The Bradley Stoke Journal

A number of clubs and organisations that operate in Bradley Stoke will tonight (Tuesday 31st) learn the fate of grant applications made to South Gloucestershire Council’s Southern Brooks Area Forum.

The Forum, which has £23k to allocate from its Capital Grant Funding scheme, has received 17 applications totalling £37k.

Organisations with Bradley Stoke links that have applied for funding include South West Winterguard Academy, Bradley Stoke Community Radio Association, 1st Bradley Stoke Scout Group and Bradley Stoke Bowls Club.

The Winterguard Academy, which meets at Meadowbrook Primary School, is a group that promotes a dance-based activity called ‘colourguard’ – using flags and other equipment to perform a routine to music. They are looking for £2,000 to purchase equipment.

Bradley Stoke Community Radio Association is asking for £3,000 to purchase recording equipment so that it can create programmes and interviews for a radio broadcast planned for October. They say they will work with Bradley Stoke Community School and the local youth service to run workshops to train young people to use the radio equipment to produce jingles. The association previously received a grant of £1,500 from the forum and was recently awarded £500 by Bradley Stoke Town Council.

Read on for details of two more organisations that could win grants tonight »

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South Gloucestershire Council has opened a public consultation on the latest version of its draft Core Strategy, which is the main planning document for guiding and managing new development and change in the district up to 2026.

Committed or proposed new developments in or around Bradley Stoke include:

• The North Fringe Rapid Transit scheme (shown purple in the plan above)
• Committed housing developments at Filton Northfield/Charlton Hayes (2) and Harry Stoke (5)
• A proposed new neighbourhood east of Harry Stoke (E)

A series of documents is available on Core Strategy consultation page of the Council’s website, of which the most readable is the Plain Guide leaflet [PDF, 461KB].

Hard copies of the Core Strategy may also be viewed at the Council’s ‘one stop shops’ and public libraries (note, however, that Bradley Stoke Library is closed for refurbishment from Monday 7th June to Sunday 11th July).

The consultation runs until Friday 6th August and comments can be made online or by post.

More information will be available at a staffed public exhibition to be held at the Willow Brook Centre on Wednesday 23rd June (11am – 3:30pm).

The exhibition will be repeated at the next meeting of the Bradley Stoke Safer and Stronger Community Group at the Jubilee Centre on Tuesday 20th July (6:30pm start).

A meeting of the Southern Brooks Area Forum this evening (Tuesday 2nd March) will allocate funding of £29,220 to a selection of projects proposed by local voluntary organisations under the Small Grant Scheme.

A total of 27 applications have been received, from organisations which include:  Four Towns Play Association (£3,000 for equipment, staff training and publicity), Three Brooks Nature Conservation Group (£391 for bat walk equipment), Holy Trinity Youth Group (£3,000 for equipment) and Willow Brook Townswomen’s Guild (£500 for hall hire).

Area forums, organised by South Gloucestershire Council (SGC), give local people the opportunity to talk about issues and concerns that affect their neighbourhoods. They champion local needs and aspirations and gather the views of residents about specific community issues.

Other items on tonight’s agenda include a presentation on emergency planning and consultation on the South Gloucestershire Compact, a partnership agreement between the statutory sectors and the voluntary and community sector.

The meeting takes place at Patchway Community College, Hempton Lane, Patchway (7pm start).

More info: Agenda (SGC)

South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) has agreed a 2.5% rise in council tax for 2010/2011.

The increase, agreed at last Wednesday’s Full Council meeting, is well below the government’s favoured CPI (Consumer Prices Index) measure of inflation, which registered 3.5% in January. It is however higher than the expected average Council Tax increase for all English authorities, which has been estimated at 1.8% [source: CIPFA].

The Council’s budget includes an extra £2 million a year to improve the maintenance of roads, pavements and drains in the district. Savings will be made by reducing the Council’s workforce by 317 posts and introducing a new IT system to improve efficiency.

Elsewhere in the region, Bristol City Council and North Somerset Council have both agreed 2.0% rises.

Bradley Stoke Town Council has already decided to raise its precept by 1.8% for 2010/2011, following a year with no increase in 2009/2010.

The Avon & Somerset Police Authority will be raising its precept by an inflation-busting 4.2% in 2010/2011, blaming the increase on a shortfall in funding from central government.

Related link: Reactions to the South Gloucestershire Council budget and council tax announcement (SouthGlos Post)

South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) has opened a public consultation on plans to change the Traffic Regulation Order governing parking restrictions in Pear Tree Road.

The move is associated with the introduction of Civil Parking Enforcement, which moved the responsibility for enforcing parking regulations from the police to local authorities.

Council officers say that enforcing parking restrictions is difficult if the markings on the road do not match the restrictions described in the relevant order.

In Pear Tree Road, a 47m stretch of road between Aspleys Mead and Cooks Close currently has no double yellow lines on either side of the road, whereas the order describes restrictions for the same stretch.

The Council is proposing to bring the order into line with the road markings, i.e. reduce its scope. There will be no change to the double yellow lines on the road.

Illegal and inconsiderate parking along Pear Tree Road has been a regular issue of discussion at Bradley Stoke’s Safer and Stronger Community Group meetings. Customers visiting the Tesco Express and other stores at Bradley Pavilions are said to be the biggest culprits.

The Council’s consultation runs until Thursday 25th February 2010.

More information:

• Have Your Say – Amendments to Waiting Restrictions Order (SGC)