We have a record of empowering communities, with over 120 asset transfers and lease agreements in place to help Bristolians take control and shape their neighbourhoods. Many buildings and spaces in the city are cases in point for this approach, and more still have the potential to be greater than the sum of their parts.

One such property is a disused building in Barton Hill, formerly used by the Tenants Association Club. Once the national restrictions allow people to come together again, spaces like these can be part of how we build back better. Works have been carried out to secure the building and clear the inside. Like local residents, we are ambitious for its future and have considered it’s potential for at least an element of community housing. A further survey of the site is planned to better understand the state of the building and what its next chapter could be.

Barton Hill Wellspring Settlement has, in recent years, set up a micro-campus with the University of Bristol ahead of their new Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus further up the Feeder. Work has started this week to invest in the Bristol to Bath Railway Path, running nearby. In the meantime, local councillors Marg Hickman and Hibaq Jama have secured nearly £125,000 for improvements to Urban Park in Barton Hill, with even more again for nearby Newtown and Netham Parks.

With the building listed as an asset of community value, the formal process has started to sell the leasehold. This will create opportunity for community-led initiatives to be developed, helping to write the next chapter for the site on Avonvale Road. Bristol has proven that when we work together, we deliver, and so there can be real hope that this will be part of a brighter future for the whole city.