Public to be consulted on MoD developments

Warminster Road site

Local residents will be asked about their priorities for the redevelopment of the Bath MoD sites.

The Minstry of Defence will be closing their office bases at Warminster Road, Ensleigh and Foxhill and tranferring staff to Abbey Wood. The sites will be put up for sale in September and are expected to be redeveloped in 2013.

The Council’s housing plan allocates 140 homes to the People, Pensions and Pay Agency site on Warminster Road, though the Chronicle reports that the MoD believe that more can be accommodated.

BathNES Council will prepared a ‘vision document’ to guide development on the sites. They will consult with local people over the summer.

“We all know that Bath needs more housing,” said Bathwick councillor Nicholas Coombes, “and we’ve been ready for the closure of the Warminster Road base for years. Now we need to think what sort of development we want to see on the site.”

New Tetra Pak recycling service

put Tetra Pak cartons in the blue bag

The Liberal Democrats running BathNES Council have improved the doorstep recycling service.

From now on, Tetra Pak food and drinks cartons will be collected and recycled from every home. They should be left out in the blue bag with the cardboard.

The change to the service has been negotiated at no extra cost to the taxpayer. In fact, it will save money and the environment by diverting waste from landfill.

The Liberal Democrats will also be applying for government funding to protect weekly rubbish collections for every home in BathNES.

University Neighbours’ Forum

University parade

The next meeting of the Local Residents’ Forum of university neighbours is on Tuesday 7th February.

The Forum was set upto facilitate communication between Bath University and it’s neighbours on Claverton Down. It is chaired by the deputy-vice chancellor and attended by local residents, councillors, students’ union leaders and senior university staff. Matters of discussion include planned events and developnments on the Claverton campus and points of concern to local residents.

If you live locally and are interested in attending please RSVP by email to g.gillespie@bath.ac.uk.

Dog control orders

canal gardens allotments

Update

Following publication of the Dog Control Order documents your Bathwick councillors and local residents found many errors in the proposed maps. The consultation has now been withdrawn for these to be corrected and will be relaunched later in the year.

———-

BathNES Council plan to compile all of their dog control bylaws into a single set of orders, which are now available for public consultation here.

There are five sections; sections 1, 3 and 5 ban dog fouling, give council officers the right to instruct walkers to use leads and  restrict walkers to six dogs respectively. These apply to the whole of BathNES. Section 2 requires dog walkers to use leads at all times on the scheduled land. The nearest area to Bathwick with such a restriction proposed is the open space at the junction of Horseshoe Walk and Abbey View.

The most concerning aspect of the consultation is the list of areas from which it is suggested that dogs be banned entirely. The consultation has been deliberately arranged so that public areas where dogs are likely to come into contact with the public are included in this section. It is therefore up to dog walkers to reply to the consultation and request that they be allowed to continue using these areas. Bathwick councillors David Martin and Nicholas Coombes will be responding in this manner. Suggested dog-free areas in Bathwick are:

To respond to the consultation email dogcontrolorders@bathnes.gov.uk or write to 9-10 Bath Street, BA1 1SN.

Warminster Road speed sign sought

Nicholas Coombes on Warminster Road

Bathwick councillors Nicholas Coombes and David Martin have endorsed calls for a flashing speed sign on Warminster Road.

Residents have requested a ‘speed interactive device’ to slow down traffic on one of the main routes to the city. Provision of an electronic speeding sign by Trossachs Drive has been made a priority by the Bathwick PaCT (Police and Communities Together) meeting.

The proposed sign is now on the council’s list of future transport projects and your Lib Dem councillors will be lobbying to ensure that it gets funding.

Trees replaced on canalside

David Martin with canalside saplings

Saplings have been planted alongside the canal below Sham Castle Lane.

Concerned residents have contacted Cllr David Martin after British Waterways felled several trees on the canal cutting, opposite Sydney Wharf.

British Waterways, who operate the canal, had cut down trees which they felt were diseased or unsafe. However, when David got in touch they realised that they had been too drastic. Thanks to his intervention they have replanted the site with native saplings. The species were recommended by the B&NES arboricultural officer and will in time replace the fauna lost.

Bin collection delayed – Beech Ave, Quarry Rock Gardens

bin bags

Owing to an electrical fault in the depot this morning, some refuse collection lorries didn’t get out on time. This means that there wasn’t enough time to collect all of the bin bags put out today.

Two areas were missed on Claverton Down – Beech Avenue and Quarry Rock Gardens. The bin men will return tomorrow (Saturday) to collect any left over bags. Therefore if you live on Beech Avenue or in Quarry Rock Gardens, please put your bin bags out again tomorrow and they will be collected.

Minster Way step change

Nicholas Coombes at the Minster Way steps Old damaged Minster Way steps

The broken steps between Minster Way and Warminster Road have been replaced.

The poor state of the old concrete steps (pictured right) was pointed out to me a few years ago by a local resident. They had subsided and the concrete was breaking up. I requested that the council fix them, but knowing that it had taken two years to have St Christophers’ Close re-surfaced I wasn’t hopeful.

Today when I passed – and they are a little out of the way – I was pleasantly surprised to see the work done and the steps replaced.

Petition sent to bus companies

David Martin with the bus petition

Over one hundred local residents have signed the Liberal Democrat’s petition to restore bus services to Pulteney Bridge.

Cllrs David Martin and Nicholas Coombes launched the petition to persuade First or Wessex Connect to route their services to serve the city centre. When the then Conservative Council threatened to close Pulteney Bridge, First bus moved their service to North Parade, meaning that Bathwick residents could not take the bus to the Great Pulteney Street surgery or alight at the Guildhall to access the Post Office and shops in the city centre. The new Liberal Democrat administration has lifted the threat of closure on the bridge, so the bus companies now have a free choice of route.

“I hope that this petition will remind First and Wessex that their buses serve hundreds of Bathwick residents, not just university students,” said Cllr Nicholas Coombes. “I hope that we can reach a compromise solution that works for all of the parties involved; local people are losing out right now.”

Copies of the petition have been sent to both of the bus companies which serve Bathwick Hill. To send your own message, you can write to First here or Wessex here.

Bridlepath consultation closes

Cllrs Symonds, Martin and Coombes on AQ78

The initial consultation on whether to create a bridleway on AQ78 has now closed.

AQ78 is widely know as the muddy path from Claverton Down to Combe Down. Your local councillors have been working with the community to have the path officially recognised and restored to its original width. The next step is to designate the path as a bridleway and improve the quality of its surface so that it can be used safely by pedestrians and cyclists alike.

During the six week consultation a number of supportive representations were made, including from Bath University Students’ Union. However, a number of objections were also recieved, so the process will not be resolved quickly.