The Bradley Stoke Journal

Police officers yesterday (Tuesday) raided a four-bedroom detached house in Bradley Stoke’s Juniper Way, following tip-offs from the local community that the property was being used as a cannabis “factory”.

A search led to the recovery of around 450 well-grown cannabis plants, with an estimated street value of £180,000, growing in five rooms of the house.

A 48-year-old man has been arrested for cannabis cultivation and is due to be questioned.

Bradley Stoke Neighbourhood Beat Manager PC Michael Friis said: “This search and arrest is part of the Neighbourhood Team’s ongoing efforts to target drug dealers. We want to disrupt their trade and the crime that so often goes with it. ”

Earlier this month, a Bradley Stoke man was jailed for three years after he admitted possessing heroin and cocaine with intent to supply. A police raid of the man’s property in The Hedgerows had earlier uncovered £3,000 in heroin-contaminated cash.

Crime figures available on the Bradley Stoke Beat page of the Avon and Somerset Police website do not include a specific category for drug offences, but a local PC told the BBC in 2007 that illegal use of drugs in the town is causing concern. “Recently we’ve had a couple of houses that have been used as cannabis factories, which we’ve closed down. ”

Anyone with information about drug crime in Bradley Stoke is encouraged to contact Filton Police Station on 0845 456 7000, or call the independent Crimestoppers charity anonymously on 0800 555 111.

2008-04-06 Bradley Stoke Wildflowers and Conservation Work

Seeking a break from recording progress in the construction of Bradley Stoke’s new town centre, The Journal’s photographer recently ventured into nearby Savages Wood and woodland below Bradley Stoke Community School to capture some more peaceful scenes. Check out the pictures of bluebells and wood anemones on our PicasaWeb pages [album, slideshow].

Volunteers from the town’s Three Brooks Nature Conservation Group were also busy over the weekend, planting wildflower species in the community orchard. The group’s next workday takes place on Saturday 3rd May, when some stream cleaning is planned.

Demolition of the loading bay of the existing Tesco store is nearing completion. The photo (left) shows that only part of the steel framework remains. Work on the demolition began in early February with the removal of a large piece of machinery from the roof of the building using a giant crane. The initial attempt had to be aborted due to high winds, but the task was completed a few days later [photo]. Scaffolding was then erected to dismantle the brickwork before work on the steelwork could begin. More photos in our PicasaWeb Gallery.

The site plan extract above shows that the loading bay of the old Tesco store (shown as a dashed red line) overlaps the footprint of mall units forming part of the new Tesco store. The remainder of the space occupied by the old store will form car parking for the new scheme. Also visible in the plan is an access road into the new town centre development from Bradley Stoke Way. It is believed that this road will be reserved for buses, allowing them to pull up in front of the new store before proceeding to the new bus station elsewhere on the site.

Meanwhile, one lane of Bradley Stoke has been coned off alongside the new store. This is believed to be in connection with work to re-route buried cabling. This is being carried out by Avonline on behalf of Virgin Media and it is understood that the lane closure will last at least a week. Oddly, no mention of these roadworks could be found on the Road Report page of South Gloucestershire Council’s website.

We have been very busy researching stories and will be very shortly making a number of back-dated posts about the new town centre development. In the meantime, why not check-out our PicasaWeb Gallery which has now grown to 241 photos!

The first concrete has been poured at Bradley Stoke’s new town centre development. Foundations for the new Tesco store are clearly visible from Bradley Stoke Way. Other developments are the erection of a temporary white marquee on the south side of the existing Tesco store and the appearance of footpath diversion signs. It is undertood that the loading bay of the existing store is soon to be demolished to make way for the construction of the new store. The marquee will replace the storage space that is to be lost in the demolition.

The latest photos of the site can be seen in The Journal’s PicasaWeb Gallery [today’s photos].

In a press release dated 30th November 2007, Tesco announced that construction of Bradley Stoke’s new town centre was scheduled to begin on 10th December 2007. The development of the site is expected to last for 18 months. The company hopes to open its new store, which is two and a half times the size of the existing store on the site, “before Christmas 2008″.

Derbyshire-based construction company Bowmer & Kirkland have now erected their offices on the site.

Recent bad weather is thought to have hindered progress in the first few weeks of the project.

The latest photos of the site can be seen in The Journal’s PicasaWeb Gallery [today's photos].