The Bradley Stoke Journal

Bradley Stoke Town Council has voted to freeze the precept charge on residents’ council tax bills for the second successive year. The decision, agreed at last Wednesday’s Full Council meeting, sees the charge on a Band D property remain at £113.50 for 2012/13.

Commenting on the freeze, Cllr Roger Avenin (Con, Baileys Court), Chair of the Finance Committee, said:

“We continue to find ourselves in uncertain economic times and many residents’ household budgets are under pressure. As a Council we’re here to support the community and it simply wouldn’t be right to ask hard working families to pay any more this year.”

Councillors are also keen to point out that services aren’t under threat with Town Mayor Cllr Ben Walker commenting:

“We’re not making cuts, we’re still providing for the community; we’re just focusing very hard on doing everything we can as efficiently as possible. Our youth budget for example has been maintained but it has been opened up to a wider variety of organisations than ever before, so we can support a diverse range of activities for young people of all ages.”

The Town Council precept typically represents less than 10% of the total Council Tax bill. The largest proportion, around 80%, is taken by South Gloucestershire Council (SGC), with the police and fire services making up the remainder.

More: Government offers SGC a sweetener to freeze Council Tax »

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A record crowd of nearly 8,000 surrounded the Jubilee Centre, Bradley Stoke, last night for the Bradley Stoke Town Council Firework Display.

Now in its ninth year, the annual display has grown to be one of the largest in the Bristol area and the public were delighted with a 20 minute display described by many as “better than ever”.

No entrance fee is charged for the event but public generosity saw £4,894 raised for the Mayor’s charities through bucket collection’s carried out by volunteers from Little Stoke Social Club, local Air Cadets as well as the two benefiting organisations – the Three Brooks Nature Conservation Group and the Bradley Stoke Scouts.

Also in attendance, representing HM The Queen, was Vice Lord-Lieutenant for Gloucestershire Robert Bernays who congratulated the Town Council for putting on the event before leading the assembled masses in a countdown to the launch [audio clip].

Speaking after the event Town Mayor, Cllr Ben Walker thanked the Vice Lord-Lieutenant for attending and paid tribute to the work of council staff and volunteers for putting on the event, saying:

“I’m very grateful to Robert Bernays for finding time to attend our display, a lot of hard work goes in to planning and marshalling the event and it means a lot to those involved behind the scenes that it is recognised externally as one of the county’s big events.”

Adding:

“I should like to thank all the staff and volunteers that helped make the event a success as well as, of course, the good people of Bradley Stoke who gave so generously to my chosen charities.”

More photos on PicasaWeb: album; slideshow (The Journal)

Bradley Stoke’s 2011 firework display, organised by the Town Council, is to be attended by a representative of the Queen.

The countdown for the display, which will take place at the Jubilee Centre on Sunday 6th November 2011, will be carried out by the Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Gloucestershire, Robert Bernays.

The news, proudly announced by Mayor Ben Walker on the cover of the recent Town Council newsletter, follows a decision to keep the display at the Jubilee Centre despite the Senior Health and Safety Officer for last year’s event recommending that it be moved to another site because of crowd safety concerns.

Cllr Mark Forsyth said last year that the event had “become too successful for its own good”, adding: “we could have ended up with a ‘situation’”.

The Town Council, however, has since decided that it OK for the show to go on at the same venue. This year, the fireworks will be launched from the upper football pitch, leaving the lower football pitch available for spectators.

Read on to find out more about Robert Bernays OBE »

All but one of the staff on the payroll of Bradley Stoke Town Council (BSTC) have been rewarded with £50 Mall vouchers “in recognition of good work to date and assistance in raising the profile of BSTC”, according to the draft minutes of last week’s Full Council meeting.

The news is revealed in the minuted account of a discussion item titled ‘Chairs recommendation on Annual Staff Appraisals’, from which the press and public were excluded. In the minutes, we learn that Mayor Ben Walker recommended:

“On completion of the new staff appraisals for 2010/11, the Chairs of the council committees would like to pay special thanks to the BSTC members of staff for their conduct, support and flexibility throughout 2010/11 and the implementation of the staffing restructure. Those staff members are: Rachel Pullen, John Rendell, Pat Louca, Vicky Davies, Sue Clark, Vanessa Walters, William Walton, Stephen Barton, Elaine Bezer, Patricia Harris, Royston Broderick and Dave Dace.”

The “staffing restructure” at the Town Council would appear to have been going on for some now, having first came to light in April 2010 when the Council held an ‘Extraordinary and Confidential’ meeting. Later, in June 2010, the profile of the then Deputy Town Clerk Lesley Osborne mysteriously disappeared from the staff list shown on the Council’s website. A press statement later explained that the officer had retired and that “no decision on the post would be taken until the results of the on-going staffing review are presented to Council.”

More: The Mayor announces Council’s decision before a vote is taken! »

Local Councils have once again decided to ignore every single complaint received from residents in connection with the part-night street lighting recently introduced in Bradley Stoke.

Last night’s meeting of the Town Council heard that 35 comments and complaints, relating to 25 individual streets, have been received by the Council since the scheme was introduced in April this year. Topping the list is Pursey Drive (4 complaints), followed closely by The Worthys (3).

According to the Council, the comments and complaints received fall into the following categories:

• Lack of consultation
• Increased crime and anti-social behaviour
• Health and safety
• Confusion over switching times

A  meeting attended by officers from the Town Council and South Gloucestershire Council on 17th August is said to have considered all 35 complaints and agreed that “appropriate responses had [already] been made”, concluding that “there [is] no statistical evidence to support the complaints at this time.”

A formal review of crime and traffic accident statistics is promised for January next year.

Prior to its introduction, a public consultation on the proposed scheme was carried out by the Town Council from October to December 2010. A total of 153 responses were received, with 83 agreeing to the scheme as proposed (without alteration); 26 respondents were against the scheme, while a further 36 indicated support in general subject to specific amendments being made.

Read on: Rebel Councillor not seen since “human rights” outburst »

A Bradley Stoke Town Councillor has criticised the town’s newly-introduced part-night street lighting scheme by claiming it violates residents’ human rights.

Speaking at last week’s Safer and Stronger Communities meeting, Cllr Ed Rose said he supported calls by some residents for the lights to be turned back on because they have a right to “liberty and security” (Article 5 of the UK Human Rights Act) and “protection from discrimination” (Article 14).

The comments put Cllr Rose at odds with other members of the Town Council, including Mayor Ben Walker, who unanimously consented to the introduction of the scheme in January.

Cllr Rose, who was not a member of the Town Council at the time of the decision, says he was alerted to residents’ concerns at a Councillor surgery earlier this month.

A number of residents from Snowberry Close are understood to have attended the surgery and demanded that the lights be turned back on, saying that parts of their street are particularly dark due to the presence of tall trees which block out any ambient light.

Cllr Rose said he took the complaints on board and later conducted his own survey of opinions in Hawkins Crescent, Crystal Way and Snowberry Close, concluding that “people are worried and fear for their liberty and safety”.

Read on: Mid-August meeting to review feedback from residents »