The Bradley Stoke Journal

South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) has quietly opened a second round of public consultation on the proposed bus priority scheme for the Aztec West roundabout.

Richard Lewis of consulting group Mouchel (working in partnership with SGC) told The Journal that the new consultation concerns the same scheme as before, “but revised following the public consultation”.

Respondents to the original consultation have told The Journal that they feel the exercise was “a waste of time”, as most of their comments were rubbished in the SGC responses, with many issues raised being rejected on the grounds that they were considered “outside the scope” of the proposed scheme.

Local Liberal Democrats have criticised the lack of publicity given to the original consultation, although they seem to be unaware that a mail drop was made to properties near the roundabout and an exhibition of the plans was held in the shopping centre of the Aztec West Business Park.

No mention of the original or current consultation can be seen on the Bradley Stoke Town Council website, which preferred to inform residents about “Rabbit Roundabout” during the period of the initial consultation.

Links to the consultation pages on the SGC website:

• Aztec West - Proposed Prohibited Right Turn Order (Greater Bristol Bus Network)
• Aztec West Roundabout - Bus Priority Scheme

Details of the proposals may also be viewed at Bradley Stoke Library.

Closing date for comments is Monday 30th June 2008.

[Postscript]: SGC has provided the following statement listing the changes that have been made since the first consultation:

The public consultation received a number of comments asking for improved facilities for cyclists and pedestrians. The scheme has been revised to include a new pedestrian/cycle refuge to assist crossing the Bradley Stoke Way exit of Aztec West Roundabout. We have also highlighted that cyclists are able to use bus lanes and that the pedestrian facilities are being upgraded at the Bradley Stoke Way/Woodlands Lane junction. The new information is explained on the Statement of Reasons on the public website.

The first concrete has been poured for the shop, restaurant and office units that will surround the town square feature in Bradley Stoke’s new town centre development. Concrete foundations (with steel studs projecting) can be seen in a recent shot (above) taken by The Journal’s photographer.

The western end of the shopping mall (directly behind the yellow crane in the photo), attached to the new Tesco Extra store currently under construction, will open onto the oval-shaped town square, which occupies a position between the (now demolished) old and new Tesco filling stations.

The square will be enclosed by three blocks of two storey “town square units”, each having shops or food outlets on the ground floor and offices on the upper floor. Planning conditions imposed by South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) require that the two blocks on the south side of the town square be complete before the main Tesco Extra store is allowed to open. The third block, on the north-western side and attached to five non-food retail units, must be completed within 12 months of the Tesco Extra store opening.

The latest information released by the supermarket group states that the Tesco Extra store is on schedule to open in “late autumn [2008]“.

A recently agreed variation in the planning conditions saw the number of ground floor units in the town square block nearest the Tesco Extra store increased from two to four. It is suspected that this is because the larger units were proving difficult to market. Three of the seven ground floor units in the town square blocks are required to be used for Class A3 (restaurants or cafes) or Class A4 (drinking establishments) purposes. This condition is understood to be intended to ensure the vitality of the town centre, particularly in the evenings. Information on the SGC website states that a further variation agreement would be needed to permit Class A5 (hot food takeaway) use of these units.

More information about Bradley Stoke’s new town centre development can be found elsewhere in The Journal:

• New Town Centre posts
• New Town Centre pages

Photos of the new town centre construction work can be seen in our PicasaWeb Gallery.

South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) is inviting the public to comment on proposals to construct a new shared used footway/cycleway on the east side of Bradley Stoke Way, close to the Leisure Centre. The new path will run from the point at which the existing footway from the bridge over Patchway Brook (near Ellicks Close) emerges onto Bradley Stoke Way to the Pelican crossing on the same side of Bradley Stoke Way, close to the Leisure Centre.

The Council points out that pedestrians and cyclists would no longer have to cross and then re-cross Bradley Stoke Way in order to reach the Leisure Centre. It is also claimed that the new route would have advantages “in terms of personal security” over the alternative route down the Patchway Brook path and then up the path between Savages Wood and the Community School playing fields.

Relevant pages on the SGC website:

• Bradley Stoke Way, North of Leisure Centre - Shared Use Path
  • Consulatation Documents
  • Respond to the Consultation

The Pelican crossing on Bradley Stoke Way is due to be re-sited to line up with the axis of the new shopping mall currently under construction as part of Bradley Stoke’s new town centre.

Wednesday’s Annual General Meeting of Bradley Stoke Town Council brought confirmation that no agreement has been achieved between the Town Council and Northavon Bowls Club in the dispute over increased rental charges at the town’s Baileys Court bowling green. Councillor Mark Forsyth reported that no correspondence had been received from the Bowls Club before the Council-imposed deadline of midnight on Tuesday.

The Town Clerk has now written to the Bowls Club insisting that it remove all its equipment from the Baileys Court site before 5pm on 28th May. Any equipment left there after that date will be considered ‘abandoned’ and disposed of as the Council sees fit.

The meeting was told that cheques previously submitted to the Council by the Bowls Club had been returned uncashed as they “had strings attached”. It was resolved to send a final reminder to the Club asking for immediate payment of monies owed. Should the debts not be cleared within 14 days, the Council would take court action - in line with its standard bad debts procedure.

Councillors who had attended the meeting of South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) earlier in the day reported that the bowls dispute had been discussed there, but stated that SGC had no intention of attempting to mediate in the dispute.

Works on Patchway Railway Bridge that will require the closure of of the southbound lane of the B4057 for a period of approximately six months [see previous story in The Journal] have been delayed by one week. The restrictions were due to come into force today (19^th May), but signs at the bridge are now showing a start date of 26^th May.

A source at South Gloucestershire Council’s Highways Department confirmed the slippage, citing an overrun on work to re-route gas and electricity services.

Southern Brooks Community Partnership is calling on residents of Bradley Stoke to help clear out the pond at Jubilee Green, Savages Wood Road. Rubbish has been dumped in and around the pond, making it dangerous for people and wildlife.

Interested parties are asked to meet at the Jubilee Centre [map] from 6pm on Thursday 22^nd May. Gloves and bags will be provided, but helpers are asked to bring their own waterproof footwear (wellies or waders).

The clear-up is the idea of members of the youth club that meets at The Jubilee Centre. Youth club members and leaders will be joined by a member of the Bradley Stoke Neighbourhood Policing Team as they they deal with the shopping trolleys, bicycles, tyres, plastic seats and other debris that litters the pond.

More photos of the pond before the tidy-up: [album; slideshow]

The initiative comes a few weeks before the town’s annual Community Festival that features events on the Jubilee Green over the weekend of 6^th-8^th June.

Residents are reminded that incidents of littering and fly tipping can be reported to South Gloucestershire Council’s Streetcare team (Tel: 01454-868000). If you are dissatisfied with the response you get from Streetcare team, you are advised to contact your local town or district Councillor [see The Journal's Contact your Councillors page for how to do this].

Fortunately, other ponds within Bradley Stoke are in a healthier condition. A few weeks ago, The Journal’s photographer took these shots [album; slideshow] of the pond at Patchway Common. Elsewhere, the Three Brooks Nature Conservation Group has created two new ponds in the grassland to the north of Savages Wood.

The framework of Bradley Stoke’s new shopping mall, attached to the Tesco Extra store currently under construction in the town’s new town centre, is nearing completion. The photo above shows the view from the Bradley Stoke Way side of the complex, looking along the axis of the mall, with what will be the Tesco Extra store on the left and the mall units (over two floors) on the right.

The mall will have three entrances, two at the ends of the main axis (leading from Bradley Stoke Way at one end and the new town square at the other); a third entrance on the side of the complex will provide access from the drop-off point in the bus lane that will enter the site from Bradley Stoke Way.

Indications are that the ground floor of the mall will include ten retail units, with one unit (on the corner nearest Bradley Stoke Way) being given over to a Tesco cafe. The exact configuration of the upper floor remains uncertain, with plans on the South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) website showing eight retail units, while the Alder King marketing brochure shows just two small retail units plus two larger offices and a centre management suite. Planning conditions imposed by SGC require Tesco to actively market one of the upper floor units for use as a dental surgery.

A spokesman for Tesco told The Journal that the size and type of units in the mall would be varied to meet commercial demand, so that it will only be possible to know the final layout “once all the space is taken”.

Elsewhere on the site, changes have been made to the route used by delivery vehicles serving the existing Tesco store. Access from Bradley Stoke Way has now been abandoned in favour of a route which requires vehicles to enter the site from the Three Brooks roundabout, then follow the new access road for a short way before making a right turn across the construction site. This is similar to the route that will be used once the Tesco Extra store is complete, when delivery traffic will turn down the road between the Three Brooks public house and the new Tesco filling station to reach the loading bays of the new store.

A new area of car parking space, to the right of the new access road as the old Tesco store is approached, is expected to come into service this week. It is understood that it will initially be used for contractors’ vehicles, but when the new Tesco Extra store opens in “late autumn” it will be used by the public whilst the old Tesco store is demolished and its car park re-modelled.

Photos: Click a thumbnail image to view a larger version.

There are lots of photos of the construction work at the new town centre in The Journal’s PicasaWeb gallery. For the latest town centre news checkout posts in our New Town Centre category or see the New Town Centre pages listed in the sidebar of the website.