people being much more focussed on health and wellbeing so perhaps more of a focus on this too – what discounts do we offer to support this
  • A more joined up approach with councils/universities promoting the county from a student perspective – to ensure the city is student facing
  • Student quarter: Maybe part of the docks could be rebadged as a ‘student quarter’  – targeted discounts at the food dock
  • Strategic offers: working with developers not just around graduate student/housing and accommodation but also around first time buyers targeting students to stay in the in the city
  • Joint campaigns Tech facing/future/family facing: Pittsburgh campaign (historic element just part of our offer)
  • Personal safety in the city

Lucy Willcox, Community Wellbeing Officer in the City Council spoke about the partnership approach taken to enhancing community and personal safety in the city, including the Stronger Safer Gloucester Partnership, and she referred to some of the initiatives underway.  This included:

  • The interactive community safety map
  • The Day Safe and Night Safe initiatives
  • Public Space Protection Orders
  • Night Angels, Street Angels and Street Pastors
  • 16 Days of activism, which started this week.

Lucy also referred to the Safety Action Fund, and the call for small scale projects that might address incidents of crime and antisocial behaviour in the community.  

  • Chispa

Tia Callum spoke about Chispa CIC, which is a Gloucester based and youth-led community organisation, dedicated to amplifying youth voices and creating inclusive spaces for skill development, self-expression, and active participation in cultural and decision-making processes.

Through varied arts and youth voice programmes, Chispa empowers young people to take ownership of their city’s public and cultural spaces. Projects like The Empowering Voices film, Revive Couture sustainable fashion show and Concrete Narratives: creative arts and movement jam, and partnerships and collaborations with international companies Upswing and SAY, all co-created with a youth team, focus on reducing barriers, fostering creativity, and providing safe environments for growth. Chispa is committed to nurturing youth leadership through continuous Peer Youth Research and long-term cultural transformation in Gloucester.

  • City Centre Review

David Evans referred to the recently produced City Centre Review of the city centre, including footfall levels, new businesses and empty retail units.  The newsletter is produced every six months, and also gives a regeneration update.  Commission members’ views welcome.

  • Gloucester Growth Plan

David Evans asked the Commission members to read and reviews the pre-draft Growth Plan, and invited comments on the 8 priorities proposed.  The Government has invited local areas to produce a Growth Plan, which is being collated by the County Council.  The priorities identified in Gloucester’s plan will be fed into the Gloucestershire Plan alongside the other Districts.

  1. Dates of meetings in 2025

To be confirmed

[post meeting note: dates of 2025 meetings will be:

  1. Close

Dean Andrew thanked everyone for attending.  The dates of 2025 meetings will be circulated in due course.

In Attendance:

  • The Very Reverend Dean Andrew Zihni (chair)
  • Guy Stenson, Gloucester City Homes
  • Cllr Jeremy Hilton, Gloucester City Council
  • Rosie Byford, Historic England
  • Dev Chakraborty, GFirst LEP
  • Martyn White, Gloucester Civic Trust
  • Tom Saunders, Young Gloucestershire
  • David Evans, Gloucester City Council (secretariat)
  • Tia Callum, Hundred Heroines
  • Dr Matthew Andrews, University of Gloucestershire
  • Lucy Willcox, Gloucester City Council (Communities)
  • Louisa Davies, Gloucester City Council (Culture)
  • Miranda Eeles, Gloucester Community Building Collective
  • Andrew McLaughlin, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust
  • Sam Holliday, Federation of Small Businesses
  • Emily Gibbon, Gloucester BID
  • Cllr Terry Pullen, Gloucester City Council
  • Ian Mean, Business West
  • The Rev Nikki Arthy
  • Stuart Emmerson, Hartpury College & University
  • Julie Tegg, Gloucestershire College
  • Raines Williams, University of Gloucestershire/Gloucester Growth Hub
  • Cllr Victoria Miller, Gloucester City Council
  • Dillon Williams, Gloucester Culture Trust
  • Luke Lutman, Gloucester Chamber of Commerce
  • Cllr Howard Hyman, Gloucester City Council
  • Chloe Warden, Gloucestershire County Council
  • Sophie Savage, Hartpury Students Union
  • Morgan Hanif, Hartpury Students Union
  • Viva O’Flynn, Gloucester City Council

Apologies received from:

  • Deborah Potts, The Music Works
  • Jon McGinty, CEO, Gloucester City Council
  • Phil Hindson, Gloucester Culture Trust
  • Mark Owen, Punchline
  • Jonathan White, Constructing Excellence (Glos)