Bathwick St. Mary’s Primary School has been rated as the best state primary in Britain.
The award was from the Sunday Times which recognised high achievement across a range of subject areas.
Dr David Martin, who is a governor of the school added his own congratulations: “I’m proud to be associated with the school. It’s academic success is clear, and is due to the hard work of the whole school community – staff, children and parents.”
It is increasingly clear that B&NES Conservatives tried to close Pulteney Bridge without planning for the consequences.
A decision over whether to close the bridge fully has been delayed until April 2011, yet bus services have already been moved away at the request of the council. Thousands of passengers have had their regular service disrupted or cancelled. No alternatives were provided at the time of the change.
Two months later a replacement service for Great Pulteney Street is about to begin – it will run three times a day. Liberal Democrats including Cllr Nicholas Coombes are campaigning for the usual 18 service be restored during the six month decision period.
Cllr Coombes has also discovered that no prior traffic modelling was undertaken to predict the effect of closing the bridge on congestion. Conservative councillors had claimed that there would be no adverse effect on congestion. In answer to a written question, it emerges that these traffic models, prepared in 2008, were of closing the bridge together with opening up the bus gate.
In order to reduce congestion on North Parade, where the buses have been re-routed to, the council now proposed restricting right-hand turns onto Pulteney Road for the duration of the Christmas market this year. Taxis, which formed the majority of the bridge’s traffic, have not yet been re-routed to North Parade, but would be if the bridge were closed fully.
It is clear that the unplanned and botched closure of Pulteney Bridge has caused great inconvenience to local residents and is costing a great deal of tax-payers money in delayed and partial mitigation attempts. So far there hasn’t been a single benefit.
Nicholas Coombes and David Martin have persuaded B&NES Council to extend the 30mph zone on Claverton Down Road.
If all goes well, the 30mph zone will continue to the junction with the University. This will reduce the speed limit outside the houses on Claverton Down Road and will make it safer for bus passengers to cross the road.
Cllr Nicholas Coombes had the job put onto the highway department’s ‘task register’ soon after he was elected in 2007. Earlier this year your local Liberal Democrats collected signatures on a petition, which Dr David Martin handed into the council. This expression of public interest was enough to bump the job up the priority list.
There is a three week consultation period, with the notice advertised here. If there are no objections the limit should be changed and the signs moved in the new year.
AQ78 is officially a footpath!
The deadline for appeals against the inspector’s ruling has passed, so the historic path between Combe Down and Claverton Down is now officially recognised. The council is also now also able to take enforcement action against the landowner to have the fence taken down.
However, to secure a long-term solution B&NES Public Rights of Way department have decided not to enforce immediately. They are negotiating with the private landowner, council and National Trust to voluntarily dedicate the entire route a bridleway – much easier than another round of legal challenges!
Forming a full bridleway will allow children to legally cycle from Bathwick to Ralph Allen school, avoiding Claverton Down Road, and also university students to travel from Combe Down. This happens already which churns up the mud on the path and is sometimes dangerous at the Claverton Down end. Legalising and regulating this will allow improvements to the path surface and for safe traffic management at the junctions. Students from the University are already prepared to volunteer to re-surface the muddy stretch of the footpath.
Cllr Nicholas Coombes will continue to press B&NES council for a speedy resultion and give assistance as required.
B&NES Conservatives have delayed making a final decision on the closure of Pulteney Bridge for six months. This is a tacit admission that they failed to do enough research before re-routing the bus services.
This delay is the worst possible results for residents as there will be no work to improve Pulteney Bridge, yet locals are still deprived of their bus services. Bathwick’s Liberal Democrat councillor has written to the leader of the council asking that the buses are returned while they wait to make their decision.
A hundred residents attended a public meeting organised by Lib Dem campaigners Manda Rigby and Jay Risbridger. The Conservative councillor promoting the closure was invited but did not attend. The clear view of the meeting was that the consultation was inadequate and that no thought had been given to bus users. Thousands of passengers have been disadvantages by the needless re-routing of the 18 and other bus routes.
Six weeks after all buses were taken from Great Pulteney Street, a belated mitigation service is due to commence. The number 4 bus will be diverted to run up and down Great Pulteney Street on four occasions through the day. This has been rightly condemned as insultingly inadequate by local residents and Lib Dem campaigners.
“It’s clear that the Conservatives had no thought for bus passengers when they tried to close this bridge,” said Cllr Nicholas Coombes. “The replacement service is six weeks too late and derisorily infrequent. The council should start again with proper research and real public consultation and return the bus services while they do so.”
A section of the canal towpath has been resurfaced thanks to Lib Dem councillor Armand Edwards.
Cllr Edwards used part of his devolved funding to pay for the agregate used improving the surface through Sydney Gardens. The work were undertaken by the Sustrans ‘Future jobs fund’ which provides employment and training to unemployed young people (more information here) and organised by British Waterways.
It is the 200th anniversary of the Kennet & Avon Canal this year and various celebrations and improvements are underway, which Cllrs Armand Edwards and Nicholas Coombes have been supporting. For ideas about how you can get involved, have a look here.
More work to the canal through Bathwick is yet to come.
School Governor Dr David Martin is campaigning for a safer crossing over the Warminster Road.
Dr Martin has responsibility for the ‘safer routes to school’ initiative at Bathwick St. Mary’s Primary. He and local resident Claire White have collected almost 100 signatures on a petition for a safer crossing.
The petition was presented to the Conservative cabinet member with responsibility for traffic at the last B&NES council meeting. Speaking at the meeting, Claire White said:
“I dread the day my children will ask to go to school on their own. Each time we ‘run the gauntlet’ across Warminster Road negotiating cars, vans and lorries. The current traffic island isn’t even wide enough for a buggy, while HGVs hurtle past just a few inches away.”
Their campaign is supported by local councillor, Nicholas Coombes, who raised the need for improvements with B&NES several years ago. Since Bathwick’s Liberal Democrat councillors were elected they have already delivered a pedestrian crossing on Pulteney Road and a zebra crossing on Bathwick Hill.
“Residents in Minster Way and St. Christopher’s Close are concerned about the difficulties of crossing Warminster Road to get their children to school.” Said David Martin at the council meeting. “Elderly and frail people living in this are also find the road difficult to cross. There is much heavy traffic on this road.”
To join the petition write to 6 Beech Avenue, Bath BA2 7BA or email bathwick_libdems@yahoo.co.uk
University lectures start on Monday 4th, but this year’s Freshers have already moved in.
The addition of over 2,000 students living in halls on the university campus effectively doubles the population of Bathwick ward compared to summer time. The buses are already busy again, but the term timetable doesn’t start until next week. How this increased frequency affects congestion on North Parade bridge remains a cause of concern.
Our new neighbours will be unused to living away from home, so may take a bit of time to adjust to normal living patterns. If your patience is wearing thin, you can call the Student Action Line on 396996 to report a problem.
This term’s meeting of the University Neighbours’ Forum is on Tuesday 12th October at 5:30pm. Please RSVP to N.J.Kemp@bath.ac.uk for an agenda. I established these meetings to allow a conversation between the university and its near neighbours and feel that most find them very productive and reassuring.
A public meeting has been organised to discuss the closure of Pulteney Bridge on the knock on effects to public transport and traffic. The meeting will be on Friday 24th from 7pm at the Percey Room in the United Reformed Church on Grove Street.
Manda Rigby, a city centre resident, is organising the meeting after speaking to residents and business owners on the bridge and Great Pulteney Street. She says “there appears to be much confusion about the current state of play, some dismay about the consultation process and timing, and some dissent about what is being propsed.”
This is certainly true for Bathwick, where many residents have been left angry and inconvenienced or isolated by the changes to the bus services. I have placed an objection as local councillor on account of the unintended (but forseeable) consequences to public transport of closing the bridge.
Hundreds of people on the Pulteney Estate and around Sydney Gardens have lost their direct bus service and thousands of passengers on Bathwick Hill and at the University are now suffering a worse service, missing the Guildhall stop and stuck in traffic on North Parade. This morning there were long queues at North Parade and the junctions either side; yesterday afternoon bus passengers stuck in traffic on North Parade Bridge were allowed off the bus to walk to their destinations.
Experts from B&NES council plus the Conservative councillor who has been pushing this proposal have also been invited to the public meeting. People of all opinions and none are warmly invited.
This weekend the St. Mary’s Bathwick Festival celebrates the 175th anniversary of the incorporation of the parish of Bathwick into the City of Bath. The parish magazine advertises a Sung Eucharist with ‘Party’ refreshments afterwards. A colourful Civic Occasion as we welcome dignitaries from ‘over the river’ and release 175 balloons.
The Mayor will be there, as will the Charter Trustees (city councillors) including me – I suspect that we may be the dignitaries from ‘over the river’. Living on Bathwick Hill I may disappoint on the location criteria, but I can promise that I shall be wearing my robes and hat of office!
The celebrations start at 10:30 on Sunday 12th September.