Planners resist Tesco

BathNES council planning department have rejected Tesco’s application to open their shop before the surrounding roads are made safe.

They had applied in January to have the planning conditions lifted to open earlier – see http://nicholascoombes.mycouncillor.org.uk/2008/01/21/tesco-try-to-lift-planning-restrictions/. When Tesco won their planning appeal one of the inspectors conditions was that Tesco would need to fund improvements to the pedestrian crossing and create a loading bay for their deliveries. Despite allowing the shop to open, the planning inspector did recognise that it would have an adverse impact on road safety and that these improvement works would be necessary.

The council have been paid by Tesco to do the works, but the sum does not cover the zebra crossing requested by locals and Bathwick councillors Nicholas Coombes and Armand Edwards. BathNES have now published plans to mark out a loading bay and the first phase of the zebra crossing has also been drawn up although the site is very complicated.

Nicholas Coombes welcomed the news from the planning department: “I am glad that our council has been able to resist Tesco, despite their thinly veiled legal threats. The highways department is working on plans for a zebra crossing on Bathwick Hill which will make this crossing safer for everyone. Tesco should not be allowed to open before this is ready as it would residents at unnecessary risk.”

Sham Castle scrub clearance – 13th March

A community project to clear the view at the Sham Castle has been finalised for Thursday 13th March. Cllrs Nicholas Coombes and Armand Edwards have received great support since announcing the project last month.

Sham Castle is a folly built in 1762 by Ralph Allen, Bath stone magnate, to improve the view of the hill. Over the last years however, scrub and young trees have grown up between the castle and city. This spoils the view out from the National Trust skyline walk by the castle and also obscures the floodlit folly from the city.

As no council funding was available, Nicholas Coombes has negotiated a community project grant funded by the Cotswolds Conservation Board Sustainable Development Fund. Professionals will use their machinery to cut and clear the larger trees and vegetation, preparing the site for the volunteers. Bath University students and members of the local community are invited to help tidy the site and create new wildlife habitats in the clearing with the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers. The National Trust will also be supervising the works.

Already many Bathwick locals have volunteered their time but everyone is welcome. The day will run from 10am until 4pm with volunteers invited to stay for the whole day, but able to drop in and leave when they chose. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided with a sandwich lunch paid for by a generous member of the public. All equipment will also be provided by BTCV. The castle is on the skyline walk and best accessible by foot; it is near the Bath Golf Course club house on Golf Course Road up North Road but please do not bring a car.

Armand and Nicholas look forward to seeing as many people as possible on the day. Please visit for as long as you can, whether the whole day or just an hour. If you don’t feel up to heavy work we’ll be pleased to see you regardless.

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Although Cllr Coombes has organised this project, many thanks are due to BathNES landscapes department, the Cotswold Conservation Board SDF, BTC, the National Trust, the One World Society and the University of Bath Students’ Union.

Islamic awareness days

I joined the Bath University Islamic Society with the Mayor of Bath to launch the 2008 Islamic awareness days this morning on the University campus.

The theme is “to know each other”, taken from a verse in the Quran. In that verse, God/Allah recounts that he created different tribes and races so that they could learn from and get to know each other. Regardless of ones deity of choice this is surely a laudible aim and I congratulate the Islamic Society for their series of events here: http://people.bath.ac.uk/su5is/index_files/iad.htm

Unfortunately after the speeches I had to leave without taking my full compliment of sweets and delicacies. It was for a good cause however as I gave blood at the UoB sports training village. I have been giving blood since sixth form; it is a vital resource which few people provide despite most of the adult population being able to. Have a look at www.blood.co.uk for more information and to book a session. They are normally at the Cricket ground but visit the university a few times per year. Unfortunately the bood service refuse to take donations from sexually active gay men which I disagree with; nonetheless, any boycott would only disadvantage recipients so I keep on going.

Save Bath’s Post Offices

Leaked reports of the government’s Post Office closure plan reveal closures planned for Bathford, Lower Weston, Bear Flat and Claremont (Walcot). These closures add to the thousands which have been closed nationwide already and thousands planned in this round.

Bath MP Don Foster says, “The Government has withdrawn services from the Post Office left, right and centre over the years, and before them the Conservatives closed 3,000. The two major parties look at the Post Office on purely economic grounds, and not as the vital service it provides to the community.

“Once again, it is the elderly and vulnerable that are the worst hit by these closures. The knock-on effect on other local shops can be catastrophic. In Mount Rd, where they lost their Post Office in the last round of cuts, one local trader told me his takings had dropped by 15%.

“I will be working hard and campaigning against these closures across Bath where local communities will be losing an important asset. It is time that Labour and the Conservatives stood up and realised that the Post Office is of huge social benefit, and is not just a business.”

A Liberal Democrat motion at the Full Council meeting last week was approved opposing the closure programme in BathNES. An Overview and Scrutiny Panel will dicuss the closures on 18th March, please phone 01225 394458 if you wish to contribute to this discussion. An on-line petition is available at www.ourcampaign.org.uk/savebathspostoffices.

Tory budget cuts and charge increases

Full Council passed the first Conservative budget of service cuts and price increases with a narrow majority. The minority administration, supported by the Independants, rejected the Liberal Democrat ammendment and forced through the Conservatve Cabinet’s proposals.

The headline Council tax rise of 3.95% disguises the above inflation charge increases which make the real increase above 7.5%. The service cuts and price rises are most damaging to the elderly and vulnerable, including cuts to the Youth Service budget and a 70% increase in home care charges. The elderly are also hit by a £1.20 rise to the cost of every Meal of Wheels, while the state pension only rises by £1 per week. A number of community groups, including the Bathwick History Society have their funding cut, while council projects, including the Lib Dem planned kitchen waste collections are delayed.

Later in the evening other Liberal Democrat proposals were successful. The council should not only use tap water rather than bottled water for refreshments, saving the environmental costs of transporting water and the energy costs of the plastic bottles. Tap water is also 500 times cheaper than bottled water. The Conservatives voted against this motion, but for the first time Labour and the Independants supported Lib Dem proposals to defeat the administration.

Our motion on Post Office Closures was also successful, opposing the closure of any more post offices in BathNES. The Post Office on Bathwick Hill closed several years ago, but the latest round proposes to close four more in Bath. Nationally the Lib Dems have been fighting post office closures as the offer a community resource which often exceeds the commercial return. Please sign the petition at www.ourcampaign.org.uk/savebathspostoffices

Our Big Energy Challenge

Our Big Energy Challenge was launched in 2006 under Lib Dem leadership to reduce the carbon footprint of BathNES. The council and their partner groups, including the hospital and universities will also save public money by cutting energy use.

Already big savings have been made, with current plans due to cut energy usage by 7.5% through relatively simple steps. Everyone can do their bit at home or at work by switching off unnecessary appliances and only using the energy they need. Already the larger institutions have saved thousands of pounds and individuals can save too.

Already Nicholas uses energy efficient light bulbs and turns off unused electrical applicances, but the progress report gave some very useful hints at persuading other people and organisations to follow suit. Please visit www.ourenergychallenge.org for practical advice on saving energy, saving money, reducing pollution and reducing global warming.

Campus surgery with Don

Today I was joined by Don Foster MP for a surgery on the university campus. Don holds a special student surgery every year to which, like all other Lib Dem public surgeries, people and visit without an appointment to discuss an issue with their elected representatives.

There is already a lot of support for students at Bath university from the Students’ Union for personal issues, so we tend to run the student surgeries slightly differently. This time several students, plus the comment editor of the student newspaper, arrived at the beginning of the surgery for a conversation about the work of an MP and some topical political questions. Those with personal questions were of course seen privately later.

Don gave a surgery with Armand and I in Bathwick about a year ago and we are arranging for another shortly. Full details will be in the next Focus of course!

University Diversity month launch

Bath University launched its Diversity & Equality month yesterday with guest speakers and I on a panel debate.

Following a presentation by Tim Lezzard of the National Union of Journalists on free speech, groups discussed the rights and responsibilities that it confers. Their findings were presented to a panel of lecturers, a Student Union rep and a politician – me. Fortunately we were all fairly liberal in our approach to human rights and individual freedoms, so there were no major arguements.

Diversity & Equality Month (www.bath.ac.uk/diversitymonth) celebrates the wide variety of communities who study and work at Bath university. A number of events have been organised including lectures, comedy, films and music challenging attitudes to disability, sexuality, race, religion and more.

In some part, the series was organised as a reaction to the threat of the BNP, who attempted to give a speech on campus last academic year. The protests against brought many people together, who have worked to promote that which extremists decry. The Student’s Union is due to hold a referendum on implementing a ‘No Platform’ policy to prevent extremisit groups from using Union resources.

Safer routes to St Mary’s primary

This evening I was invited to a meeting of Bathwick St Mary’s Primary Safer Routes to School committee. This is run by a few parents and teachers at the school concerned by the difficulty getting their children to and from school safely.

As the school is on Darlington Road, a small cul-de-sac, the street gets quickly jammed in the morning; it is now designated ‘no parking’ so that residents can leave their drives. This was still raised as a problem at last week’s PaCT meeting, so I asked our traffic wardens to pay a visit during the school rush. No tickets were given, but the message got across. Armand and I have done a similar thing at King Edward’s School on North Road before too.

However, surrounding the school, the A36 Warminster Road is not suitable for dropping off children safely. Even an environmentalist like me can see that cycling and walking buses isn’t going to fix the problem straight away, so I have been actioned with a list of issues to take up with the council, including that footpath from the canal – uneven and puddled. I am also investigating a 20mph zone for operation during school hours. This was in both the Liberal Democrat and Conservative election manifestos, so really the Tory cabinet can’t say no…

Both Bathwick St Mary’s Primary and King Edward’s have good travel plans and are putting in effort to support sustainable transport. I was particularly happy to support the Safer Routes to School group who do much good work voluntarily. I would be more than happy to visit other local community groups when invited.

Public surgery

Today we had another of our public surgeries, in Bathwick St Mary’s Church Hall. We do these on the first Saturday of every second month to give local residents the chance to speak to us in person. Most Liberal Democrat councillors and MPs provide this service so we are happy to have introduced it to Bathwick.

BathNES council does not give any support for these, in their view it is an additional activity which we choose to do. Fortunately though, our kind hosts at St Mary’s and Claverton Community Hall provide us with a room and chairs, which is all we really need.

We have now hosted five surgeries since May 2007 and I am pleased that we have never yet sat by ourselves for the whole hour! This week we had four visitors which is about average. People come with concerns specific to them or their street, or wider political issues which they want to raise. Everything is confidential as necessary.

Our next surgery should be on 5th April in Claverton Hall – although I still have to book it. It’s a 10 am start, although with the cold weather this moring I did wonder why we get up so early at the weekend.

Bathwick Liberal Democrats

Cllr David Martin, Claire Jackson & Cllr Nicholas Coombes