The Bradley Stoke Journal

Work is due to begin today (Monday 19th July) on a Council-run park and ride site at Hunts Ground Road, Stoke Gifford, close to Parkway Station.

The facility, which will cater for up to 200 cars, is being built on the site of an old brick works on the north-west side of Hunts Ground Round [map] between the Esporta gym and Parkway Station.

South Gloucestershire Council puts the estimated construction time at 32 weeks, with completion scheduled for March 2011.

The car park will include lighting and a CCTV system and the gates will be locked at night and opened early in the morning to enhance security.

Parking charges at the new facility will be £5 a day during the week and £3 a day at weekends. Payment machines will accept credit/debit cards only. By comparison, the official APCOA car park at Parkway Station (capacity: 1140 cars) currently charges £6.90 on weekdays and £4.80 on Saturday and Sunday.

Cllr Brian Allinson, Executive Member for Planning, Transportation and Strategic Environment said:

“This is an exciting step in the provision of improved public transport facilities in South Gloucestershire and will provide much needed car parking for those commuters wishing to access the many bus and rail services that call at Parkway.”

The capacity of the current park and ride scheme is much reduced from that envisaged in earlier plans. The Council lost an option on land on the opposite side of Hunts Ground Road, which had originally been earmarked for the scheme, by failing to meet the required Section 106 trigger dates.

Then, the discovery of a colony of the locally rare small blue butterfly on the current site meant that the number of parking spaces had to be reduced by one third in order to leave sufficient space for kidney vetch, the species’ larval food plant, to flourish.

Read on for details of proposed new parking restrictions in Hunts Ground Road »

Simpson’s Fish & Chips today (Sunday 18th)  became the latest outlet to open at Bradley Stoke’s Willow Brook shopping centre.

The family-owned chippy, which will compete head-on with Subway and KFC, is situated in Town Square unit 9 – next door to Ladbrokes.

The business opened it doors at 11:45 today, which will be the regular opening time on all seven days of the week. The shop will trade until 9:30pm Monday to Saturday and 6:30pm on Sundays.

The Bradley Stoke branch becomes the third in the group’s portfolio, following openings in Chepstow (January 2009) and Cheltenham (November 2009).

Owners Brian and Janette Simpson say they have been in the fish and chip trade for 34 years, perfecting their art in eleven different shops.

Janette told The Journal:

“Our ethos is simple, we want to provide the best fish and chips to our customers while maintaining cleanliness, great customer service and professionalism. We do not serve fast food, we serve great food, fast!”

The company says it has a policy of cooking fish to order, unless it’s very busy, to guarantee freshness. All the food is probed to make sure it’s at the correct temperature before being served.

Asked what the new shop will bring to Bradley Stoke, Mrs Simpson said:

We hope to provide a friendly and reliable local chippy that guarantees great food every time you return. It’s nice seeing our name next to big successful fast food chains and we hope we can keep up!

The company is running a ’20% off fish and chips’ promotion during its first week of trading. Look out for the special flyers being handed out in the Town Square.

More information and related links:

• More photos from the opening: album; slideshow (PicasaWeb)
• Takeaway Food Outlets in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)
• Phone numbers of shops at the Willow Brook Centre (The Journal)

Anti-social behaviour in the Manor Farm area of Bradley Stoke is on the agenda of two public meetings taking place in the next ten days.

The issue last came to the fore in 2008, when the opening of a pedestrian route from Manor Farm Crescent into the newly-built Willow Brook Centre brought a massive increase in nuisance behaviour.

A street meeting was held between police and local residents and a Neighbourhood Watch scheme was later formed.

Matters seemed to quieten down in 2009 but now things appear to have flared up again, with Mayor Ben Walker warning in a recent letter that “anti-social behaviour within the Manor Farm area of Bradley Stoke … is fast becoming a serious issue”.

Tuesday’s meeting of the Bradley Stoke Safer and Stronger Community Group [agenda], which takes place at the Jubilee Centre (6:30pm start), will be the first opportunity for residents to query the police and other agencies – when the agenda item “Anti Social Behaviour (Manor Farm)” comes up for discussion.

A second opportunity to discuss the issues comes on Tuesday 27th July when a public meeting to “discuss the current issues relating to anti-social behaviour within the Manor Farm area of Bradley Stoke” will be held, also at the Jubilee Centre (7:30pm start).

Organised by Cllr Walker, the meeting will be attended by representatives of the Willow Brook Centre, Tesco, Avon & Somerset Police, South Gloucestershire Council, Southern Brooks Community Partnership and Holdshare Property Management.

Read on for more information about the two meetings »

A Bradley Stoke man has been appointed Vice Chair of a group which advises South Gloucestershire Police on how they can best serve under-represented people.

The Independent Advisory Group (IAG) includes representatives from a range of different sections of the community who can face prejudice because of their disability, age, ethnicity, faith or sexual orientation.

Sachin Singhal (pictured above, centre), who unsuccessfully fought for a seat on Bradley Stoke Town Council in a by-election last year, was himself a victim of a racially-aggravated attack in 2005 when acid was poured over his car as it stood outside his Ormonds Close home.

More recent crimes with a race hate element in Bradley Stoke have included a man being pushed off his bike near Tesco in August 2008 and a 14-year boy being attacked by a gang using a python as a weapon in August 2009.

IAG Chair Amarjit Singh (pictured right) said:

“The South Gloucestershire IAG is looking for new members from minority community groups to make sure we are representative of the communities we serve. Joining the IAG gives people chance to bring a real benefit to their community as well as the police.”

Read more about the work of the IAG and how to report hate crime »

Conservative campaigners have welcomed today’s re-opening of Bradley Stoke Library after a five-week closure period, during which the library has been extended by around 60 square metres.

The extension maintains the large open plan design and enables the whole of the rear of the library to be used for children’s services and create a more dedicated space for this age group.

In addition, a staff workroom has been extended to allow more space for storage and office work.

In a joint statement, South Gloucestershire Conservative Councillors for Bradley Stoke John Ashe, Brian Hopkinson, Rob Jones and Sarah Pomfret said:

“In the past, we have had reports from local residents that the children’s area cannot always accommodate the number of families attending pre-school and holiday activities.”

“We have very much taken up these concerns with the council and we are delighted that the work has now been completed.”

“Local residents now have more space in which to enjoy their local library and make use of the important opportunities the facility offers.”

Read on for details of Saturday’s official re-opening ceremony »