Cllr Nicholas Coombes and Cllr David Martin

New lights are being installed on the footpath from Pulteney Road to the canal.

The footpath, which runs past Lime Grove School and Canal Gardens Allotments, has been poorly lit in the past, particularly under the railway arch. This area is also prone to graffiti attacks.

The request for improved lighting was originally made by fellow Liberal Democrat councillor Ian Gilchrist at a time when the path was within his Widcombe ward. Following a boundary revision, Lime Grove Gardens is now firmly in Bathwick, and your local councillors have maintained the call to better light the pathway.

Five new LED streetlights have been installed, like the new lamp on the Darlington Place path. When turned on they will provide a bright but carefully directed light with low energy costs. The existing corroded lamp stands will be taken away when the new lights are wired up.

The pathway will be improved further when the Lime Grove School site is developed, as the builder has agreed to provide £18,000 towards necessary works.

(Click picture to play video)

It is shameful that, despite all the promise on a four or five year old’s first day at school, or the passion of their teachers, you can all too often plot that child’s path just by asking how much their parents earn.

The £2.5billion Pupil Premium was one of the four pledges on the front page of our manifesto.  And now, with Liberal Democrats in government, schools are using the money for things like breakfast clubs; homework clubs; or to provide one-to-one-tuition. These are the sort of experiences many middle class children take for granted but a poorer child might rarely enjoy.

Yesterday I visited a fantastic primary school to see how they are spending their Pupil Premium, highlight our new Summer Schools to ease the transition from primary to secondary, and to set out our plans to reward teachers and hold schools to account.

The Pupil Premium shows that, in tough times, we are implementing Liberal Democrat values and prioritising help for those pupils who need it most.

Best wishes,

Nick Clegg MP

Leader of the Liberal Democrats and Deputy Prime Minister

PS Click here to find out how much money your local school will receive from the Liberal Democrats’ Pupil Premium.

An exhibition of possible plans for the Warminster Road site is open to the public this week.

Prior to the MoD site on Warminster Road being bought by housing developers, the council wants to establish what the public expects of the development. A draft plan is being exhibited for neighbours to comment upon and submit their own ideas for the site.

The exhibition takes place at Bathwick St Mary’s Primary School on Thursday 17th 3-7pm and Saturday 19th 9am-noon. It is also possible to take part online at www.bathnes.gov.uk/mod-conceptstatements.

More details are in the council’s press release here and on previous articles on this site.

Your Liberal Democrat councillors, Nicholas Coombes and David Martin, regularly talk to Bathwick residents on their doorsteps.

Recently Cllr Martin spoke with Darlington Place residents about their concerns with dog fouling on the pavement. The street is a popular walk for dog walkers heading to the National Trust fields.

He has since arranged for new signs to be attached to the lamp posts, warning of the £1,000 penalty possible for not cleaning up after a dog. However, it is to be hoped that responsible nature of dog owners will continue to clean up after their pets without such measures.

Chronicle readers may have spotted that a conference for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles is to be held in Bath’s Assembly Rooms next month. The building is owned by the National Trust and managed by B&NES Council.

As a high profile public building, I do not think that the conference should have been booked, although it now seems to late to cancel. Here’s what I said at a ‘Vision & Values’ debate in Council last night:

While discussing values, I think it would be disengenious not to mention the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle conference booked for our city.

The conference, which must not be referred to as an Arms Fair, is to be in the Assembly Rooms in June. Our council does not accept bookings which would cause offence or harm the council’s reputation. I accept that this was a difficult judgement, but I disagree with it.

Military drones kill indescriminately from the sky. The conference should not have been accepted.

The council has issued a press release welcoming the conference and stating that only one objection has been recieved. I congratulate that objector for standing up for their values.

I am now raising my objection to the conference. It can no longer be said that there was no protest. If this arms show goes ahead, it is not in my name.”

This is, of course, a personal view and not necessarily shared by other councillors. However, if you agree with me, there is a petition against the conference here. I may also see you protesting outside the Assembly Rooms in June.

Nicholas Coombes

Of the two Bathwick planning applications decided by the Development Control Committee yesterday one was approved and the other rejected. Your local Liberal Democrat councillors voted against both.

The Lime Grove application was brought to the planning committee under a new protocol introduced by the Liberal Democrat administration – that proposals on council owned land are determined in public. Nicholas Coombes and David Martin judged that the proposal was not good enough for Bathwick. Their main objections were that the houses would be built to the lowest possible environmental standards, that they were not adequately protected from the railway noise and that the development missed the opportunity to improve the adjacent footpath. However, the majority of the committee agreed with the plannig officer that the application was acceptable.

Cllr Nicholas Coombes brought the application for a new house in a Minster Way back garden to the committee as a previous proposal had been rejected. The planning officer judged that the latest proposal was sufficiently different from the 2003 application to be approved. However, the planning committee disagreed and voted to reject the proposal on principle.

This week, Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat minister at the Department of Health) has launched a national £4 million lung cancer awareness campaign. The campaign, the first of its kind, will use TV, radio and press adverts, and advertising on pharmacist bags and inside GP surgeries, to raise awareness of the disease.

One of its aims is to persuade anyone who has had a cough for more than three weeks to see their doctor.

You can find more information about coughing and lung cancer at the Department of Health website, here: http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/2012/05/coughing-could-be-a-sign-of-lung-cancer-2/

With 33,000 new cases diagnosed each year, lung cancer is a blight on the lives of far too many of our families and an early diagnosis can make all the difference. Please take the opportunity of the Be Clear on Cancer campaign to find out more about prevention and diagnosis, and to visit your local doctor if you’ve had a persistent cough – it is always better to be safe than sorry!

http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/tag/be-clear-on-cancer/

Congratulations and thank you to the Sydney Buildings householders who have been repainting the historic lamp posts along their street.

In a magnificant example of civic cooperation, BathNES Council provided paint for the project and residents gave their time and effort to paint the posts.

Individuals and community groups are welcome to approach Bathwick’s Lib Dem councillors, David Martin and Nicholas Coombes, to discuss launcing similar projects.

There are two planning applications from Bathwick going to next week’s Development Control Committee meeting. One is the new application to build 13 houses on the old Lime Grove School site, the other is for a new house next to 6 Trossachs Drive in the back garden of 53 Minster Way.

You can have a look at the plans for Lime Grove here; it is for fewer houses than were refused permission last year, on a slightly different boundary. The plans for the Minster Way House are here; it is for a slightly larger house than was refused permission in 2003.

The council planning officers have recommended that both plans are approved. However, as the Lime Grove School site is owned by BathNES Council the Liberal Democrat cabinet member for Homes & Planning has requested that the Development Control Committee have the final say. Your local councillor Nicholas Coombes has requested that the Minster Way proposal is heard at committee because it is similar to a plan previously refused.

The application will be heard at the Wednesday 9^th May meeting, which starts at 2pm in the Brunswick Room, Bath Guildhall. Anyone is welcome to watch the meeting, which will probably deal with these applications around 3pm.

Members of the public are also entitled to speak at the meeting, but they must register in advance. The deadline is 5pm Monday 7^th to call 394435 or email Democratic_Services@bathnes.gov.uk. Only three minutes is allowed for each side, so if there are multiple speakers they will have to share the time slot.

Comments and objections already sent to the council are included in the report to the committee. There is no need to re-submit a comment or objection or to make it in person.

Both of your Bathwick Liberal Democrat councillors are members of the Development Control Committee, so Nicholas and David must keep an open mind about the application until they have heard all of the evidence.

We hope that this information is helpful to you. We want to make sure that everyone is able to take part in this process to reach the right result.

It’s been a pretty varied spring, but every so often the weather improves and you get moments like these.

Continuing my occassional series of jolly photographs, here’s Bathwick Meadows in the spring sun.