The Bradley Stoke Journal

Local football club Bradley Stoke Youth FC is to start three girls’ teams in the new season that starts in September.

The club says it is looking for female players for three new teams covering the U9, U10 and U11 age groups.

Training for all teams will start on August 11th and all interested girls are welcome to attend. The U11 team will play competitively in the Bristol Girls League starting in September.

The club, which holds the FA Charter Standard award, has over 200 members and currently runs 12 teams in the U7 to U16 age ranges. All coaches are FA qualified and FA CRB checked.

Anyone interested in managing one of the new teams is also invited to get in touch.

For further information contact Gunnar Moran on 07754 951425 or Andy Gover on 07773 305477.

Related Link: Football in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

Three further stores could open next month (August) at the Willow Brook Centre, Bradley Stoke’s new town centre shopping development.

The town’s first cycle shop, branded “Giant Cycles“, is set to open on Wednesday 15th August according to a source within the owning company, ZeroG.

The sizeable store, on the corner of the main mall building at the Bradley Stoke Way end of the development, was reconfigured several months ago to have additional external entrances.

In answer to reader comments made on an earlier Journal story, the company has confirmed that it will be offering a cycle repair service at the new outlet.

Elsewhere in the mall, fitting out of the new Card Factory store is well advanced. Willow Brook Centre Manager Scott Lahive says the firm is yet to confirm an opening date but it is expected to be “mid to end August”.

Fitting out of the new Specsavers store has also started and the company has already advertised for staff, including Optical Assistants and a Trainee Dispensing Optician.

Over in the new Retail Terrace, the Brantano shoe store opened for business on Wednesday 22nd July, one day later than planned due to an “overstocking issue” the previous day.

Animal superstore Pets at Home, now officially confirmed as a Willow Brook tenant after being revealed months earlier in The Journal, will occupy the remaining “under offer” unit (number 5) in the Retail Terrace. The company recently submitted a planning application for signage at the new store but fitting out is yet to commence.

The Governors of Wheatfield Primary School and a number of residents of Wheatfield Drive have registered concerns over the proposed construction of a new MS Therapy Centre on land off Bradley Stoke Way.

An organisation known as The Moonstone Appeal submitted plans for the new centre to South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) in June.

Those plans showed access to the site being from a new “left turn-only” access road off Bradley Stoke Way, supplemented by pedestrian-only access from Wheatfield Drive.

The applicants have told SGC that they need to commence building on the site by Spring 2010 in order to retain funding that has been secured for the project. They have also asked that some conditions agreed in an earlier planning application be waived or relaxed so that construction can commence without delay.

In a six-page response, the Chair of Governors of Wheatfield Primary School lists eight “observations and requests for further clarification” and says that the Board of Governors “has chosen not to pledge its support for the proposed planning application at this time”.

Three residents of Wheatfield Drive have also registered concerns, which include the loss of a protected hedge, light and noise pollution, vandalism and traffic congestion.

One resident claims that the diversion of an underground oil pipeline, said to be necessary in order to construct the new access road off Bradley Stoke Way, would cost between £150k and £200k.

Both Governors and residents air a suspicion that construction traffic will have to access the site from Wheatfield Drive whilst the centre is being built, which they say will create a safety hazard for residents and school children.

The Council’s own Highways Department has also been critical of some aspects of the plans, describing the submitted design for the new access road off Bradley Stoke Way as “sub-standard”.

SGC has set a target date of 14th August for a decision on the planning application.

The Journal has learned that local charity Southern Brooks Community Partnership (SBCP) has been successful in its bid to retain the contract for youth work provision in Bradley Stoke.

Youth work in the town was thrown into confusion late last year when Bradley Stoke Town Council decided to terminate its direct relationship with SBCP and instead work “in partnership with South Gloucestershire Council (SGC)” to provide youth work in the town.

Conservative Councillors had for some time been been critical of SBCP’s performance, with Cllr Brian Hopkinson describing the number of youths engaged as “abysmal”.

The Town Council had initially wanted to introduce the new arrangements in April 2009, but was later advised by SGC’s Youth Service that the proposed timescale was unrealistic. Councillors then considered appointing their own youth leader to cover the interim period until a new contract could be put in place.

An Extraordinary Meeting of BSTC on 25th February 2009 saw Councillors back-track on earlier discussions after they were petitioned by young people who said they would be uncomfortable with a change of leadership at the town’s youth clubs. Councillors instead decided to extend SBCP’s contract until the end of September, when a provider appointed by SGC would take over.

A lengthy tendering process for the new contract is believed to have attracted just a single bidder and it is hardly a surprise to learn that the (now successful) candidate was SBCP.

Julie Snelling, Director of SBCP, told The Journal:

Southern Brooks Community Partnership is delighted to have secured the contract to deliver youth work in Bradley Stoke for the next three and a half years, subject to ratification by the town council. We look forward to working closely with South Gloucestershire Youth Service and the town council to develop a new youth centre at Brook Way Community Centre from October.

The charity is now advertising for a full-time Youth Work Manager in Bradley Stoke and is offering a salary “from £35,777″. There is also a vacancy for a part-time Youth Work Admin Support Worker. More details on the Vacancies page of the SBCP website.

Bradley Stoke Town Council (BSTC) has issued a statement confirming that the recently-opened play park on Jubilee Green has been temporarily closed “to allow completion of the site”.

The move confirms a comment left by a reader on this website yesterday (Monday 27th July), which claimed that the park had already been closed just days after the grand opening last  Friday (24th July).

That reader expressed disappointment and questioned whether the park should have been opened at all if it was not finished.

Other readers have left comments claiming that the mud and turf at the park “is a mess” and that it still “looks like a building site”.

Before construction of the park started in May, the Town Council said that a period of about three weeks would elapse between completion of the project and opening to public, allowing “turf on the site to establish”. However, construction delays combined with a reluctance to move the announced opening date meant that workers were still clearing away equipment and fencing just minutes before the Mayor cut the ribbon to officially open the facility.

Today’s statement from BSTC says:

The Town Council is very pleased with the large turnout on the day and positive feedback received so far and it is hoped that the site will be completed and reopened in time for the weekend.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and hope everyone will agree it’s worth it in the end.

Anyone interested in helping shape future development of the green should contact the Friends Group for details of how to get involved.