Safer routes to St Mary’s primary

Bath St Mary’s Primary

This evening I was invited to a meeting of Bathwick St Mary’s Primary Safer Routes to School committee. This is run by a few parents and teachers at the school concerned by the difficulty getting their children to and from school safely.

As the school is on Darlington Road, a small cul-de-sac, the street gets quickly jammed in the morning; it is now designated ‘no parking’ so that residents can leave their drives. This was still raised as a problem at last week’s PaCT meeting, so I asked our traffic wardens to pay a visit during the school rush. No tickets were given, but the message got across. Armand and I have done a similar thing at King Edward’s School on North Road before too.

However, surrounding the school, the A36 Warminster Road is not suitable for dropping off children safely. Even an environmentalist like me can see that cycling and walking buses isn’t going to fix the problem straight away, so I have been actioned with a list of issues to take up with the council, including that footpath from the canal – uneven and puddled. I am also investigating a 20mph zone for operation during school hours. This was in both the Liberal Democrat and Conservative election manifestos, so really the Tory cabinet can’t say no…

Both Bathwick St Mary’s Primary and King Edward’s have good travel plans and are putting in effort to support sustainable transport. I was particularly happy to support the Safer Routes to School group who do much good work voluntarily. I would be more than happy to visit other local community groups when invited.

Public surgery

Bathwick St Mary’s

Today we had another of our public surgeries, in Bathwick St Mary’s Church Hall. We do these on the first Saturday of every second month to give local residents the chance to speak to us in person. Most Liberal Democrat councillors and MPs provide this service so we are happy to have introduced it to Bathwick.

BathNES council does not give any support for these, in their view it is an additional activity which we choose to do. Fortunately though, our kind hosts at St Mary’s and Claverton Community Hall provide us with a room and chairs, which is all we really need.

We have now hosted five surgeries since May 2007 and I am pleased that we have never yet sat by ourselves for the whole hour! This week we had four visitors which is about average. People come with concerns specific to them or their street, or wider political issues which they want to raise. Everything is confidential as necessary.

Our next surgery should be on 5th April in Claverton Hall – although I still have to book it. It’s a 10 am start, although with the cold weather this moring I did wonder why we get up so early at the weekend.

Youth Parliament elections

Nicholas with the new BathNES MYP

Congratulations to the new member of the Youth Parliament for BathNES, elected last night; also to her deputy and the other candidates.

Ten candidates stood to represent BathNES in an election open to pupils in BathNES school aged 12-18. Thousands of votes were cast giving a higher turnout than for most local elections. The poll was organised and counted by members of DAFBY, Democratic Action for BathNES Youth. I joined them for the count in the Guildhall and helped opening ballot boxes.

I became involved with the youth parliament elections when I visited a training day for the candidates in the Guildhall last year. I was asked to chair their afternoon session in the Council Chamber, including the reading of the manifestos and a debate. With this good work going on I wonder if the Conservatives will realise the impact of their plans to cut the youth work budget and close youth centres; the Tory cabinet member for childrens’ services did not attend the count yesterday.

Police & Communities Together

Bath St Mary’s Primary

Avon & Somerset Police held the second PaCT meeting in Bathwick this evening at St Mary’s Primary School. Our beat manager, PC Parker, and I gave an update on the previous priorities. Anti-social behaviour in Sydney Gardens is the top priority, which our PC and PCSO are regularly patroling. I hope to join them for an evening beat soon to see exactly what they tackle and how they deal with it.

Traffic work, promised some years ago by Elgar Jenkins, formed the other priorities; traffic calming on Sydney Road and a new pedestrian crossing between the school and the park. Unfortunately our investigations show that there is no money in the budget set aside for this work and that none is likely in the near future. Last year the Conservatives actually cut a number of road schemes; I signed a Liberal Democrat call-in to ask the cabinet member to reconsider, but the cuts continue regardless. This means that existing funded schemes are being delayed and new schemes like this and the Bathwick Hill crossing are even more difficult.

With a mainly different audience in attendence a new set of similar issues were raised, including parking problems on Darlington Road and Cleveland Walk relating to the schools; and the issue of HGVs through the city. Unfortunately the Conservatives have already dropped their election promise of an HGV ban saying that it now unworkable. However, before the election they ran Transport, so must have had some idea of feasibility. I found this out only by asking the Conservative cabinet member responsible at a meeting last month, whether any progress had been made on the issue.

The new top three priorities though, voted by the public, are thus:

1. Speeding, specifically on Bathwick Hill and Sydney Road but a concern throughout the area. The police are the main agency for this, who have recently launched a ‘speedwatch’ campiagn further up the A36.

2. The provision of a safe crossing on Bathwick Hill. This is my main area to tackle, which I am currently doing (see other posts!)

3. Anti-social behaviour in Sydney Gardens and environs. Another policing issue, although I will try to ensure that the new park scheme is safer by design.

Finally, just to note that a representative from Tesco did not turn up despite their promises and that I got the only clap of the evening; something about community empowerment at Sham Castle…

School buses

School Bus

I’ve been contacted a few times about the terrible state of Bath’s school bus system, which leaves children waiting on the road as overcrowded buses drive past. I signed the ‘better buses’ petition several months ago and on Monday I joined their protest outside the Guildhall.

First buses, who could easily be portrayed as the villain, supplied their promotional Yellow Bus for the protest, although they continue to charge children the adult price for a season ticket. Up to 100 people, mainly parents, children and Lib Dem councillors, joined the protest on the steps of the Guildhall.

 It was timed to precede the Children’s Services Overview & Scrutiny Panel, whose meeting included an item on home to school transport. Their conclusion was to launch a review, which is probably the best that could be reasonably expected.

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I’ve just discovered that Bath fm have been playing an interview with me today. The interviewer and I were a little bored before the protest started, so I just chatted to kill time. I’m told it sounded very good though, but sadly I wasn’t listening.

Students back

Bath University Liberal Democrat Society

After their exams at the beginning of term, Bath Uni students are back to lectures and the normal routine. This means that all of the clubs and societies are running again too. As chair of the Bath Uni Lib Dem Soc (I’ve been involved with them for four years) I’ve been organising the next term’s events.

The Bath uni student society is the largest political group on campus and has been to Westminster and the European Parliament while I’ve been with them. Hopefully they shall be helping out with the Sham Castle scrub clearance next month too.

Although society membership is only open to students, anyone can join the Liberal Democrat Party. go to www.libdems.org.uk or email me for more details.

Tesco try to lift planning restrictions

Bathwick Hill Tesco 

Without prior consultation, Tesco are seeking to avoid one of the restrictions placed on their store by the planning inspector and open their store before vital safety work has even been started. Stating that the council have been too slow providing the pedestrian crossing and loading bay, Tesco have asked for the condition to be changed so that they can open next month.

Local councillor Armand Edwards responds: “It is outrageous that Tesco want to subvert the planning system like this. For highway and pedestrian safety we need the crossing and loading bay before the store opens; Tesco shouldn’t put their own commercial gain before public safety.”

The store was granted planning consent by a government inspector in July last year, with two principal conditions; that the store only open between 8am and 9pm and that the pedestrian crossing is upgraded and a loading bay created. There was local controversy when the company sought an alcohol license until 11pm, then retracted at the last minute claiming an administrative error. Now Tesco have formally applied for the second condition to be altered to allow trading to start without the safety works.

In her judgement, the inspector recognised that “there would be an increase in the number of pedestrians crossing the highway as a result of the proposal” and that it would be necessary “in the interests of highway safety” to improve the crossing before the store opened. She also said that the loading bay offered by Tesco would be needed to prevent deliveries blocking the highway and that the development could not proceed without it.

Tesco’s application to the Council says that having paid the money to BathNES, they should be allowed to open the store when they like. However, the £20,000 paid is far less than that needed for a zebra crossing which locals want to see at the site. The council highways department has been carrying out a feasibility study into the works, but are having difficulty working to the small budget. In their letter to the council Tesco also made the threat of further legal action if they were refused, writing “avoiding an appeal, and the associated costs, is in the best interests of both parties.”

Councillor Nicholas Coombes says: “Only last week, Tesco were promising to work with the local community, but now they are trying to dodge their obligations without any prior warning. I shall be strongly objecting to their latest application and urging the planning department to throw it out for the safety of Bathwick’s residents.”

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The application to vary the judgement conditions is 08/00169/VAR available to read and comment at http://planning.bathnes.gov.uk/publicaccess/tdc/DcApplication/application_detailview.aspx?caseno=JUOX22CTKK000

Delivering leaflets

Delivering leaflets

Armand and I spent this weekend delivering leaflets up and around Bathwick; together we did about 600 homes on two wet afternoons. Delivering leaflets is a rather vital part of being a Lib Dem councillor – that and holding public surgeries.

During the election campaign last year lots of people said that they appreciated the effort that we were making to keep people informed of what we are doing. Having won that election we’re not going to change the habit, so all year around we’re out delivering leaflets, telling you what we’ve been up to as local representatives, even when it is cold and rainy.

You may be surprised to know that there is no ‘party line’ involved and we write our own news and stories. I do the desk-top publishing part as well, which probably shows whenever something doesn’t line up or I make a mistake with the photo captions. Still, no one likes their politicians to be too professional! We then go and print them on a high power photocopier (with recycled paper of course!) which we pay for ourselves.

 For the delivery part we have a few dedicated Lib Dem members who help out by leafletting their own street, typically less than an hour’s work. Nonetheless, Armand and I do most of the leg work ourselves, which means that we get to see nearly every house fairly regularly. If you think that you can help out though, we’d be very happy to hear from you!

On Monday I shall try and finish the last ones on North Road, always the most difficult. Without meaning to offend any of our valued North Road dwelling voters, your road is steep and long, sparsely populated with generally long walks to the letterbox. The views over the city are wonderful though, but I expect low cloud and drizzle will spoil that for me tomorrow. The best street for leafleting, if you were wondering, I think is Raby Mews which has the exact opposite characteristics of the above.

I’ll admit that this was a post about pretty much nothing, but I thought you might be interested.

Short-sighted folly!

Sham Castle

Liberal Democrat councillors Armand Edwards and Nicholas Coombes are leading a volunteer community project to clear the scrub at Sham Castle. Trees and vegetation have grown up obscuring the historic view between the city and the folly.

No money was available from BathNES council for this work so Nicholas and Armand have coordinated a funding application to the Cotswold AoNB Sustainable Development Fund with promises of help from Bath University’s One World environmental society. The Bathwick Hill, Copseland and Beech Avenue Residents’ Associations have all offered their support as have the City of Bath Mayor’s Guides.

An action day is planned for volunteers to cut back the scrub and clear up after the young trees have been felled in March. If you are interested in helping please post back the form overleaf, call 01225 426577 or email nicholas_coombes@bathnes.gov.uk to be kept updated; your support will be welcomed.

“The Liberal Democrats believe in empowering people and communities to help themselves,” says Cllr Edwards, “this is a brilliant example of our policies in practice and we hope you can support us.”

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Since writing this article I have discovered that the council worker who helped us organise this project has been made redundant by the Conservative spending cuts. I have sent a card and pot plant, but it doesn’t quite make it right.

Council’s secret meetings with University

Student body called to maek meetings public

Council leaders have insisted that their Partnership meetings with Bath and Bath Spa Universities be kept secret, despite repeated requests from a local councillor. Conservative Leader of the Council, Francine Haeberling, says “The Student Community Partnership meetings are held in private. The terms of reference provide for an annual public meeting”

Bathwick ward councillor, Nicholas Coombes, thinks that he has a lot to offer the talks though: “Armand Edwards and I are very visible ward councillors; we know what the problems are, both for local residents and the students, who we also represent. It doesn’t make sense not to include local people in these meetings; this is a typical example of the retreat to the Guildhall we have seen in this administration.”

Both Cllrs Coombes and Edwards are also students at the University of Bath, which is within their Bathwick ward. Cllr Haeberling represents Saltford, near Keynsham, with a minimal student population.

The new Conservative council provoked anger from the universities, colleges and students when they closed the successful Student Liaison Committee without warning on their opening night in power. Its replacement, the Student Community Partnership includes only two members of the council, the other being Chris Watt, failed parliamentary candidate for Wansdyke. To the annoyance of many mature students, university issues are covered in his ‘Childrens’ Services’ portfolio.

Cllr Coombes (Lib Dem, Bathwick) will be sending written questions to both conservative cabinet members about the secret meetings this week. “Firstly, I want to know why these meetings are held in private; what is there to hide? More importantly, I want to know if the Student Community Partnership is functioning at all. I have heard that transport was discussed at the last meeting; with the new term about to start have they made any clear plans to tackle the problems? Students and locals have complained to me about the quality of the bus service; I use it myself, so I know that it’s unreliable, overcrowded and expensive. However, with these meetings in secret, I don’t even know if the council is taking it seriously.”

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The answer to my question was that the meetings will be in secret, but there haven’t yet been any. That’s nine months since the old SLC was scrapped without a single meeting between the council leadership and university executive.