The cycle Tour of Britain race will visit Bath on Friday 12th September. The Bath to Hemel Hempstead stage is 206km long and will occur on the sixth day.
The stage will commence at the Royal Crescent on Friday 12th September at 10:15am; the peleton will ride down Milsom Street, over Pulteney Bridge and along Great Pulteney Street. In Bathwick, the riders will pass the Holburne Museum, going down Darlington Street, over the Bathwick Hill roundabout and out along Pulteney Road.
Bath’s first Park Run will be on Claverton Down next month along the National Trust’s Bath Skyline paths.
Park Run organise weekly runs for the community, which are timed over a 5km distance. The first event in Bath is being organised by @bathrunner.
The meeting place is in the council fields opposite Monkton Prep school, at 10am on 4th October. The organisers are also having a trial run on 27th September.
Cleveland Walk will be gritted by BathNES Council this winter for the first time thanks to your Liberal Democrat councillors. Council staff have now accepted Cllr David Martin’s request to add the street to the gritting route.
Residents and local councillors have long been pressing to have Cleveland Walk gritted in winter, to support users of the school and nursing home. The introduction of the 734 bus service has now tipped the balance in favour of gritting.
The 734 bus, itself the result of work by your local councillors, has proved popular with Bathwick residents as it takes the directly into the city centre.
Early Years provision at Miles House has been rated as inadequate by Ofsted. While much of the inspection report praises staff at the nursery, high temperature inside the building on the day of the inspection was considered a risk to safety and well-being.
The day nursery was previously rated outstanding in 2010. The recent inspection was undertaken to check management and staffing at the nursery, which was considered to be effective. However, when the inspection was carried out on 6th August 2014, the inspectors found the heat inside the building to put children’s health at “significant risk”. The babies sleep room was recorded to be 27 degrees C, above the recommended 18 degrees C.
Childbase, the company which runs the nursery is appealing the report.
An inadequate rating has a significant implication for BathNES Council, which funds the placement of 44 children at the nursery. The Department for Education Early Years Entitlement funding requires the Council to “Secure alternative provision and withdraw funding, as soon as is practicable, for children who are already receiving their funded entitlement at a provider when it is rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted”
BathNES Council staff will be working with parents and the nursery to assess the implications of this report, and to manage the transition to other providers in a structured way.
The street lights on North Road are to be replaced with new energy efficient LED lights to match those of Bathwick and Widcombe Hills.
The existing yellow sodium lights have reached the end of their life, so will be replaced with clear white lights. The new lamps shine a brighter light onto the road and pavement, which is easier to see by, while reducing light pollution. There will be slightly more lamps, spaced closer together, as the columns are shorter than at present.
Liberal Democrat led BathNES Council has won awards for their energy efficiency projects, including the street light replacement project, which save both carbon emissions and taxpayers money.
The next meeting of the forum for neighbours of Bath University will be in the evening of Tuesday 2nd September. The forum allows local residents and university managers to discuss forthcoming events and matters of concern on the Claverton Down campus.
The agenda includes an update on campus buildings projects, including the new accommodation block, arts centre, and teaching spaces. There will also be a discussion about the controversial North Car Park, subject to a recent planning application.
Bath University has also provided a list of forthcoming events on campus. Local residents are likely to notice the Open Day on 13th September, which is expected to attract 10,000 prospective students. The start of the new academic year is 29th September, with new first year students arriving on campus from 20th and 21st September.
The street sign for Woodland Grove is getting a fresh coat of paint – except the council staff left the job half done.
The sign has been painted black, ready for the lettering to be re-applied. However, having been left incomplete, the sign is rendered illegible.
Cllr David Martin and local resident Claire Jackson are now pressing BathNES Council to complete the work. They have also reported the broken sign at the top of North Road for repair.
A carnival, organised by the Bath School of Samba, is coming to Sydney Gardens this weekend. There will be a activities, a parade and a party in the park.
During the afternoon, organisers will facilitate workshops in Sydney Gardens for families to prepare for the carnival. The parade itself will be between 6:30 and 8pm, starting and finishing in Great Pulteney Street. The route will include a circuit of Grand Parade and High Street, and also of Milsom Street and Broad Street. In the evening, there will be live music and dance in the gardens until 9:30pm. Through the day there will be food and drink outlets in the gardens.
The organisation of the event has not been without controversy, with many residents concerned about the late notice and potential for disturbance. BathNES Council and the event organisers have had detailed discussions in recent weeks to agree protective measures – including for bats nesting in the Minerva Temple.
BathNES Council’s emergency number is 01225 477 477.
Cleveland Pools, Britain’s only Georgian lido, has won lottery funding to develop its restoration bid. The Cleveland Pools trust have been awarded £366,200 to work up their proposals and business plan, with an expectation of a £4.1 million grant to implement the scheme.
Trustees of the pools want to re-open the lido for public swimming for the first time in thirty years. BathNES Council provided the trust with a lease for the site last year, and have supported the lottery bid. Hundreds of volunteers have also backed the bid, writing the application documents, clearing the site and fundraising.
The see-saw at Sydney Gardens is to be replaced shortly. This summer, Lib Dem run BathNES Council will be improving a dozen play areas in Bath with new equipment.
In recent years your Bathwick councillors have been supporting a lottery bid to restore Sydney Gardens, and have campaigned for significantly better play provision to be included in it. However, Cllr Nicholas Coombes and Cllr David Martin have also lobbied for improvements to existing equipment in the mean time.
“We are looking forward to great things with the Sydney Gardens restoration project,” said Cllr Nicholas Coombes, “but we are not going to just wait and let the things slide.”