Moorland Road Traders Thanked

Last night, four independent traders on Moorland Road were recognised for the work they did to make ensure Moorland Road had Christmas lights last December.

Francis DIY (Rob Sampson), S&L Banable Butchers (Steve Banable), This n’ That (David Pye) and Nicholas Paul Hair Studio (Nicholas Crusie) were nominated by Cllr Will Sandry for The Chairman of the Council’s Business Award for promoting sustainable communities.

In his nomination Will wrote:

“In November and December 2010 four independent businesses brought Moorland Road to life with over 10,000 lights, 55 Christmas Trees, 20 Rope lights and one Father Christmas.
Moorland Road is the only shopping street in the whole of Bath and North East Somerset which doesn’t get its Christmas lights installed and paid for by Bath and North East Somerset Council.
In early 2010 the Moorland Road Association (Traders group) who had arranged the Christmas lights in the past was disbanded.
By early November it was realised that nobody was going to put up lights, no Father Christmas switching on the lights, and no presents for local children as there has been in previous years.
The four business nominated came together and quite simply made Christmas happen for Moorland Road. There was local fundraising to pay for a professional electrician to check the wiring, employees spent time putting up the lights and presents were wrapped for the Children. Father Christmas was also persuaded to arrive on cue.
I would like to invite the Chairman to recognise and celebrate the excellence that these four businesses have demonstrated by putting on a spectacular display of lights for the Community in and around Moorland Road.
The Community includes those of us who live in the area, and also the other businesses on Moorland Road whose Christmas trade will have been enhanced by the efforts of these four businesses.
By their actions, these four businesses have really contributed to safeguarding the long-term viability of local life in the south of Bath and at Christmas time this helped make Moorland Road an even better place to live, work and visit.”

Culverhay saved from the brink

Tonight, the Conservative Council’s decision to close Culverhay School was “Called in”  by Liberal Democrat and Labour Councillors and subjected to public scrutiny.

The Scrutiny Panel upheld the call-in. This means that the decision to close Culverhay cannot be implemented and that the decsion will now be debated by the Full Council at its next meeting. This is likely to be on Thursday 19th May which is the first Council Meeting after the elections which will be on May 5th.

Cllr Will Sandry spoke at the meeting and said: “Closing Culverhay is not a decision for our community or by our community. The public consultation responses have been clear that the community wants Culverhay to remain open as a co-educational community school.”

Cllr David Dixon was a member of the Panel which upheld the call in. During the debate he questioned the Conservative Cabinet member about why he wanted to close the School and why he hadn’t worked more closely with the community.

Missing Student

Police in Bath are appealing for help tracing an 18-year-old student who’s gone missing from his flat in the city.

They say they’re very concerned for the safety of James Bubear because his disappearance is completely out of character. There has been no contact between him and his friends or family since Sunday night, March 13, and he has not returned to his student flat on the Lower Bristol Road.

James, a first-year student at Bath Spa University, had been on night out with friends at Vodka Revolutions club in George Street.

He was last seen leaving the club at around 10.30pm and walking off alone.

He is described as white, 6ft 2ins tall, of skinny build and with mousy brown hair. He was wearing a navy or black jacket, a white shirt with 1970s-style collar and large cuffs, and jeans.

Anyone who has seen him or knows of his whereabouts is asked to call Bath police on 0845 456 7000.

It is known that James mislaid his mobile phone before he disappeared, and that it has been found but not handed in. Police are urging whoever has it now to contact them and to return it. They say the finder is not in trouble.

Phone Mast Appeal – The Oval

Cllr Will Sandry is disappointed that Vodafone Ltd have appealed against the Council’s decision to refuse permission for a phone mast at the Oval.

Will said: “The Council gave strong reasons for refusing this application and I am disappointed that Vodafone have decided to appeal. It’s a shame the this decision will now rest in the hands of a Planning Inspector based in Bristol.

I will be writing to the Planning Inspector to reinforce the public comments made by local residents about this application.”

The decision will be reviewed by a Planning inspector and all public comments and petitions made about the original application for development will be taken into account by the Inspector deciding the appeal.

Should you wish to make any additional comments regarding the appeal, these should be sent in writing to The Planning Inspectorate, 3/25 Hawk Wing, Temple Quay House, 2 The Square, Temple Quay, Bristol BS1 6PN by 5th April 2011.

It is the requirement of the Planning Inspectorate that 3 copies of written representations should be provided. If the Planning Inspectorate receives representations after the deadline stated above they will not normally be seen by the Inspector and will be returned.

Requests for copies of the decision letter should also be directed to The Planning Inspectorate at the address given above quoting the Inspectorate’s Appeal Reference: APP/F0114/A/11/2147255/NWF.

Cotswold Road / Moorfields Road Allotments

Last summer your Councillors consulted local residents on The Council’s outline proposal to turn the two play fields between Cotswold Road and Moorfields Road in to allotments for local residents to use.

Cllr Will Sandry knocked on all the doors of houses that backed on to the fields along Cotswold Road, Moorfields Road,Willow Green, Chantry Mead Road and Ashford Road and asked residents what they thought of the idea.

There were some positive responses and some negative ones. Approximately 45% of Residents were in favour, with about 55% opposed.

The response to this proposal, combined with Council budget cuts mean that this proposal will not be progressed for the foreseeable future.

Please do feeback to us with your views: oldfieldbath@gmail.com

Community PACT meeting

The next Oldfield Partners and Communities Together (PACT) meeting takes place at St Alphage’s Parish Hall this Wednesday, 9th March at 6:30pm.

Police, Council Officers and Councillors will all be present to respond to community priorities. There will be feedback on the last set of Community priorities (from November 2010) and the progress we are making on those issues. The issues were:

1. Road cleansing  –  Lead Agent: B&NES

2. Replace bin in Cotswold Road – Lead Agent: B&NES

3. Pedestrian crossing – Moorland Road  – Lead Agent: B&NES

4. Cycling and scooters on pavements (Third Avenue) – Lead Agent: Police

5. Street noise in Livingstone Road  – Lead Agents: Police/B&NES Student Liaison Officer

If you are unable to attend, please email us with your priorites so that we can take them forward to the meeting.

oldfieldbath@gmail.com

Bath Half 2011

It’s the Bath Half next Sunday, 6th March. The route and parking restrictions are unchanged from recent years, so don’t forget that Junction Road, Oldfield Road, Lower Oldfield Park and Second Avenue will have parking restrictions from 6am to allow emergency vehicle access. Lower Bristol Road will be closed from 10am to allow the race to take place. Full details are on the Bath Half Website.

This year Cllr Shaun McGall as Mayor, will start the Race, then join the other runners to run the course. Shaun is running on behalf of the Mayor of Bath’s Relief Fund which helps citizens in need in the City.

If you would like to sponsor Shaun, please follow this link.

A new School?

The Conservative run Council has now made a final decision to close Culverhay School, although this will be subject to a “call-in”  when Lib Dem Councillors will attempt to delay the process.

There is a meeting next Tuesday, 1st March at 7pm at the school to see if there is support for a co-educational Free School to open at the site. A Free School is funded directly by central government and would be free of Council control.

A free school is unlikely to go ahead unless there is strong public support for the plan, so please attend the meeting on Tuesday and show your support for the new school.

You can also follow the Friends of Culverhay on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=129162280441188

Two Tunnels Underway

The project is now well underway with the stretch from the Devonshire Tunnel to Monksdale Road now tarmaced. The Council is undertaking some stabilisation works to the Hiscock’s Drive Bridge, so that’s why that small segment has not been re-surfaced yet.

Click here to See Frank Tompson (Chair of the Two Tunnels Project) report on his ride along the new path on youtube.

A few residents have been in touch about the Tarmac and are concerned that Cyclists will travel very fast on it and not be respectful to pedestrians. In addition, during the project all the existing dog poo bins have been removed. Will has sought reassurance from the Two Tunnels Group and Sustrans that they will work with the cycling community to ensure respect in maintained on the shared path and to make a commitment that the bins that have been removed will be replaced swiftly.

Hopefully the Planning Application for the replacement bridge over Monksdale Road will be approved in the next week or so. We will keep you informed of developments.