The Bradley Stoke Journal

Students at Bradley Stoke Community School (BSCS) have been paying tribute to year 9 pupil Ryan Abrahams, who passed away last Tuesday.

Ryan, who was born with a rare muscular disorder and relied on a motorized wheelchair to get around, was active in a number of sports (including wheelchair football and table top cricket) and was awarded the South Gloucestershire Young Disability Sportsperson of the Year title in 2009.

Writing in the school newsletter, headteacher Dave Baker says:

“Ryan …  showed resilience and a fighting spirit despite the challenges of being in a wheelchair with all the frustrations and limitations that gave him. He will be remembered as a happy and friendly member of our school and wider community where he was involved in so many different things, especially sport and football in particular.”

Floral tributes from staff and pupils have been placed in Ryan’s reserved parking place in front of the main school entrance and a non-uniform day is being held on Monday (1st March), when students will be encouraged to wear football tops “in a fitting tribute to a boy who loved football”.

Related link: Photos of the floral tributes at BSCS

Bradley Stoke’s Deputy Mayor Ben Walker has expressed concern over obstruction of the pavement around the recently-erected works compound at Bradley Stoke Surgery on Brook Way.

He raised the matter at last Wednesday’s Planning Committee meeting, asking if ISG Pearce – the contractor working on the surgery extension project, had permission to obstruct the highway in this way.

He also pointed out that access gates installed within the compound’s boundary fencing are likely to completely obstruct the remaining pavement when opened.

Cllr Walker said it was not clear which of the two planning applications made by the surgery was actually being implemented at the Brook Way site, but he did not recall either application mentioning that the Brook Way pavement would be obstructed during the construction phase.

Town Clerk Sharon Petela was instructed to contact the Highways Department of South Gloucestershire Council to verify if the appropriate authorisation had been obtained.

The fact that the matter was raised at all seems curious, since two members of the senior management team at the Brook Way surgery (Dr Elizabeth Todd and Julian Barge) are members of the Town Council, although neither of them sits on the Planning Committee.

Entries have now opened for the 2010 renewal of the Bradley Stoke 10k Run, to be held on Sunday 13th June as part of the town’s Community Festival.

The increasingly popular event, organised by local ladies-only running club Sole Sisters, will take place over the same route as last year – starting and finishing at the Jubilee Centre in Savages Wood Road.

The race route [map] takes in much of the Three Brooks Local Nature Reserve as well as including stretches along Brook Way and Bradley Stoke Way.

Popular with local joggers and fun runners, the race also attracts serious athletes from around the region. Last year’s winner was Gary Hope of Gloucester Club Severn AC, who completed the course in a time of 33:36, while Joanne Heuze of Cardiff club Village Vipers was the first woman home in 41:17.

Karen Walsh of Sole Sisters tells The Journal that the entry limit for the 2010 race has been raised to 500 (from 350 in 2009) thanks to the cooperation of the local police, who will be manning road crossings around the course.

The Nicola Corrie Support Foundation has been nominated as the official fundraising charity for this year’s race.

More information and related links:

• Bradley Stoke 10k Run 2010 Entry Form [PDF]
• Bradley Stoke 10k Run (The Journal)
• Bradley Stoke Community Festival (The Journal)

South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) has agreed a 2.5% rise in council tax for 2010/2011.

The increase, agreed at last Wednesday’s Full Council meeting, is well below the government’s favoured CPI (Consumer Prices Index) measure of inflation, which registered 3.5% in January. It is however higher than the expected average Council Tax increase for all English authorities, which has been estimated at 1.8% [source: CIPFA].

The Council’s budget includes an extra £2 million a year to improve the maintenance of roads, pavements and drains in the district. Savings will be made by reducing the Council’s workforce by 317 posts and introducing a new IT system to improve efficiency.

Elsewhere in the region, Bristol City Council and North Somerset Council have both agreed 2.0% rises.

Bradley Stoke Town Council has already decided to raise its precept by 1.8% for 2010/2011, following a year with no increase in 2009/2010.

The Avon & Somerset Police Authority will be raising its precept by an inflation-busting 4.2% in 2010/2011, blaming the increase on a shortfall in funding from central government.

Related link: Reactions to the South Gloucestershire Council budget and council tax announcement (SouthGlos Post)

Public left in the dark as work begins at Brook Way site

Work has finally begun on the long-awaited expansion of Bradley Stoke Surgery but patients and local residents continue to be kept in the dark about developments at the Brook Way site.

Construction firm ISG Pearce has installed a number of portacabins in the surgery’s car park and a large part of the site plus some public land on Brook Way has been boarded off. This has resulted in the number of spaces on the surgery side of the Brook Way car park being reduced from 20 to 9.

The notoriously secretive Bradley Stoke Surgery gave no warning that the work was due to start and one week later there are still no details about the redevelopment on the practice’s website. The Journal has also been unable to find any related information on the websites of Bradley Stoke Town Council, South Gloucestershire Council or NHS South Gloucestershire.

The Journal understands that the surgery was asked almost a year ago to give a presentation on its redevopment plans to the Bradley Stoke Safer and Stronger Community Group. As yet, no such presentation has taken place, with the surgery reportedly saying they “didn’t feel able to come yet” in July 2009.

The scheme hit the local headlines in December 2009 when NHS South Gloucestershire (NHSSG) was forced to admit that redevelopment of the surgery had been delayed due to the credit crunch. That revelation came after local resident Sachin Singhal had questioned why over 200 pregnant women from Bradley Stoke were having to travel to Filton or Patchway for treatment and advice.

Midwife services at the surgery were withdrawn in February 2009 when portacabins were removed from the rear of the premises but the anticipated redevelopment of the site then failed to materialise. NHSSG later admitted that: “with hindsight, the service was moved earlier than needed”.

The Journal has heard from an unofficial source that the redevelopment of the Brook Way surgery is likely to take nine months.

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Bradley Stoke Town Council (BSTC) has been stung by a massive hike in the business rates it has to pay for the Jubilee Centre following the discovery of a clerical error made by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in 2005.

This week’s meeting of the Council’s Finance Committee was told that a “manual error” within the records held by HMRC’s Valuation Office Agency (VOA) resulted in  the rateable value of the main building being recorded as £1,071.60 instead of £10,713.60.

The under valuation has been in place since 2005 and BSTC has therefore benefited from a substantially reduced rate level for almost five years.

Councillors were told that the VOA has waived its right to retrospectively claim the underpayment but were disappointed to hear that the new rate is to be applied from January rather than from the start of the new tax year in April.

Had the increase been applied from April, it would have coincided with a five-yearly rate review and under ‘transitional relief’ rules the new rate would have been phased in over a four to five year period. As the April increase is now unlikely to trigger ‘transitional relief’, the new rate will have to be paid in full with immediate effect.

The additional rates arising from the corrected rateable value are believed to be between £4,000 and £5,000 per annum.