A Planning Inspector has decided not to allow three houses to be built at 21 Woodland. The appeal against the refusal of BathNES Council’s planning committee is dismissed.
The application, 14/01016/FUL, was to build a terrace of three houses on the site of a single chalet-bungalow at the eastern end of the Woodland Grove cul-de-sac. The Inspector agreed with the planning committee that the buildings would be harmful to the conservation area.
The Council has issued a draft order for introducing 20 mph on lengths of several roads in Bathwick ward.
The roads involved include mainly the residential areas situated off Bathwick Hill, and the Claverton Down area, and the residential areas off Warminster Road. Only a very short section at the top of Bathwick Hill is included together with only the section of North Road near King Edwards School. For further details, you can access the relevant webpage on the Council website here, and we can also provide further information. Any representations about these proposals need to be with the Council by 15 January 2015, and should be sent directly to them.
Local campaigner Claire Jackson said “the introduction of 20 mph limits in residential areas is a positive step in improving safety in the local road environment for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists alike”.
One of the most important strategic business issues for the Council in future years is setting the most appropriate planning requirements. To do this, the Council is currently consulting on the options for key development sites and the planning policy framework in B&NES. The Placemaking Plan, together with the recently adopted Core Strategy, will be used as the basis for determining planning applications over the next 15 years. The Options document outlines various alternatives and comments are invited from the public in order to inform the next stage of the Placemaking Plan. The Plan is available to download from the Council website via this link. Please note that this is a large document (12.6 MB). The consultation runs until the end of January 2015.
The Plan includes sections on key sites in the city, including the University campus on Claverton Down. Claire Jackson said “I hope that local people will take the opportunity to look at this document, large though it is, and to provide their comments on the options being put forward by the Council”.
Bath & North East Somerset Council’s £225,000 investment into 10 local play parks will be completed before Christmas. A new see-saw has been added to the Sydney Gardens play area in Bathwick.
Cllr David Martin said: “This continued investment into our local play parks will benefit many children and families and we’re delighted to be able to complete this work before the Christmas holiday. Play equipment has a natural shelf-life and Bath & North East Somerset Council wants to make sure that our areas are safe as well as fun. We welcome feedback on the new facilities being provided and look forward to a new generation of children having fun on our play areas.”
Improvements to the play area at Bath’s Royal Victoria Park are also planned in the new year, as part of a wider investment project. This will include replacing the play park’s triple slides with a bespoke slide and tower unit.
The application to build 206 new homes on the Warminster Road MoD site will no longer be heard at this month’s Development Control committee. The developer has asked that it be deferred until a later meeting.
Bathwick Liberal Democrat councillor David Martin has pursuaded the committee chair that the decision should be taken by the Development Control committee, so that members of the public can present their views and see the debate. 40 letters of objection to the scheme have been received by the council, including from Bathampton Parish Council, Bath Preservation Trust and from Transition Bath.
Council planning officers are recommending that the application be refused; the urban design, heritage, landscape, arboricultural, housing and parks officers objected to the proposals, as did the Environment Agency and English Heritage. The report fails the application on the grounds of urban design, harm to the conservation area and world heritage site, loss of trees, inadequate drainage, impact on neighbouring homes and failure to provide a suitable housing mix.
Work has started on a new permanent surface for the footpath between Claverton Down and Combe Down. Your Liberal Democrat councillors have supported local residents in campaigning for improvements to the ‘muddy path’ for many years.
The permanent surface of stone chippings will stop the long stretches of mud and puddles which have become a winter feature of the path in recent years. The route is heavily used both by recreational walkers, and by students and pupils of Ralph Allen and the University.
The new stronger surface will also allow the path to be used by cyclists, following the ruling of the government planning inspector. This will save cyclists the longer, hillier and more dangerous route along Claverton Down Road.
“I’m really pleased to see this work being done, after all these years of campaigning,” said Cllr Nicholas Coombes. “Many local residents, students and council staff have worked hard to have this route recognised and improved. I hope that the new surface allows them to enjoy this route, whether walking or cycling for leisure, to work or study.”
Tesco on Bathwick Hill have applied to extend their alcohol licence to allow the store to sell drink between 6am and midnight.Currently the stores closes at 9pm, when their existing licence stops.
People who live within the vicinity of the store may make representations before 30 December 2014. They must complete a form and post or email it to licencing@bathnes.gov.uk. Representations should cover any of the four licencing objectives:
Some will remember that Tesco’s original licence application in 2008 was for later hours, which Cllr Nicholas Coombes and local residents persuaded the licencing committee to reduce.
Claire Jackson and councillors David Martin and Nicholas Coombes held an advice surgery at the University of Bath Students’ Union. The local Liberal Democrats discussed town and gown relations with university students and union leaders.
In representing every resident in Bathwick ward, both on the hill and on campus, your local Lib Dems have held dozens of advice surgeries and public meetings in halls across the area. If you would like to get in touch with your local councillors, please use the contact information on the right of this page.
BathNES Council is researching footpaths in Bathwick and part of Combe Down to determine whether or not they are public rights of way. This work involves a public consultation which is open until 16 January 2015. Paths which are found to be public rights of way will be included in a Legal Order and added to the Definitive Map and Statement for the city.
There are 17 paths included in the consultation. The Council needs to have information about the public’s usage of each path, whether there have been any barriers or problems in using them and other details about how people have found the ease of access over recent years. There is a questionnaire for each path which the public is invited to complete.
The contact at the Council for enquiries is Bath_DSM@bathnes.gov.uk. The relevant page on the Council web site with more information, a map of the footpaths and the questionnaire can be found by clicking here. Local community volunteer Claire Jackson said “your Bathwick Liberal Democrat team are supporting the inclusion of these popular footpaths to protect their use in the future”.
Pedestrians trying to cross the lower end of North Road at its junction with the A36 Warminster Road have great difficulty in crossing safely due to the arrangement of the junction. Traffic approaches the junction from three directions – from North Road, and from each side of Warminster Road, and adequate visibility of approaching traffic can be a problem.
Local residents collected over 80 names for a petition which was presented to the Council Cabinet meeting in November. The petition, which was supported by Cllr David Martin, called for the Council to examine different options to improve the safety of pedestrians at this location. The Council will now be considering the road safety issues and will be responding to the petition in the near future.