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/

Charfield leads the way on street lights

LED street lights are to be installed in Charfield this month as the first stage of a South Glos-wide roll out of the new technology.

Nearly 300 new lights are being installed in Charfield during January, reducing the parish’s street lighting costs from £11,000 to £3,500 per year and cutting related carbon emissions from 45 to 10 tonnes. Over the next decade, the new technology will be gradually installed in all of South Gloucestershire’s 30,000 street lights from May 2014, as part of a rolling investment programme.

Local councillor John O'Neill said, "Charfield has led the way with part night lighting and now with the new LED lighting technology. This will make for long term savings on our carbon reduction target and the South Gloucestershire Council budget which will benefit all Council Tax payers."

Charfield updates

The footpath that John O'Neill gained funding for at the Churchend junction of Charfield Hill will be delivered and completed in February. This piece of footway will assist mobility users and will be a road safety measure for the many pedestrians who circumnavigate the village using this route.

The Charfield sign and road signage as you enter the village from Wotton under Edge has been replaced. This area is outside the South Gloucestershire border and was completed in liaison with Gloucester Highways.

The area at Charfield Service Station on Wotton Road continues to be problem for pedestrians particularly school children. John has had this area assessed and hope to it take forward through the area forum to find a solution.

Charfield Station and Falfield Park and Share?

South Gloucestershire Council has now submitted to the Secretary of State its proposals for how and where development will take place up until 2026 - the "Core Strategy". These proposals will be considered by a Government Inspector at a public inquiry expected in June or July.

The Core Strategy includes proposals for investigation into a rail station at Charfield and a Park and Share site at Falfield. Last year your FOCUS TEAM carried out a survey to find out local views about a station. Local Councillor Sandra O'Neil, along with her husband, John, are considering the responses, both written and on-line along with discussions they have had with local residents and will report the general views in FOCUS.

Sandra is hoping that the proposals for a Park and Share site will come forward as soon as possible. "The informal lay-by at the bottom of Tortworth Hill is an eyesore and is clearly nowhere big enough to meet the need. Drivers are parking their cars in various parts of Falfield and leaving them there all day. It is great that so many people are car sharing but they need somewhere safe that doesn't cause problems for local residents," she points out.

New burial ground for Charfield Parish

Work has now started on creating a burial ground on the land next to the old church in Churchend kindly donated by the Earl of Ducie some years ago. KLH Landscaping and Absolute Archaeology are already on site carrying out excavations. Charfield Parish Council is very pleased that the Severn Vale Forum has allocated a grant of £2,000 which will be used to help setup the operational arm of the facility.

Local Councillor, Sandra O’Neill , who attended the Forum meeting said, “I am so pleased with this extra financial help. The Parish Council has been raising money for the burial ground since 2007. It is a beautiful place for loved ones to be laid to rest locally, next to the lovely old church with a wonderful view."

B4509 accidents - keep a log

Charfield councillor Sandra O’Neill is asking people to keep a log of accidents on the B4509 at Tortworth. She says, “I would like to keep a log of any accidents that happen
as not all are reported to the police. Please can you help by contacting me regarding any accident that you may see.”

Charfield Station - tell South Glos what you think

Thank you to everyone who responded to our survey on the possibility of re-opening Charfield Station (pictured left, with John and Sandra O'Neill). Many people supported the idea, but others raised concerns about parking problems, increased congestion in the area and road safety, particularly on Station Road and at the junction of Station Road and Wotton Road. Some suggested alternative sites.

South Gloucestershire Council is currently consulting on its Draft CoreStrategy, a planning blueprint for the area until 2026. In the Draft Core Strategy, the Council is proposing to safeguard 0.84 ha of land at the former Charfield Station and adjoining land to the S.E. for a station and car parking. It is included in the Rural Package covered in PolicyCS7 on page 52 and described on page 58 in para 7.9. The possibility of re-opening Charfield Station is also mentioned in the RuralAreas section in para 16.12 on page 146.

You can view the Draft Core Strategy on the South Gloucestershire Council website and hard copies are available to view in libraries and One Stop Shops. You have until 6th August to make your comments.

Charfield Hill cycle improvements

The Council is proposing to extend the on-pavement westbound cycle path on the B4058 Charfield Hill and install an advisory cycle lane on the road to the top of the hill. You can read more and have your say on the Council's website.

New station for Charfield?

Would you like to see a railway station at Charfield? Or does the prospect cause your concern? Whatever your views, please share them with your local Focus Team at this website.

Deadline looming for phone box comments

BT have asked South Gloucestershire Council to co-ordinate the local response to the proposed phone box closures. Comments must be sent to the Council not BT directly by 31st August 2008. For more information, see the South Glos website.

Phone boxes under threat

Many of our local phone boxes are threatened by a BT plan to remove all "uneconomic" phone boxes from our streets, whether they are needed for emergency purposes or not.

The following phone boxes are under threat in the Ladden-Frome area:

Henfield Road, Coalpit Heath
North Road, Yate
Sundays Hill Lane, Falfield
Charfield Hill, Charfield
Little Bristol Lane, Charfield
Court Road, Leyhill
Longcross, Cromhall
Heathend, Cromhall
outside the old Post Office, Westerleigh
At the layby, Stover Road, Yate
Codrington

Since 2002 BT has removed 31,000 kiosks around the UK.

The Evening Posts reports the phone box story here.