The Bradley Stoke Journal

This week’s meeting of the Bradley Stoke Safer and Stronger Community Group is to hear a presentation about the new Children’s Sure Start Centre that is to open soon at Bowsland Green Primary School.

The new centre will bring together childcare, early education, health and family-support services for families with children under five years old.

The meeting will also welcome two new faces in the town: Sharon Petela, the new Town Clerk and Steve Robertson, the new Youth Leader in Bradley Stoke.

The Safer and Stronger Community Community Group, one of 20 in South Gloucestershire, provides an opportunity for Bradley Stoke residents to have their say about the services that the local community receives.

Participants include people who live and work in the area and representatives from the local police, Avon Fire & Rescue, NHS South Gloucestershire, South Gloucestershire Council, Bradley Stoke Town Council, Southern Brooks Community Partnership and other local organisations.

Anyone can attend a Safer and Stronger meeting and raise concerns about issues in the local community. The meeting then agrees on a small number of priority issues, for which actions are assigned to the appropriate authorities.

Priority issues agreed at the last meeting (held on 27th October) included anti-social behaviour in North Bradley Stoke (actioned: police), lighting pollution at the Jubilee Centre (pictured above; actioned:  Bradley Stoke Town Council) and street cleansing/fly tipping (actioned: South Gloucestershire Council).

Progress on each of the previously agreed priority issues is reviewed at the start of each meeting.

The next meeting takes place on Tuesday (26th January) at Holy Trinity Church, Broad Croft, starting at 7pm.

More information:

• Minutes of the 27th October 2009 meeting [MS Word]
• Agenda for the 26th January 2010 meeting [MS Word]

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The Bradley Stoke local beat team is staging two free bicycle security marking events this coming week.

The move is linked to mention of a “slight increase of pushbike thefts in the area recently” in the December edition of the Bradley Stoke police newsletter.

PCSO Kirsty Flicker will be at Bradley Stoke Community School after lessons on Monday (7th December) to mark pupils’ bikes with postcodes. The meeting point for this event is by the cycle storage in the main car park.

Wednesday (9th December) will see PCSOs Paul Baxter and Jason Green offer a similar service – along with crime prevention advice – at the Willow Brook Centre between 12 noon and 4pm.

Related links:

• Bradley Stoke Police Newsletter, Dec 2009 [PDF, 334KB]
• Advice on bicycle security (Avon and Somerset Police)

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Local police have announced that a Pubwatch scheme is now up and running in Bradley Stoke.

Three pubs in Bradley Stoke -The Bradley Stoke, The Three Brooks and Baileys Court Inn – have joined The Travellers Rest in Patchway and Stoke Gifford’s Parkway Tavern and Beaufort Arms as founder members.

Neighbourhood Beat Manager PC Steve Palmer was instrumental in setting up the scheme.

The pubs will work together with local police to deal with any issues that arise in or around the licensed premises – including anti-social behaviour, drug dealing/usage, assaults and criminal damage.

Police say that anyone involved in an incident at any one of the premises can be banned from all pubs in the scheme for a period of three to twelve months.

Recent incidents at the Three Brooks pub in Savages Wood Road have seen one man hospitalised after a late night brawl (June 2009) and another hit over the head with a bottle (August 2009).

The Pubwatch scheme is featured in the November edition of the Bradley Stoke neighbourhood policing team newsletter, which also includes articles about firework curfews and anti-social behaviour at Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre.

More information and related links:

• Bradley Stoke Police Newsletter, Nov 2009 [PDF, 337KB]
• Bradley Stoke Police (The Journal)

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A local resident has called for late night firework sales to be stopped in order to prevent a repeat of a 2008 incident in which alcohol-fueled youths fired rockets at homes in the town.

The resident told the October meeting of the Bradley Stoke Safer and Stronger Group that numerous properties between Baileys Court and Stoke Gifford had been targetted after youths purchased alcohol and fireworks from the Tesco Express store at Baileys Court.

A manager at Tesco Express is said to have told the resident that the shop imposes no restrictions on the hours during which fireworks can be purchased, meaning that sales can continue until the store closes at 11pm.

The resident questioned the need for late night sales of fireworks and called upon the store to change its policy.

Scott Lahive, manager of the Willow Brook Centre, who was also at the meeting, mentioned that sales of fireworks at the centre’s Tesco Extra store cease at 8pm and suggested that something similar could be done at the smaller Tesco stores in the town.

Local police said they would visit the town’s two Tesco Express stores and discuss the matter with managers.

The ever-popular Bradley Stoke Firework Display, organised by Bradley Stoke Town Council, takes place this year on Sunday (8th November) at the Jubilee Centre, Savages Wood Road. Gates open at 4:30pm with the display starting at 6pm.

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This week’s public meeting of the Bradley Stoke Safer and Stronger Community Group is to hear a presentation on South Gloucestershire Council’s strategy for combating fly tipping.

A representative of the Aztec Hotel & Spa is also due to explain to the meeting how the hotel contributes to the local community.

The meeting will commence with a review of progress made on priority issues agreed in July, which included anti-social behaviour at the Baileys Court shops and wheelchair access issues at the Willow Brook Centre.

The Safer and Stronger Community Group (one of 20 in South Gloucestershire) was set up as part of the Neighbourhood Policing Model and South Gloucestershire Council’s Community Engagement initiative.

Participants include people who live and work in the area and representatives from the local police, Avon Fire & Rescue, NHS South Gloucestershire, South Gloucestershire Council, Bradley Stoke Town Council, Southern Brooks Community Partnership and other local organisations.

The group now has its own website, where meeting agendas and minutes can be found, along with other useful community information.

This week’s meeting take place at the Baileys Court Activity Centre, Baileys Court Road on Tuesday (27th October), starting at 7pm.

Related links:

• Agenda for the 27th October 2009 meeting [MS Word]
• Minutes of the 21st July 2009 meeting [MS Word]

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