PaCT meeting priorities

Bathwick St Mary's Primary School

Bathwick residents met with representatives of the police, BathNES Council and their local councillors to discuss local issues.

The Police and Communities Together (PaCT) met on 6th December at St Mary’s Primary School. After a discussion of previous priorities, the meeting agreed that work should be targetted at:

  1. Installation of an electronic 30mph speeding sign on the A36 inbound close to Trossachs Drive
  2. The council to continue resourcing extra parking enforcement outside Tesco on Bathwick Hill
  3. All agencies and partners to support the resumption of local Bathwick small to medium sized bus services to use Pulteney Bridge, for which a petition is being produced by local councillors

At the meeting police also reported a rise in lead thefts in the area and warned residents to be vigilant. While extra checks had been implemented at scrap metal merchants, the wholesale value of lead has made this a profitable trade.

BathNES Council’s representative reported that in the previous six months 248 parking inspections had been made on Bathwick Hill, resulting in the issue of 63 tickets. This averages as one every three days.

PaCT meeting to decided local priorities

Cllr Coombes and Dr Martin at St Mary's Primary school

The Police and Communities Together are holding a meeting to review and reaffirm their priorities for our area.

The meeting is chaired by Rev David Prothero with representatives from the police and council in attendence. Cllr David Martin will join the panel following his election earlier this month.

It is at Bathwick St. Mary’s Primary School on Darlington Road at 6:30pm on Wednesday 25th May. Local residents are invited to participate with their questions, observations and ideas.

PaCT meeting priorities

Bathwick St Mary’s Primary School

Bathwick’s six-monthly Police & Communities Together (PaCT) meeting was at St Mary’s Primary last Monday.

Rev Prothero chaired the meeting, which included Cllr Nicholas Coombes, Cllr Armand Edwards, PCSO Greg Doyle, PCSO Mike Symonds and Andy Chard from B&NES Council. All previous priorities related to police work; they reported their activities against speeding motorists and anti-social behaviour in Sydney Gardens. New priorities were voted as:

  • illegal parking outside Tesco on Bathwick Hill
  • speeding on Bathwick Hill and Claverton Down Road
  • pedestrian safety on the Bathwick Hill zebra crossing

The next PaCT meeting is planned for 25th May.

PaCT meeting – Monday 6th, 6:30pm, Bathwick Primary

Cllr Coombes and Dr Martin at St Mary’s Primary school

The Police and Communities Together meeting is on Monday 6th December at 6:30pm. It is at Bathwick St. Mary’s Primary School on Darlington Road.

Cllrs Armand Edwards and Nicholas Coombes will be in attendence as will representatives from the local police. The public will be invited to select their priorities for action over the next six months. Previous priorities included speeding and road safety.

PaCT meeting – 26th May 18:30 St, Mary’s Primary

Bathwick St Mary’s Primary School

The Police and Communities Together meeting returns to Bathwick on Wednesday 26th.

Representatives from the police, council and elected members will form a panel, chaired by Rev Prothero, to answer the public’s questions. On this basis, three priorities will be formed.

Unfortunately, for third meeting running, BathNES council is not planning to send anyone. I will be there and try to cover on council matters, but I represent Bathwick, not the council.

PaCT meeting review

Claverton Community Hall

Bathwick’s beat police officers hold a PaCT meeting every six months to “give you the opportunity to influence what happens in your neighbourhood”. A panel of police and council staff, plus me, is chaired by Rev Prothero of Bathwick St Mary’s. This month we were out of his parish in the Claverton Down Community Hall.

The three priorities of the previous meeting were reviewed, the first two mostly pertaining to the police. Their patrols in Sydney Gardens have been regular and productive. Noise complaints are down and, after one successful confrontation, graffitti attacks are also much reduced. However, it is acknowledged that all uses of the park reduce seasonally due to the cold weather and dark nights. Regarding speeding, the police run an hour or so of speed checks from their van at different points around the ward every month.

The final priority, to install a zebra crossing on Bathwick Hill near Tesco, was a council issue. Unfortunately no member of council staff was at the meeting, but I was able to report the success of our petition with the crossing allocated funding for this financial year (ie before April next year).

Following discussion, the three new priorities are (also shown on the police website):

  1. to investigate road safety on Sham Castle Lane, looking at speeding, signage and closure
  2. to continue to enforce speed limits on Claverton Down Road and to accelerate the provision on double yellow lines
  3. to provide a zebra crossing on Bathwick Hill, monitored by the police for its first few days.

I hope that in future BathNES council staff will also be able to attaned these meetings. I am a representative to the council, not of the council; I am as unable to understand or explain the many failings of the organisation as any other member of the public!

Police meeting – Tuesday 8th; 6:30pm

Claverton Community Hall

The latest Police and Communities Together meeting is tomorrow (Tuesday 8th December) at 6:30pm in the Clavteron Down Community Hall.

This is the first time that the PaCT meeting will be held on Claverton Down, so a new audience is welcomed. Residents are invited to the open meeting to share their views about policing, council services and local issues. To close the meeting, a public vote of the issues raised will decide the top priorities.

Cllr Nicholas Coombes will be sitting on the panel, as ever, joined by representatives from the police and council.

Lime Grove “second choice for ‘wet house'”

Lime Grove School

Lime Grove School was seriously considered as a suitable location for a ‘wet house’ – a hostel in which homeless alcoholics may continue to drink.

The Conservative cabinet member for community safety let slip that Lime Grove was his second choice location during a council meeting last week.

Following outrage in Kingsmead, he has now agreed to re-consider his first choice of James Street West. The Chronicle has the story here.

While Cllr Vic Pritchard was considering using the old school building as a home for alcoholics, no local people were consulted and neither Bathwick or Widcombe councillors were involved. His accidental statement in council was the first public acknowledgement of the plan.

Bathwick councillor Nicholas Coombes has now submitted a written question to the cabinet member asking for clarification of the situation, now that his prefered hostel location is under review. Cllr Coombes has requested that local people be kept fully informed this time if the Lime Grove site is to be reconsidered as a ‘wet house’.

Poorly parked parents penalised

Parking outside King Edward’s School

Police and parking wardens are patrolling schools across Bath as the new school year begins.

Bathwick residents and councillors have long urged action against poor parking at our local schools, St Mary’s and King Edward’s. Both have been inluded in a list of twenty four across BathNES targeted for attention. Aside from the frustration caused to neighbours, inconsiderate parking near schools is often of danger to the pupils attending.

At King Edward’s School on North Road, I’ve been part of the school travel plan group looking at bus, cycle and car share schemes as well as parking outside the school. While the current parking arrangements on North Road and Cleveland Walk should be improved, parked parents who break the rules should expect a ticket. This especially includes the four wheel drive which parks on the corner of the juntion every afternoon – you know who you are!

I’ve also joined the Sustainable Routes to School project at Bathwick St Mary’s which promotes alternatives to driving. Key to this is the set of crossings around the Warminster and Sydney Road junction which I have raised with the council highways department several times.

Hopefully pupils and parents can take the opportunity of a new school year with (so far) reasonable weather to explore walking, biking or busing to school. If not, watch out for the parking inspectors!