New Wapley allotments officially open

On Saturday the new Dodington Parish Council allotments at Wapley were officially opened by the council's Vice-Chair John Davis.

He was joined by Wendy Mayo, Clerk to the Parish Council, who did a huge amount of work to get the project up and running. There was also a representative from Merlin, who provided grants towards parts of the project, and of course there were allotment holders of all ages.

Claire Young was there as the local ward councillor. The land used to be part of the South Glos Council-owned Wychwell Farm. When the council decided to sell it off, as it was too small to be viable, Claire had a meeting with an officer and suggested the Parish Council might be interested in purchasing some of it for allotments. That was the easy part! It was then over to Dodington Parish Council to do all the hard work involved in a project of this kind.

The allotment holders are doing a fantastic job, looking at the thriving plots it was hard to believe they only started at Easter. As one of them commented, it really is bringing together people of all ages, from tiny tots to pensioners.

Church Road bridge replacement latest

South Glos Council’s Highway Engineers are aiming to close the bridge starting on Sunday 20 July until Monday 1 September to enable the existing bridge to be demolished and replaced by a new hi-tech composite bridge deck over the peak holiday period.

Lessons were learnt from the closure at Easter and as a consequence the following key changes are being made:

• No other avoidable road works will take place at the same time on the diversion route;
• Large interactive display boards will be keep residents and drivers updated;
• Improved signage of the diversion will be put in place;
• Arrangements for bus service changes will be put in place in good time;
• The South Glos website will be kept up to date.

The new bridge will be re-opened under 3 way traffic light control to enable the parapets to be rebuilt re-using the original local stones which have been safely stored, the services (water, phone lines, broadband etc) to be relocated from their diversion via the temporary footbridge to under the new bridge deck and the pavements and road surface to be relaid. The plan is to reopen the road fully by the end of November.

You can read the council's press release here.

Frampton Cotterell Youth Club Closure - key documents

Following widespread consultation across Frampton Cotterell Parish in 1998, the Parish Council decided to build the Brockeridge Centre as its Millennium Project. The results of the consultation showed that the top priorities of local residents for the centre were to provide:

1. Somewhere for young people to meet, hopefully to cut the level of antisocial behaviour then experienced across our community
2. A community café for use by groups who book the centre
3. An IT Suite where local residents could learn about computers
4. A public base for the Parish Clerk and Council.

Cllr Dave Hockey was the first Youth Leader at the club for the 9 months after the centre was opened on 5 May, 2000 - he was supported by local volunteers. Since then 6 other Youth Leaders, plus a Deputy have been appointed by the successive Parish Councils to run the club. When a Youth Leader handed in their notice, the Parish Council advertised and appointed another in time for a smooth handover.

Frampton Cotterell Parish Council took a decision on 28 May, 2014 to close their youth club pending the results of a review. They did not consult residents first.

This post aims to gather together the key documents provided to the Parish Council to inform their decision on 28 May. This will allow any interested resident to gain a better understanding of the way in which the decision was made.

The documents provided are:

1. Agenda for Parish Council Meeting on 28 May, 2014
2. Agenda Item 5 - Parishioner Observations 
• Statement made by local Neighbourhood Police Beat Manager, PC Finbar Simmons.
• Statement made by local resident, Dr Kyla Thomas.
3. Agenda Item 12 – Notes of the Youth Services Working Group 8 May 2014 plus: 
•  Appendix 1 – Chart provided by Cllr Michaela Crumpton showing attendance figures that she had obtained for local groups which cater for young people. 
• Appendix 2 – Comments from young people who attended the Brockeridge Youth Club when they realised it could be closed. 
• Appendix 3 – Final Report on the Youth Club by Faye Jackson, Brockeridge Youth Club Leader. 
• Appendix 4 – Faye Jackson’s week-by-week summary of Youth Club attendance and events between April 2013 and May 2014. Note that the actual weekly attendance is 25.
4. Minutes of Parish Council Meeting of 28 May, 2014. Note that Item 1295, Parishioners Observations, and Item 1294 both relate to the 4 recommendations included in the Notes of the Youth Services Working Group (ref Item 3 above).

If you wish to comment on the Parish Council decision or the way in which it was made, please contact Dave Hockey.

Charfield ward - Have your say at Area Forum

For those living in Charfield ward, the next Severn Vale Area Forum is at 7pm on Wednesday 2nd July in Turnberries Community Centre, Thornbury. This is your chance to go along and influence local decision making.

As well as the usual open session where you can put your questions on local issues to councillors and officers, there will be a presentation about the current consultation on community composting sites, applications for community grants and Positive Activities funding for your people, updates on the New Homes Bonus scheme and progress reports on local transport schemes.

Work to start on radio masts

Claire at the site in 2007

 Back in 2007, planning permission was granted for the construction of a new radio transmitter station at Tubb's Bottom, off Frampton End Road. This was to replace the one at Emerson's Green, which is on land that was due to be developed. The permission was renewed in 2011 and with work on the new Emerson's Green development now underway, construction of the new radio station will start soon.

The original planning permission was obtained by National Grid Wireless, which has since been acquired by Arqiva. The company says the first stage will be to carry out some preliminary works, probably starting in August. Your Focus Team has asked for a pre-works meeting with the company and the surrounding Parish Councils.

Henfield Paddock will NOT go to committee on 3rd July

The Henfield Paddock application will not be appearing before the next planning committee meeting on 3rd July. It will be deferred until 31st July as further work is needed on some of the issues raised at the site meeting.

Chance to raise issues at Safer Stronger Community Group next week

The next Frampton Cotterell, Westerleigh, Coalpit Heath and Iron Acton Safer Stronger Community Group meeting will be on Wednesday 2nd July 2014 at 7.30pm in the Brockeridge Centre (Woodend Road, Frampton Cotterell, BS36 2LQ).

There will be updates from Avon Fire and Rescue and the Police, information about the Good Neighbours Scheme and Precious Time Project and the usual opportunity to discuss issues and set priorities for action.