Around 40 local residents attended our regular Oldfield PACT (Public) Meeting took place on Wednesday 10th March 2010 at Moorlands Infant School, Moorfields Road.

These local residents were joined by two of our local Police team (PC Mark Brain and PCSO Paul Spreadbury), representatives from Somer Housing and your local Councillors, Will and Shaun. In addition, the President of the Students’ Union at the University of Bath attended with the new Community Liaison Coordintor from the Student Community Partnership, which I set up (well the Student Liaison Committee, which was renamed the SCP).

Firstly, we discussed the progress in tackling the priorities from the last meeting. Then those present were asked for their priorities, which were voted on. The following three top priorities were agreed at the meeting:

o Parking problems outside St John’s RC Primary School. Parents parking on zig-zags, pavement parking and double yellow lines.

o Student’s behaviour on St Kilda’s Road.

o Reduce the number of ‘To Let’ signs on houses of multiple occupancy.

In addtion at the meeting we heard about the ‘Oldfield Park Growing Together’ project.

We shall together with the Police now work towards resolving these issues and report back at the next PACT meeting scheduled for 6.30pm on 7th July 2010 at St Alphage’s Hall, Oldfield Lane, Bath.

The long-awaited amendments to the two Orders relating to HMOs have at last been published. You can find them as follows -

Use Classes Order at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2010/uksi_20100653_en_1 (this sets up a new Class C4: HMOs, and defines HMO as in the Housing Act 2004);

General Permitted Development Order at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2010/uksi_20100654_en_1 (this allows a HMO to return to a dwellinghouse, without planning permission).

Also good news from Plymouth, Cllr Shaun McGall has found out that Halifax Building Society recently refused a buy to let mortgage in the city due to the impending legislation in April.

It’s great that the new play equipment is being installed this month, but there is now the opportunity for some new covered seating to be provided too!

We’ve done some initial consultation (with some park users and local residents) and there is a generally positive response, but a few people have raised concerns about any potential misuse of the community seating area. As a result Will and Shaun have got the local Police on the case along with Sam, the Council’s Outreach Youth Worker and the Parks Department.

So far we have spoken with over 40 adults and young people but we’re adding some consultation to the start of the Oldfield / Moorfields PACT public meeting this coming Wednesday. We don’t know exactly what the seating area will look like yet or where it will be, but it could look like any of these:

The doors open at 6pm to get your views about where seating could be put and what it could look like. The main PACT Meeting starts at 6:30 on Wednesday 10th March at Moorland s Infants. This is not part of the consultation, but to find out more about the regular PACT public meeting click here.

If you can’t make the meeting, please let us know your views (good or bad) about what the seating could look like and where it could be. Please email: oldfieldbath@googlemail.com

Following a review of all secondary schools in the local authority, a secondary school strategy was unanimously agreed by Full Council and Cabinet in 2008. The strategy identifies Keynsham and Bath as the areas where changes need to take place. The Council is consulting on these proposals, and will make a final decision on changes in July.

The public has already told the Council they want more co-education places and improved facilities. Although we already have some of best Schools in the country, we must continue to improve of school buildings and give our young people the best possible environment in which to learn.

What this means for Bath(proposals for Keynsham are at the end of this post)
In Bath, the proposal is to further raise standards and improve the quality of schools buildings, reduce the number of schools with surplus places and create the right size schools which are educationally and financially viable. The proposal will increase the number of co-educational places available. Steps will also be taken to make sure there are sufficient church school places and that parents still have the option to send their child to a single sex school.

No changes are proposed to Beechen Cliff and Hayesfield Schools which will provide the choice of single sex boys and girls places for parents. No changes are proposed to Ralph Allen and St Gregory’s Catholic College.

To achieve the overall strategy for Bath, Oldfield, Culverhay and St Mark’s will be closed and two new schools will be opened.

Information on the counsultation process can be found below:
Read the rest of this entry.

Partners and Communities Together (PACT) gives you a chance to meet the local Police team, your local councillors, Will and Shaun, and influence priorities in our neighbourhood.

It will be held at Moorlands Infants School, Moorfields Road, and start at 6.30pm. Please come along to discuss any issues of concern you may have in your community.

Current public priorities were established on 4th November 2010:

1. Problems with residents of the flats on Poplar Close and Monksdale Road;
2. Street Cleansing, state of the pavements;
3. Speeding on First, Second and Third Avenues, Oldfield Lane, and King Edward Road. Potential implementation of a One Way system?

If you are untable to attend, but want to voice your local priorities or issues, please email us at: oldfieldbath@googlemail.com

Quite often there has been bad press arising regarding the relationship between students and permanent residents in Oldfield Park. In order to help remedy this and improve the relationship between permanent residents and students in this area, the charity V Inspired, the Council, University of Bath and Bath Spa University’s Students’ Unions have created a project that aims to do just that.

The project, run by a core volunteer group of 4 students, seeks to match underutilised student household gardens with permanent residents who wish to grow their own food (responding to a local lack of allotments). The proposal is for a research project that will lead to a pilot scheme, designed and delivered by the volunteer group working in and with the community.

Currently being carried out is research into the market by distributing questionnaires, and semi structured interviews to determine the likely supply of gardens and also estimated demand for growing space in the community. The group are also attending local community meetings and collaborating with similar schemes that already exist such as the Bath Area Garden Share (part of Transition Bath) and Bath Organic Group, and taking inspiration from existing garden share schemes such as the one in Totnes, Devon.

The aim of this part of the project is to find out if it is feasible within the Oldfield Park area. If it is found to be feasible, by the middle of April it is hoped that two gardens will be being piloted with members of the local community using student gardens to plant their vegetables in, just in time for the recommended planting season!

If you feel your garden has a good space that someone could grow their veggies in please contact us!! If you are interested in getting involved or would like more information please email: op.growers@googlemail.com

Bath Spa University is consulting on their initial proposals for the future development and combining enhancement of the Newton Park campus.

The University would like to hear your views on the emerging Newton Park master-plan exhibited here, which will provide the basis for planning applications coming forward in the future.

We both believe that it is important local residents of Oldfield Park have their say about the need for the University (actually both universities) to build and house more students in Halls of Residents on their campus and take some of the pressure off the local housing in our community.

Both Will and Shaun have already attended the exhibtion and have spoken informally with the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Frank Morgan, about the plans. We will be also adding our formal comments to the online consultation exercise.

The University has stated that local residents comments and views are important to them in helping to shape their proposals. Feedback from the exhibition and future consultation will be carefully considered as part of the ongoing design work.

The consultation documents are also availble as a large (6MB pdf) doc.

Please do respond to this consultation exercise and encourage your friends and neighbours to also respond.

Liberal Democrats in Bath are “over the moon” following the government’s announcement of new powers for Councils to control ‘Houses in Multiple Occupation’ (HMOs). Councillor Shaun McGall and Don Foster MP have been campaigning on this issue for 10 years.

Today’s announcement shows that the government has finally bowed to national public pressure and has given local Councils the much-needed powers to control the spread of high concentrations of shared rented homes. This will allow Councils, such as ours, to tackle pockets of unsafe and substandard accommodation run by bad landlords. Liberal Democrats in the city headed by MP Don Foster had been calling on the Government to speed up action on the subject. Local MP Don Foster said:

I warmly welcome this announcement from the Minister. HMOs play an important role in providing affordable housing, but a dense population can have serious effects on the local community. It is great that the government has finally realised this and changed the law.

This is good for local residents giving control over unregulated profit driven changes to the community. Good for HMO tenants, as it will improve standards and get rid of bad landlords, by providing a mechanism for councils to set up local landlord licensing schemes.

The changes mean that landlords will need to apply for planning permission in order to establish a new HMO with a change of use, for example when the use of a property is altered from a family home to a shared house, with three or more tenants who are not related.

We would like to thank residents from across the city who responded to the Government consultation last year following our campaign.
Read the rest of this entry. Read the rest of this entry.

Many local residents are furious that a new forest of “To Let” signs has sprung up across Oldfield Park. Residents think it’s quite unnecessary to have so many To Let signs when the agents are mainly trying to attract students. Students will either be looking online for accommodation or using the accommodation lists the universities provide.

The signs are also upsetting for the people who live in the houses at the moment; some have told me that the signs single them out as a house in multiple occupation and are an advertisement to thieves. Cllr Will Sandry said,

I asked the police, and unfortunately the Oldfield crime data confirms that student houses are targeted in particular at this time of year, when the signs go up.

Read the rest of this entry.

Bath MP Don Foster is writing to the new Minister for Housing and Planning, John Healey MP, asking him not to let the response to this summer’s consultation on House of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) drag.

Earlier this year, the government consulted on changing the use class order of HMOs which would, in effect, mean someone wishing to convert a family home into a HMO would have to apply for planning permission.

Oldfield ward Lib Dem Councillor Shaun McGall has been lobbying for changes to the law for a number of years. He said,

Where areas have a high concentration of HMOs it can add a number of strains to the community, for example in car parking and refuse collection. Councils have not had the ability to do anything about the rise of the HMO, meaning that communities, such as Oldfield Park, can change very quickly as private landlords buy family homes to convert. HMOs do serve a purpose, but they need to be controlled so that local communities aren’t damaged. That is why this government consultation is so important.

Bath MP Don Foster said,

This consultation was finished in August, but the new Minister doesn’t seem to have any expectation of when the findings will be published, partly because of the overwhelming response. I have written to him to stress the importance of this issue, which is affecting communities up and down the country. When we clearly need more affordable housing, it is important that councils have the power to prevent more family housing being converted into HMOs, especially in the most affordable areas of our city. HMOs should be spread across cities, not concentrated in certain areas which can have a massive effect on the local community.

Please see below for the full text of Don Foster’s letter to John Healey MP. Read the rest of this entry.