Friends of ’s Becks

Minutes of meeting on 29th April 2013 Gumption Centre, Glydegate, Bradford, BD5 0BQ. 19:00 – 20:20.

Actions

1. Introductions and apologies

Present: Barney Lerner, Rose Reeve, Elizabeth, Graham Glover, Steve Bland, Steve Angus, David Brazendale, Eddie Lawler, Cllr Alex Ross-Shaw, Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, Stuart Jenkinson, Ed Butterworth

Apologies: Alan , Jerry Whaley, Geoff Rooks, Ben Tongue

Thanks to Eddie for sponsoring the meeting by booking the room. 2. Report from signage and interpretation group (Rose Reeve, Steve Bland, David Brazendale, Barney Lerner). Continue good Written report provided. Three types of signs: way finding, work. information and marquee (i.e. artwork). In discussion with Fabric about local artists and design ideas. Ready to talk to potential In , Beck goes under a lot of buildings, not just roads and sponsors by pavements, so marking a walking course will be impractical. next meeting 3. Report from footpath group (Rose Reeve, Geoff Rooks, Caroline English, David Brazendale). 4. Group has walked part of route, also met CBMDC footpath officers re Continue good Thornton Rd area. work. 5. Report from cycleway group (Eddie Lawler, Graham Glover) a. Comments on planning application on Canal Rd cycleway submitted. Copy on Facebook page. b. Possible route west from city centre. No good route. Report back However, will look at possibility of linking Cemetery Rd to next meeting Ingleby Rd by continuing path alongside new Asda (see Google map below) New Asda

6. Becknic

Eddie Lawler will organise Needed: a picnic on 30th June, 2-3 pm at the culverted beck • everyone along Valley Rd (see map). to come! With choir, possibly Q20 • Volunteer theatre. Fun for families. filmmaker Would like to make video • Steward – any volunteer • Funding filmmakers? Will need stewards.

(Same day as Rae Gala in Northcliffe Park – should we link up? http://www.friendsofnorthcliffe.org.uk/eventsandnews.html)

7. Report from renaturalisation group • Barney Lerner, Jerry Whaley, Lorraine Clark, David Mould • Met 15th April • We are seeking an ecologically beneficial renaturalisation, which serves the urban nature of the Beck, ie fits with heritage, Barney to flood risk management, regeneration provide map of • Discussed possible locations for a demonstration project. Good possible sites to sites appeared to be: Cllrs Ross-Shaw a. Poplar Rd to Briggate (all, or either south or north half) and Hinchcliffe b. Briggate to Leeds Rd (all, or either south or north half) • Other sites to be pursued through developers and commenting Report back on planning applications next meeting • David Mould will provide some preliminary technical assessment of options • Funding: Heritage Lottery bid, provided we get support from Bradford. • Next meeting: Wed 8th May, 1600, JBA offices in (provisional). Let Barney know if you’d like to join the group.

See also item 13 below 8. Responses to consultations on Area Action Plans a. City Centre – response submitted. Thanks to Ed

Butterworth for excellent drafting b. Shipley Canal Rd Corridor – draft in preparation by Geoff Geoff and Rooks group to complete Chair’s report on other activities

• Presentations made to Shipley Neighbourhood forum and Bolton Woods Neighbourhood forum • Met developers for New Bolton Woods (Andrew Dainty) and from Bradford Regeneration (Simon Woodhurst) and discussed options for renaturalisation there. Hoping to meet developer again. • Met a group bidding for Odeon, specifically to discuss deculverting the Beck on the site. Apparently the grant associated with the Odeon includes funding to repair the culvert, which could be used to open it up. • Finally had a response from Yorkshire Water’s Director of Communications. Fairly lukewarm: “Thank you for your email regarding the Catchment Management Plan. I have now discussed this with my colleague Deborah Redfearn, and we have agreed that she will be our contact for the plan going forward.” • Environment Agency has encouraged us to set up a Cooperative Management Group with EA, YW, CBMDC. This needs Bradford buy-in, and they have their own plan for a group, so no immediate action from us. Will pursue individual projects in the interim. • Addressed CBMDC Env Scrutiny Committee, which passed a good resolution. Council Officers are a bit reluctant to have their hands tied by a policy relating to the Beck, but have been requested to see if they can support FOBB and to report back to the Committee in March 2014. • Bradford University has been in touch about improving Westbrook – Barney to visit 16th May. • Giving a talk to the River Restoration Conference about the plan, Wed 30th April. • Giving a talk to the Urban River Conclave about the plan, Sat 25th May. • Arranged for an MSc student from Sheffield to have his project about estimating the contributions of each of the tributaries to the overall Beck flow. He will develop a numerical model over the summer. • Planning to take up water quality issues with EA and YW in near future. • Facebook – about 50 members of FB group • Mailing list – about 50 on the email group which partially overlaps with FB group 9. Constitution for FoBB – not done. Barney to circulate draft before next meeting 10. Open discussion on suggested activities. Need to keep up our public profile, keep people engaged. Suggestions:

Stall at Saltaire Festival – 21-22 Sept. We have pop-up poster, lots of Eddie to book laminated photos and flyers for such events. Agreed this a good idea. stall

Stall at Rae Gala in Northcliffe Park 30th June – unfortunately clashes with Becknic so not this year.

Regular litter picks. See if we can find a volunteer coordinator. Graham has volunteered.

A happening in the City Centre, perhaps with chalk or washable spray Is anyone paint to mark the Beck and draw attention. First discuss with Bob taking this up? Parker, CBMDC City Centre Manager. If you are FloodResilienCity conference, 13-15 May in Bradford. Free. going, please http://floodresiliencity.eu/ get some flyers from Barney

11. Website

In order to make the website a useful resource in support of the Becks, Barney to: we need a technical editor and a content editor. Graham Glover volunteered to manage the site, but would appreciate help with • give log-in content. details to Graham. Martin Spiers has put the course of the Beck, tributaries and culverts • Put out (supplied by Drainage Dept) onto Google Map, which can be used on request for website. This is a resource that can be built on, eg linked photos, volunteers mapping signs, condition reports, pollution incidents. to help with content! • Link Graham and Martin 12. (Warning – jargon-laden paragraph!). Mitigation Measures under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Barney to: Stuart explained the Beck is a “heavily modified water body” (HMWB) for the purposes of the WFD. To get it to “good ecological Stuart to potential” (GEP) all technically feasible and not disproportionately suggest some costly measures to improve its morphology and water quality need dates to be put in place (mitigation measures). To do this, the Environment Agency and CBMDC first need a catalogue of these Members to measures for the Beck. attend! Stuart invited FOBB to take part in compiling this, through a site visit and workshop. This was agreed, with the site visit in an evening. 13. Minutes of last meeting. Accepted.

14. Future events and meetings PUT IN DIARY!

• Renaturalisation Gp 8th May 16:00 Signage Gp 14th May 18:30 • • Litter pick 8th June, Cemetery Rd area

• Becknic 30th June 14:00, Valley Rd • Next meeting of FOBB – Monday 15th July, 19:00, Gumption Eddie to book, Centre ART to pay • Saltaire Festival – 21-22 Sept