The Bradley Stoke Journal

Shoppers in Bradley Stoke who are in the habit of leaving their vehicles in the car park of the Three Brooks pub while they do a spot of shopping at Tesco could be in for a surprise this weekend when a pay and display parking system is introduced.

Payment machines and signage have been installed at the Savages Wood Road site over the last few days and the system is due to go live tomorrow (Saturday 17th).

Pub Manager Stephen Williams says the measure is being introduced as a “last resort” following complaints from customers unable to find a parking place, even when the pub is not especially busy.

The situation has come to a head after the pub lost 32 of its parking spaces to the neighbouring McCarthy & Stone housing development in early October, after which Mr Williams told The Journal he was looking at “putting solutions in place” to deal with unauthorised users of the car park.

Tesco staff, shoppers visiting the Willow Brook Centre and parents picking up children from the nearby Meadowbrook Primary School are said to be the main culprits.

More: Parking charge will be refundable for genuine customers »

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South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) and other local authorities in England that have so far failed to publish plans for improving broadband infrastructure in their areas have been set a deadline by Whitehall officials concerned that the Government’s promise of delivering the “best broadband in Europe” by 2015 could be in jeopardy.

The news comes three weeks after South Gloucestershire Council launched a lengthy 13-month public consultation in which residents and businesses are being asked to “register interest in receiving improved broadband connectivity”, which triggered an avalanche of negative comments from dismayed Journal readers.

An impatient Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has now ordered all authorities to submit a draft Local Broadband Plan by the end of February 2012. Plans must be agreed with the Government by the end of April and procurement of equipment must begin within a further three months.

Any authority that has not begun procurement by by the end of July is likely to see the Government stepping in to take remedial action.

In the Government’s original plan for the delivery of superfast broadband published in December 2010, local authorities were expected to submit detailed bids for a specific share of the £530m funding. By April 2011, so few Councils had submitted plans that the Government abandoned the bidding process and decided to allocate the remaining money based on its own assessment of local needs.

The West of England (South Gloucestershire, Bath & North East Somerset and Bristol) was allocated £1.4 million from the fund in August 2011. Since then, BANES has voted against accepting its share of the Government money, which must be match-funded by each Council. The Journal has also heard a rumour that SGC is considering leaving the West of England group to pair up with another local authority whose broadband plans are more advanced.

More: Almondsbury exchange misses out again in latest BT announcement »

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A planning application to extend the permitted working and delivery hours at the Aldi supermarket store in Bradley Stoke has drawn opposing views from local Councillors and the store’s customers.

The store submitted the application after South Gloucestershire Council accused it of operating in breach of two conditions attached to the original planning consent for the site.

Since the planning application was registered on 9th November, the store has collected an 842-name customer petition supporting “the planning application submitted by Aldi for extended delivery hours at this store to enable the freshest products to be available when the store opens every day of the week”.

The Journal understands that the petition was placed at the store’s checkouts between Saturday 12th November and Thursday 24th November, with sales staff inviting customers to register their support.

The completed petition was posted to SGC on Saturday 3rd December (one day after the official end date of the consultation period) and appeared on the Council’s website on Wednesday 7th December.

Members of Bradley Stoke Town Council’s Planning Committee, meeting on 23rd November, took an opposing view and registered an objection on the grounds that “the proposals will be detrimental to the residential amenity of the surrounding area”.

More: No objections from Brackendene residents »

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Young master chefs of the future recently put their culinary skills to the test at Bradley Stoke Community School (BSCS) as they competed in a hard-fought cooking competition sponsored by the local Rotary Club.

On the day of the competition (Wednesday 23rd November), four nervous but excited young chefs took their places in the cookery room at the local secondary school. Their bags contained all they needed to present their dishes together with ten pounds worth of ingredients. After half an hour of free preparation time, came an hour and a half of competitive cookery before their masterpieces were scrutinised by the judges.

The competition, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Bristol Aztec, followed the pattern set by the previous year’s successful contest. It presented an opportunity to plan a two course meal whilst being mindful of healthy choices, good planning, hygienic practice, and a wise use of time and money. It also provided a chance for the students to celebrate their prowess, and gain a sense of pride in their achievement.

The judges were Mike Riordan, Head Chef at the Aztec Hotel, Adrian Kirikmaa, Restaurant Manager at the City of Bristol Academy and John Kelly of South Gloucestershire Education Authority. To them fell the difficult task of assessing the students’ work and the finished results, and what results!  The meals were without exception beautifully presented and tasted delicious.

The worthy winner was Abbie Pearce who, as the judges pointed out, cooked a high risk menu choice which could have gone horribly wrong but turned out to be a triumph. It required a high range of skills as Abbie made her own pasta for her prawn tortellini, her own pastry and crème patissiere for her seasonal apple tart.

More: Students are a credit to their school, says catering teacher »

South Gloucestershire Council wants local residents and businesses to complete an online survey to demonstrate the demand for a better broadband service in Bradley Stoke and other parts of the district but seems to have forgotten to tell anybody about it!

A consultation entitled “Improved broadband for South Gloucestershire – Resident’s survey” began on Monday 28th November and runs until 31st December but, ten days in to the 33 day consultation period, the Council has not yet given the survey any credible publicity. [Ed: I've assumed the end date of 31st Dec 2012 should read 31st Dec 2011 - see comments below]

Whilst many residents of Bradley Stoke will question why the survey is needed, having already demonstrated a massive local demand through BT’s Race to Infinity competition a whole twelve months ago, the Council says the exercise is necessary in order to secure Government funding for broadband improvements in areas deemed unviable by commercial suppliers such as BT and Virgin Media.

A partnership formed of Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire Council’s was assigned £1.4m for broadband infrastructure improvements by the Government in August and the Councils have been asked to submit a ‘local broadband plan’ as the first stage in the process of securing the cash. The Government money, which must be match-funded by the Councils, will be used to pay telecommunications companies to install superfast broadband in commercially unviable areas.

The current survey is being undertaken in order to gather evidence that (hopefully) proves there will be enough demand to generate sufficient revenue for the telecommunications providers once the equipment has been installed.

More: South Gloucestershire is "lagging behind", says Government Minister »

Pupils at Holy Trinity Primary School in Bradley Stoke were recently treated to an unusual assembly and a special visit by a poo-powered car.

The ‘Bio-Bug’ was launched last year to national and international acclaim and is the brainchild of Wessex Water’s renewable energy company GENeco. It is a converted VW Beetle that runs on methane gas produced from sewage sludge treated at the Bristol sewage treatment works in Avonmouth.

Julian Okoye and Boyd Goode of GENeco took the car in to Holy Trinity and conducted an interactive and fun technical demonstration assembly with audience participation from the whole school. After the assembly they also held a more detailed workshop session with some of the older children.

One of the highlights of the assembly was the selection of four children to join the GENeco team as ‘scientists’ in demonstrating to the school, with specially prepared GENeco samples, exactly what goes down the sewer network and how it is converted into renewable energy by millions of micro organisms through a completely natural process called anaerobic digestion.

At play time pupils were given the chance to look at the car, which was driven on to the school playground.  The car has two biogas cylinders in the boot as well as a standard petrol engine.  The waste from 70 homes could provide enough gas to power the car for a year.

Headteacher Jane Johns said the whole school really enjoyed the visit and found it highly entertaining and engaging.

More: Children fascinated to learn how waste can be converted into energy »