The Next Chapter of Community Leadership

Re-imagining Redcliffe’s Future through Active Localism

Redcliffe is entering one of the most significant periods of spatial and economic change in its modern history. Major urban regeneration schemes surrounding our ward, including the £4 billion Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone to the east, the mixed-use transformation of Broadmead to the north, the Frome Gateway, and the Harbourside Place-Shaping Strategy are bringing thousands of new homes, commercial spaces, and jobs to the heart of Bristol. Alongside this unprecedented physical growth comes a critical question for our community.

How do we ensure that our existing neighbourhoods and resident families thrive alongside this macro-regeneration?   For Redcliffe, this conversation is not starting from scratch. It is built upon over a decade of hard-won, community-led leadership

Over a Decade of Local Leadership

In 2016, the Redcliffe Neighbourhood Development Forum published one of the most ambitious community-led planning documents in the UK. The Redcliffe Neighbourhood Development Plan. This landmark plan was the product of five years of co-design, engaging over 400 local people in workshops, coffee mornings, and street-level consultations using the famous “Redcliffe Wish Cart”.

Adopted as part of the statutory development plan for Bristol, the Neighbourhood Plan proved that local people could work as equal partners with Bristol City Council, developers, and landowners. It established a clear physical blueprint.

RE-IMAGINING THE VISION

Redcliffe’s Next Chapter

To ensure our statutory planning goals remain responsive to Bristol’s changing economic geography, we have taken active steps to keep our community’s vision dynamic.

The South Redcliffe Community Five-Year Plan

Developed by local people through the Redcliffe Hub, this plan places residents at the center of neighbourhood improvement. It translates our physical planning goals into four practical, human-centered pathways. Communication and Networks, Community Environment, Activities, and Community Infrastructure.

The UWE Live Projects Partnership

Cllr Sibusiso Tshabalala has partnered with the University of the West of England’s School of Architecture and Environment. For the past two years, Master’s students have worked directly with South Redcliffe estate residents, validating our co-design priorities against the massive commercial investments happening around us.

Tangible On-the-Ground Delivery:

We have already begun deploying local Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) capital to deliver immediate improvements. This includes transforming the underutilised Quaker Memorial Garden into the new Sanctuary Garden, upgrading the play facilities serving estate families on Proctor and Francombe Houses, and funding public realm enhancements that help our community feel cared for.

UNIFYING THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

The Redcliffe Area Forum

To lead this work, we are launching the Redcliffe Area Forum. The Forum does not replace our active local groups such as the South Redcliffe Strategic Leaders Group, the Estate Forum, the Redcliffe Garden Group, or our developing Neighbours Watch. Instead, it acts as a unified, democratic vehicle that coordinates our collective priorities.

The Forum operates under a Membership Model to ensure that local influence is perfectly balanced, giving residents, local businesses, and institutions a site at the table.

The Resident , The Business & Enterprise , The Partners & Institutions  

The Staircase Model of Recovery

Under the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, our neighbourhood-level co-design is backed by a useful framework. To ensure incoming developer social value and public funding are spent effectively, the Redcliffe Area Forum utilises a rigorous, evidence-based methodology: the Staircase Model of Neighbourhood Recovery. Rather than delivering disconnected, short-term projects, the model sequences our local priorities into three clear, cumulative phases.

1. Building Social Capital – We start on the pavement by reclaiming, cleaning, and activating our neglected green and public assets such as Somerset Square and Yeaman’s Yard. These resident-led activations build local trust, foster community cohesion, and naturally design out safety concerns.
2. Integrating Public Services – We strengthen this trust to co-locate vital services directly within our estates. This includes establishing the communal rooms and co-locating Integrated Neighbourhood Care Teams, youth services, and family support at the our community achor organisations.
3. Sustaining Economic Mobility – We connect our estate youth directly to the commercial wealth flowing through the city centre. Our flagship BS1 ALIVE Cradle-to-Career pipeline  partnering with St Mary Redcliffe & Temple School creates direct training, apprenticeship, and employment pathways.

The Central Ward Neighbourhood Board

To ensure the Redcliffe Area Forum holds genuine weight, our delegates sit as equal partners on the Central Ward Neighbourhood Board, our ward-wide coordinating body.

Operating under a joint community-corporate stewardship, the Neighbourhood Board brings together designated delegates from our three Area Forums and strategic regeneration partners. The Board holds the influence to pool local Section develop CIL bids, negotiate developer Social Value initiatives, co-design outcomes-based incentives, and more.

JOIN US AT THE TABLE

We are building a joined-up, neighbourhood partnership that brings together the people and organisations already shaping life across Central Ward. That means connecting our boating community around Bathurst Basin, residents at Merchant’s Quay and Guinea Street, communities across North and South Redcliffe, and our wider city centre neighbourhoods with trusted anchor organisations such as The Hub and Faithspace, local nurseries and St Mary Redcliffe School, independent businesses, community groups, creatives, developers, landowners and public services.

Whether you are a council tenant, leaseholder, boat resident, parent, teacher, trader, business owner, volunteer, faith leader, creative, developer or simply someone who cares deeply about the future of the area, this partnership is designed to give you a meaningful role in shaping what happens next.

To apply to become one of our Founding Civic Partners and be part of the Redcliffe Area Forum,  complete the Expression of Interest (EOI) form here