Air Quality Management Area extended

Bath’s Air Quality Management Area has been extended, reflecting the spread of harmful levels of air pollution.

The zone covers areas where the Nitrogen Dioxide levels are at harmful levels, greater than 40 micrograms per cubic metre, in public places. For a decade the management area covered the London Road and Cleveland bridge. In 2008 it was extended to include parts of Bathwick, including Beckford Road and Warminster Road, and much of the city centre. In July are area will be extended again; the new extent is on this map.

The nature of the AQMA has also been changed, recognising the occurrence of higher concentrations of Nitrogen Dioxide for shorter periods. This measure has been extended to the whole city, details are here.

New bins for Bathwick

Sham Castle bin

Bathwick has benefitted from several new or replacement litter bins in recent weeks. Replacement bins have been provided at Claverton Lodge and at St Patrick’s Court, as the existing bins were rusty and in disrepair. A new bin has been located at the overbridge on the Quarry Road entrance to the university campus. This bin is on the route of the byway to Sham Castle, and was funded from Cllr Martin’s Ward Councillor Initiative fund.

Sustainable construction guide

BathNES Council has published a special planning document on environmentally friendly construction.

The document offers suggestions and advice for new build and retrofitting existing homes to make them more energy efficient. The document also has a role in planning policy, meaning that the approached recommended would be generally supported by BathNES Council.

It has been designed with householders in mind, so have a read at www.bathnes.gov.uk/greenbuild.

Temporary footpath closure by University

Quarry Road

The footpath adjacent to Quarry Road will be closed for a few weeks at the end of this month to allow for works.

The temporarily closure is of a length of Footpath AQ99 from its junction with Quarry Road, in a south-easterly direction for a distance of approximately 400 metres. The closure order begins on 22nd April and allows for two months for works to be completed, but it is expected to take only three weeks. The alternative route is along the pavements of Quarry Road and North Road.

Winter warmth open homes

The Winter Warmth Open Home is an exhibition of measures to make our homes warmer, cheaper to run and more environmentally friendly. It is at 56 The Hollow, Twerton, Bath, BA2 1LZ and is due to open on 12th March

This is part of a partnership project between the Council, Curo, and the Centre for Sustainable Energy funded by a bid to the Department of Health. The British Red Cross, Age UK and West of England Care and Repair are involved in other aspects of the project.

The Winter Warmth Club Open house will be open to all Bath and North East Somerset residents from Tuesday 12th March. All residents of B&NES are welcome to come along and see how to save energy in their homes and reduce their fuel bills. Advisors will be on hand to demonstrate how to take meter readings, set central heating controls, practical measures to address condensation and damp, low energy lighting options and show how small changes in the home can result in big savings on fuel bills. Residents will be able to see insulation installed in the house and learn how choosing the right appliance for your home can save energy and money. All residents can pick up free leaflets and a free thermometer card and magnet. For the first 100 visitors there will be a free Winter Warmth pack!

There will also be some models to show internal and external wall insulation on display.

Opening times for the Open House are:

12th March – 14th April

Tuesday (late night opening) – 3-7pm
Wednesday – Saturday – 10-2pm

The Open House will be open on both Saturday and Sunday the 13th and 14th April for Green Homes weekend.

Muddy path proposal sent to Inspector

New surface for muddy path

Improvements to the muddy path between Claverton Down and Combe Down have got one step closer this week.

Over a hundred local people signed a petition organised by Nicholas Coombes and David Martin calling for the path to be  designated as a cycle route and brought up to a suitable standard. A legal cycle path would be a safe route for school pupils and university students to cycle and a maintained and controlled route will be better for walkers.

BathNES Council has now completed the documents required and submitted them, together with our petition, to the Planning Inspectorate who will decide on the matter. The documents will be at http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/planning/countryside/rightsofway/onlinerow/onlinerowab#banes when registered.

This good news comes at a time when the Liberal Democrats running BathNES Council have just chosen to invest £500,000 in improving cycle routes across the area in their annual budget. This is on top of the works currently underway funded by the Local Sustainable Transport Fund which includes a new bridge at Batheaston and an off-road route to Bath Spa University.

Bath’s biggest cycle sceheme, the Two Tunnels route under Combe Down is expected to open one month from now, on 6th March.

Sydney Gardens restoration

Nicholas and David in Sydney Gardens

Lib Dems on BathNES Council have submitted a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund to restore Sydney Gardens.

The council has allocated £500,000 as part of a proposed £5.4 million restoration project.  The first stage will be a design study aimed at producing a development plan.

Public consultation will form an important part of this stage, and your local Councillors will ensure that residents have a chance to take part in the design process.

“This is a really exciting project,” said Cllr Nicholas Coombes, “I look forward to working with residents, the Holburne and others to get a great result.”

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the gardens, Network Rail have proposed several barrier designs to protect their track at the low balustrade. The favoured solution is to reduce the ground height on the park side of the balustrade so that there is a higher barrier between the public area and the railway lines.

Free assessment to cut energy bills

Free home energy assessments are available for householders across Bath and North East Somerset, from Wednesday February 6, thanks to Our Green Deal in Somerset, an initiative backed by seven local authorities, including Bath & North East Somerset Council, and run on behalf of the Centre for Sustainable Energy.

The initiative, which is funded by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, aims to get the area more involved with the Green Deal; the national, Government scheme, which enables householders to pay for energy efficiency improvements through their energy bills.

Green Deal energy efficiency improvements include: new heating systems, wall or loft insulation, secondary glazing and draught proofing. The improvements will help residents cut energy use, and their energy bills won’t rise overall either.

Councillor David Martin, the Council’s energy and climate change champion, said: “A home energy assessment shows which energy efficiency improvements would work best for a particular home, as well as whether any improvements could be funded through the Green Deal. Assessments usually cost around £175 each, however Our Green Deal in Somerset is giving away about 100 of them for free in our district. The offer ends on March 15 2013 though so people in the Bath & North East Somerset Council area need to sign-up quickly.”

The assessments are independent and homeowners are not obliged to sign up to any improvements. Private tenants can still take advantage of the offer but need to get their landlord’s permission first.

James Ryle from the Centre for Sustainable Energy, said: “The Green Deal has a lot to offer, particularly in Somerset which has a lot of ‘hard-to-treat’ homes where people are being hit by high fuel bills. This initiative will get the Green Deal rolling in Somerset.”

In addition to the free assessments, Our Green Deal in Somerset intends to launch a programme in the near future, which will see local community groups explain how the Green Deal works and the benefits of the scheme to householders in their area.

Details will be available shortly. A new website is also set to be launched soon, which will record the progress of the scheme. It will also include further information and details of reliable, local tradespeople.

For more information on Our Green Deal in Somerset, contact CSE’s Home Energy Team free on 0800 082 2234 or email at home.energy@cse.org.uk To learn more about the other energy efficiency initiatives available to Bath & North East Somerset residents, visit: www.bathnes.gov.uk/greendeal.

New small electrical recycling collection

 small electricals can be recycled

Small electrical items will now be collected for recycling every week from your doorstep.

The addition is just one of the improvements to the recycling service thanks to the Liberal Democrats on BathNES Council. Recently the service has also been expanded to include tetrapaks with the cardboard collection.

Residents are asked to place broken electrical items in an untied carried bag next to the green box on their normal recycling day. Small items with plugs or batteries are acceptable such kettles, lamps, phones and power tools. Larger or heavier items such as fridges, TVs or computer monitors cannot be collected, but can be taken for recycling to the depot. Please remove batteries, which can be recycled separately, and light bulbs.

Electrical items collected will be crushed and the materials separated for re-use. If the applicance works, it may be more sustainable to donate it to a willing charity.

David Martin funds new steps on Skyline walk

New steps on National Trust land

Cllr David Martin has used his local funding to support the construction of new steps for the Bath Skyline walk.

The steps curve up through the National Trust field above North Road on the route to the Sham Castle. They form part of the circular walk through Bathwick, Claverton Down and Widcombe which is one of the most popular in the country. David’s contribution funded materials for the project which was undertaken by the local Trust ranger and volunteers.

Cllr Martin used funding from the Ward Councillors’ Initiative which allows elected members to support small projects in their ward. Your Lib Dem councillors in Bathwick have also funded recycling bins across the area, improvements to the canal path, cycle stands at the Holburne and a handrail on the Darlington Place steps.