Youth provision latest

The working group comprised of representatives from Frampton Cotterell, Westerleigh and Winterbourne Parish Councils agreed the spec for the contract to run the Youth Club at their last meeting. Frampton Cotterell Parish Council, who will hold the contract with the provider, has since approved the working group's proposal. Three organisations that provide youth services in and around South Glos are being invited to tender by 10 December.

North Road to close for cleaning

North Road is expected to be closed for cleaning between its junction with Armstrong Way and the bridge over the River Frome from 6am to 9am on 4th December.

Have your say on approach to identifying extra land for housing

As we previously reported, South Gloucestershire Council has to identify more land for housing - around an extra 1,500 homes over the next 5 years. The council has now started a consultation on the process it proposes to follow to do this.

You can find the consultation document, supporting documents and response forms at:

www.southglos.gov.uk/PSPconsultation

You have until close of business on Friday 8th January 2016 to make your comments.

You can also find out more and have your say on the proposed process at a public drop-in event between 4pm and 8pm on Monday 14th December at Kingswood Civic Centre.

What about the Local Green Spaces?

Because a number of sites proposed for Local Green Space (LGS) designation have also been proposed as potential housing sites, work on identifying additional housing allocations and on designating LGS needs to be considered together. An update is available at www.southglos.gov.uk/lgsd15.

What happens next?

After the consultation has finished, officers will consider all the responses and prepare a revised draft PSP Plan for the council to consider. If the council decides to submit this revised draft, there will then be a formal public consultation, planned for summer 2016.

What about the comments I made in the summer?

If you commented during the summer on the Proposed Submission version of the PSP Plan (dated March 2015), your representations will be made available with all the others online at www.southglos.gov.uk/PSPpublication and will still be taken into consideration. At the formal consultation stage the council will write to all respondents asking for confirmation that they still wish their comments to be considered by the Inspector, so you won't need to re-submit them.

Have you say at Severn Vale Area Forum

The next Severn Vale Area Forum is on Wednesday 2nd December at 7pm at Turnberries Community Centre, Bath Road, Thornbury.

The agenda includes the council's annual budget consultation, a presentation on the draft waste strategy, community grant allocations, highways maintenance priorities and a progress update on local highways schemes.

Have your say on council budget

You can have your say on the council's budget online. Officers will also be answering questions at the upcoming Area Forum meetings.

Nibley Lane to close for cleaning

Nibley Lane, between Badminton Road and Westerleigh Road, is expected to close for cleaning from 9.30am until 2.30pm on 30th November 2015.

Have your say at Frome Vale Area Forum

The next Frome Vale Area Forum is at 7pm on Thursday 26 November in Chipping Sodbury Baptist Church, High Street, Chipping Sodbury.

The agenda includes the council's annual budget consultation, a presentation on the draft waste strategy, community grant allocations, highways maintenance priorities and a progress update on local highways schemes.

Network Rail will also be attending to provide an update on electrification works in the area.

Growing support for cycle path petition

The Focus Team is continuing to campaign for the completion of the Yate Spur cycle path. Earlier in the autumn Claire Young met officers to discuss their latest plans for the scheme. At last week's meeting of the South Glos committee responsible for transport, she handed in another batch of signatures that have been added to our petition.

Join the fight against flu

The council has been reminding people that free flu vaccinations are available to all vulnerable groups including people aged 65 or over, pregnant women, those with long-term conditions and children aged two, three and four years old. People living in long-stay residential homes and children of school years 1 and 2 are also eligible. The vaccination has to be done annually to be effective.

This year community pharmacies are also offering free flu jabs for vulnerable groups, as well as GPs.

For more information visit the NHS Choices website or www.southglos.gov.uk/flu

More new housing

South Glos Council has been warned that until it identifies extra land for new housing, developers are likely to get planning permission to build on land currently intended to be protected. This could mean loss of some Green Belt and Woodlands Farm.

In November and December, the council will be asking for your views on how to identify these extra sites. We’ll provide a link to this consultation on this blog when it's available. The sites will be included in a revised version of the Draft Policies, Sites and Places Document for further consultation next spring/summer.

Confusingly, there is also another major planning consultation already underway - on a Spatial Plan and Joint Trasnport Strategy for the West of England (Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Glos). It will say where the 85,000 homes currently predicted to be needed in the region between now and 2036 should go. That’s an extra 29,000 homes over those already planned by the four councils.

At this stage they are asking how the homes should be provided - Urban Intensification, Urban Extension, Town Expansion (for example Yate), New Settlement, Other Settlement Locations (Winterbourne, Frampton Cotterell and Coalpit Heath are named as examples) or Dispersed (adding a small amount to all our villages). You can find out more and have your say at https://www.jointplanningwofe.org.uk/consult.ti before January 29th 2016. Planners will use the answers to help draw up the Draft Joint Spatial Plan for consultation next summer.

We know many are in desperate need of a home, especially young people struggling to get on the housing ladder. How best can new homes be delivered, while making sure our villages keep their identities and we continue to have access to the much-valued countryside? Please let your Focus Team know your views.

Threat to youth service funding

The Conservative council is consulting on restricting youth service funding to directly funded sessions in Priority Neighbourhoods and special needs only. This would mean there would be no youth provision money available from Area Forums, which means that all the youth provision given grants over the last 3 years will have to find alternative means of funding to keep going from April 2016. Have your say on the South Glos website before 11th January.

Charity looking for volunteers and guests

The Marmalade Trust, a charity covering Bristol, South Glos and around, are looking for people who would otherwise be on their own at Christmas to be a guest at their Christmas Day event and volunteers to transport them there and back.

For more information, please call 07511 630027 or go to their website.

Do you know someone who is giving outstanding care?

South Glos Council is asking people to nominate local care and support workers for South Gloucestershire's Care and Support Awards 2015. They are looking for people who have gone the extra mile in providing high quality care.

The categories are:

• Personal assistant of the year – somebody employed by a direct payment recipient, or a self-employed personal assistant
• Care home worker of the year – both residential and nursing homes
• Home care or supported living worker of the year – including those in Extra Care Housing
• Day services worker of the year

You can download the nomination form from www.southglos.gov.uk/careandsupportawards2015 and either email it to cchengagement@southglos.gov.uk or post it to:

Freepost plus RTCT-JXLE-EETT
South Gloucestershire Council
CAH - Partnerships and Commissioning Civic Centre
High Street
Kingswood
Bristol
BS15 9TR

If you would like to make your nomination over the telephone please call 01454 862356, leave a message with your name and telephone number and someone will ring you to take your nomination.

The closing date for nominations is Monday 14 December. Nominations are only eligible for people living in South Gloucestershire who are carers and support workers of residents aged 18 and over.

There will be an awards ceremony to celebrate the achievement of all those who have been nominated and to present the care and support workers chosen as finalists and winners with their awards.

Have your say on waste - but Tories vote against consulting on free green bin option

Conservative South Glos Council is consulting on changes to your waste service including:

• Replacing the existing black bins with smaller ones
• Replacing the recycling bags with additional boxes
• Introducing weekly recycling collections
• Changing the rules for additional black bin space
• Stopping collecting engine oil, household and car batteries at the kerbside.

You can find out more and comment here. You can also attend the Westerleigh Parish Council meeting at 7.15pm on Monday 16th November in the Manor Hall, Coalpit Heath when the South Glos Waste Manager will be giving a presentation.

Astonishingly, the consultation makes no mention of doing away with the green bin charge, despite Conservative promises before the election. We suggested that if this really is a comprehensive waste strategy for the next 5 years and they intend to keep their promise, the consultation should include the option of removing the charge. Every single Conservative on the committee voted against this. When will they come clean on their plans?

Badminton Road surface

Following the patching work on Badminton Road, there have been concerns about the finish. Although it is uneven in places, officers have assured local member Claire Young that next summer the whole road will have a dressing that will take out the irregularities.

Firework displays

It may not be the best of weather for it but here are some of the local firework displays this weekend.

Friday 6 November
Downend
Where: King George V Playing Fields
Organised by: Round Table - BBC Radio Bristol are hosting the evening, which is raising money for the Jessie May Trust
Time: Gates open 5.30pm, fireworks display at 8pm
Tickets: £4.50 in advance, on the night £6 adults/£5 children, under threes go free.

Saturday 7 November
Coalpit Heath
Where: St Saviour's Church
Organised by: the church
Time: 5pm (activities for children first, adults can go straight to the bonfire)

 

Winterbourne
Where: Sunnyacres Farm, Cloisters Road
Organised by: 1st Winterbourne Scout Group - funds raised will go to the group
Time: Gates open at 5.30pm, bonfire at 6pm and fireworks at 7pm
Tickets: £3 adults/£2 for children, from Daisy's coffee shop or on the gate.

Yate
Where: Yate Town FC, Lodge Road
Organised by: the football club
Time: 7.30pm
Tickets: £3 adults/£2 children on the door.

Sunday 8th November
Iron Acton
Where: Parish Meadows
Organised by: Local charity Acton Aid
Time: Gates open at 5pm, bonfire at 5.30pm and fireworks at 6pm
Tickets: £7 adults/£3 children, available from The Lamb or at the Acton Aid website

Firework displays - Ladden Brook area

It may not be the best of weather for it but here are some of the local firework displays this weekend.

Saturday 7th November

Thornbury

Where: Mundy Playing Fields
Organised by: Thornbury Round Table
Time: Gates open at 5.30pm, with a children's display at 6.30pm, bonfire at 7pm and the main firework display at 7.30pm
Tickets: £7 adults/£3 children on the night, £5 adults/£2.50 children in advance, available from News 4 U, Horseshoe Lane and Horders Thornbury Press, High Street.

Yate
Where: Yate Town FC, Lodge Road
Organised by: the football club
Time: 7.30pm
Tickets: £3 per adult/£2 per child on the door.

Sunday 8th November
Iron Acton
Where: Parish Meadows
Organised by: Local charity Acton Aid
Time: Gates open at 5pm, bonfire at 5.30pm and fireworks at 6pm There will be bonfire, professional Tickets: £7 adults/£3 children, available from The Lamb or at the Acton Aid website




  

Firework displays - Charfield area

It may not be the best of weather for it but here are two firework displays in the Charfield area this weekend.

Friday 6 November
Charfield
Where: Charfield Primary School
Organised by: Charfield Primary School
Time: Gates open at 6.15pm with the fireworks starting at 7.15pm.
Tickets: £4.50 adults/£3.50 children in advance from the school, £6 adults/£5 children on the night

Saturday 7 November
Wotton-under-Edge
Where: WCSF Sports Field in Wotton-under-Edge - parking at Katharine Lady Berkeley’s School
Time: Gates open at 6.30pm, starter display at 7.15pm, bonfire lit 7.30pm, main display at 8.15pm.
Tickets: £5 adults/£4 children on the night, advance tickets £4 adults/£3 for children/£14 for a family from Bear Street Garage and Robinsons Florist.
Website: http://www.wotton-firework-display.co.uk/

Morning After Campaign

In the long run-up to Christmas, many people will find themselves drinking alcohol at social events. Most have got the message that they shouldn't drive home after drinking but what about the morning after? When is it safe to drive?

The Morning After Campaign is designed to help normally responsible people avoid the risk of a drink drive conviction - or worse still, a collision or casualties while ‘over the limit’ - by highlighting how long it takes for alcohol to pass through the body. As well as their online calculator, they've now launched apps, which can be downloaded via links on the same page.

Vegetation on Badminton Road viaduct

Since the summer, Claire Young has reported a number of residents' concerns about trees growing out of the Badminton Road railway viaduct to South Glos Council. People are worried that masonry could be dislodged and be a danger to people below. Council officers have passed the concerns on to Network Rail, as they are responsible for maintaining the viaduct.