Funding for local traffic schemes

Local Councillors won funding for a number of traffic schemes at the recent Frome Vale Area Forum.

In Westerleigh, £7000 will be spent investigating how to tackle speeding traffic on Westerleigh Road and Shorthill Road.In 2008, Claire Young secured funding for the crossing point at the bus stop on Westerleigh Road, with the twin aims of making it safer to cross and slowing the traffic, but this and the white hatching on Shorthill Road haven't managed to solve the speeding problem. Now the money is available for this to be investigated thoroughly.

Last year the Area Forum funded an investigation into the problems stopping buses getting through Iron Acton High Street. Now the Forum has provided £8000 to implement the waiting restrictions recommended in the review.

The Forum also proposed to give £8000 towards impementing the results of the speed limit review on the B4509 route from B4508 Hammerley Down to Wickwar, a scheme that also involves Severnvale Area Forum.

The Forum also asked the Transport Exec to look at extending the footpath on Perrinpit Lane, a scheme too large to be dealt with from the Area Forum budget.

Update on road resurfacing

Due to supply problems, some of the road resurfacing in our villages has had to be rescheduled:

Beesmoor Road, Coalpit Heath 24th and 25th March
Meadow View, Frampton Cotterell 9th March
The Spinney, Frampton Cotterell 23rd March

Community orchard planting this Saturday!

Dodington Parish Council, South Gloucestershire Council and the Wapley Bushes Conservation Group are coming together to create a Community Orchard by planting groups of fruit trees at various places around Wapley Common.

Conservation Group members and friends will be meeting on Saturday 12th March starting at 10.00 am from the Shire Way access to the Nature Reserve, next to the zebra crossing near Cherington. Local people are very welcome to join in – if possible they should bring a spade, gloves and suitable footwear.

The planting session will start with a workshop led by local supplier “Mr Fruit” (Graham White). “We’re used to planting woodland trees, but fruit trees are more fussy and we want to do it properly” said Cllr Paul Hulbert. “Our vision is that we’re planting a community orchard for the future, where our children and grandchildren will be able to come and pick delicious fruit straight from the trees.”

Tim Fairhead of the Wapley Bushes Conservation Group said “Fruit trees used to be a common part of the rural landscape but there are fewer orchards today. When the community orchard was being planned, we found some examples of a rare local plum variety. Planting the new trees will increase the biodiversity of our area, and they will also become a biological resource for future generations.”

The project is being funded jointly by Dodington Parish Council and by South Gloucestershire Council. Cllr Claire Young explained, “When South Glos transferred its council houses to Merlin Housing Association, there was a small amount of money left in the Housing Revenue Account. Each South Glos councillor has been able to choose schemes that would benefit people in their wards, so when local people suggested a community orchard I thought that it would be just the right project for the rural Wapley area.”

Working group to act on smell

Westerleigh Parish Council and South Gloucestershire Councillor Claire Young have set up a working group with Tulip (the owners of the abattoir), Wessex Water and the Environment Agency to tackle the foul smells that have been affecting Westerleigh village.

Claire after the initial meeting of the working
group, which was hosted by Tulip

The group had an initial meeting on Monday 28th February to pool data and agree the next steps. It has not been possible to identify the source or sources of the smells from the logging done so far, so more extensive, widespread monitoring will be carried out before the group meets again in April. It’s very important that you keep letting Claire and the Parish Council know about any incidents as well as reporting them to Tulip and Wessex Water. Please give as much information as you can, such as:

• Date and time
• Exact location where you can smell it
• Whether you can smell the odour inside your house or only outside
• Whether it seems to be coming from any particular point, for example, around a drain cover or whether you can simply smell it in the air around you
• A description of the smell – is it like rotten eggs, human sewage, rotting vegetation or something else?
• What the weather is like at the time and what it had been like before the smell occurred – is it raining heavily, has there been a long period of dry weather beforehand?

Don’t forget that if gases are coming back into your house via the drains, South Gloucestershire Council’s Environmental Health team can provide monitoring tubes to test for Hydrogen Sulphide (the gas that smells of rotten eggs).

Claire and the Parish Council will keep working with residents to get this problem resolved.

Mobile film show - Saturday 12th March

On Saturday 12th March two films will be shown at Crossbow Community Centre. For young people, there is Johnny Depp in "Alice in Wonderland" (doors open 5.40pm for a 6pm start) while adults can enjoy "Inception" (doors open 8pm for an 8.15pm showing).

If you could help with setting out chairs and so on, please contact Jen Dunford.

Roads to be resurfaced in Coalpit Heath and Frampton Cotterell

The following roads are due to be resurfaced as part of the Council's "micro asphalt programme":

Rose Oak Lane - 4th March
Meadow View and The Spinney - 7th March
Beesmoor Road - 8th and 9th March

Better security for Yate station

Yate rail campaigners have welcomed the news that CCTV cameras are to be installed at the town's station. The Friends of Yate Station were told at a meeting on Monday that eight cameras will be installed to increase security at the site, which has suffered repeated vandalism.

Lib Dem councillor Sue Walker, who chairs the group said, “I'd like to thank everyone who has worked to make this happen. Yate rail users were left out in the wet and cold this winter because the shelters were damaged, which shows how a few mindless vandals can make waiting for a train a misery for everyone. I hope criminals will think twice when these cameras are in place."

She added, "The station has been without a ticket machine for some time thanks to vandalism. First Great Western said they wouldn't replace it while there were no CCTV cameras on site. I hope once there are that they will think again."