Stover Road to close for 2 nights

Stover road will be closed for resurfacing on the nights of 24th and 25th May between Badminton Road and the Yate Road Roundabout. The weight limit on Station Road will be suspended during the closure.

Resurfacing of the A432 in Yate

From today, Stover Road will be closed and the lights at the junction with the A432 Badminton Road will be replaced with temporary ones so that the road can be resurfaced and the detector-loops cut. The estimated completion date is 17 November.

Similar work is being carried out at the junction of Station Road and Cranleigh Court Road. It's hoped this will finish by Sunday.

Stover Road lights

If you've found yourself stuck in long queues at the Stove Road/Badminton Road junction lights, there is hope that the problems may be fixed soon.

When Claire Young passed on complaints from residents, they informed her that all the vehicle detecting loops for the traffic signals are damaged. Although Siemens have made some temporary alterations to alleviate the situation, they have only been partially successful and the traffic signals are not functioning at their optimum. The loops will be repaired in October when Badminton Road is resurfaced.

More local roads being resurfaced

Down Road, Winterbourne Down will be closed from 29th March to 1st April so that it can be resurfaced. This will involve planing off the old surface and laying a new one between Kendleshire Farm and the western side of the bridge over the river.

There is also a great deal of work going on around the new Council offices, with both resurfacing and pedestrian/cycle path works on Badminton and Stover Roads.

On Westerleigh Road in Westerleigh there will be temporary traffic lights on Tuesday 30th and Wednesday 31st March so that the road can be repaired.

Roadworks around the new Council offfices

During February and into March, there will be roadworks around the new Council offices as the roads are resurfaced. The roads affected are Stover Road, from Badminton Road to the north of the road-over-rail bridge and Badminton Road, from North Road to the roundabout outside the new Council offices. It was decided not to resurface these roads until the construction work had finished, to avoid construction traffic damaging the new surface.

Local roadworks

In the coming weeks there wil be several sets of roadworks that might slow your journey locally:

• From 9th to 11th June there will be a trench surface repair on the Badminton Road/Station Road A432 from near the railway bridge to Stover Road. This will require off-peak traffic signals and lane width restrictions.
  
• The railway bridge on Westerleigh Road, Westerleigh will have two way traffic lights on 12 June while the bridge is inspected.


• The A4174 Ring Road between the Bromley Heath roundabout and the Wick Wick roundabout will have lane closures for approximately 12 weeks from the end of June for essential bridge strengthening

Parish Plan Open Day

Westerleigh Parish Councillors organised an excellent Parish Plan Open Day on Saturday. Despite the poor weather, there was a steady stream of residents dropping in to make their suggestions. As well as completing a questionnaire, residents could also provide feedback by selecting flags with possible improvements or sticking post-it notes up on a board.

There were displays about the play proposals for Newman's Field (pictured above), the mining history of the area, the Manor Hall Trust and the Sensory Garden. The play proposals were generating a lot of interest, with the designer on hand to explain what she is aiming to do. Features such as balance beams and an earth mound with a slide will be arranged around the edge of the field, leaving room for junior football pitches in the centre. Play equipment will be multi-purpose where possible, doubling up as fitness equipment for footballers or seating for spectators at matches, and will be made of natural materials to blend in with the surroundings.

Don't forget the Parish Plan Open Day

Westerleigh Parish Council are holding an Open Day tomorrow (Saturday 24th) for anyone interested in finding out more about developing a plan for the Parish. This is a chance for residents to say what improvements they would like to see. Westerleigh Parish is very diverse, covering Westerleigh village itself, most of Coalpit Heath, Henfield, Kendleshire, Mayshill, Nibley and the Stover Road area, and it's important to have input from all areas.

There will also be more information about the play proposals for Newman's Field.

Your community needs YOU!

Would you like to see action to improve your area? Both Frampton Cotterell and Westerleigh Parishes are gearing up to produce Parish Plans. The first step is to form a Steering Group.

Westerleigh Parish (which includes most of Coalpit Heath) have arrranged a special event at the Manor Hall from 11am to 3pm on Saturday 24th November. There will also be a chance to see the new play proposals for Newman's Field.

Frampton Cotterell Parish (which includes the rest of Coalpit Heath) have pencilled in their Open Day for Saturday 26th January at the Brockeridge Centre. Before that happens, they are having a visit from two leading members of the Congresbury Parish Plan Team tonight (Tuesday 20th November). For more information call Dave Hockey on 773611 or email him at dave.hockey@southglos.gov.uk.

Lib Dems call to account Tory plans to halt Nibley park-and-ride

Liberal Democrat Councillors are appealing to the South Gloucestershire Conservative Administration to rethink their decision to put the Nibley park-and-ride on hold. Councillors Pat Hockey and Claire Young (pictured above at the site) are among five Liberal Democrat councillors who have asked that the decision be reconsidered at the next meeting of the Planning Transportation and Strategic Environment select committee on the 28th of November 2007.

The Executive Member issued a press release and started the decision making process without any consultation, despite having made a commitment a few weeks earlier that he would continue the practice of always consulting appropriate Councillors before publishing his proposed decisions. This leaves very little time to object – and certainly cuts out the local people from having their say.

As the Tories have always claimed in the past that their Transport Policy is based on Park & Ride where does this leave us? They criticised the Lib Dems for not progressing Nibley fast enough as it was to be the first of the proposed “necklace of Park & Ride ” sites to combat the traffic jams.

There is no need for the Tories to take the Nibley money for the P&R at Parkway as they are now suggesting. This was planned to go ahead this year anyway. It can only be used for rail passengers in the short term until the problem of extra buses through Stoke Gifford has been solved. We have Yate station if we want to travel to Bristol or the MOD by train. It certainly won’t do anything to cut the queues on the Ring Road and through Coalpit Heath and Winterbourne!

Claire Young said “Whatever concerns local residents had about the P&R site, I am sure, like me, they will be even more concerned that there may now be other plans for it that we aren’t being told about”.

Detailed plans for new Council offices

The detailed plans for the new Council offices at the junction of Badminton Road and Stover Road are now available online. You can view them using the Search planning applications service on the Council's website. The reference number is PT07/3002/R3R.

End of Nibley Park and Ride?

As you may have read in the Evening Post, the new Conservative administration on South Glos Council has decided to shelve plans for a Park & Ride at Nibley. For more information, watch this space.

Action plan for Beeches Trading Estate

On Thursday I attended a meeting organised by Safer and Stronger South Gloucestershire to discuss the problem of youths congregating on the Beeches Trading Estate. Residents had complained about the noise from youngsters reving car engines and playing loud music, sometimes into the early hours of the morning.

The meeting gave residents the opportunity to hear what action was already being taken and to join in the discussion with the various agencies about future plans. An action plan was drawn up and one important outcome for residents was an agreed procedure for reporting incidents, so they know who to contact and can be confident that everyone involved is aware of what is happening.