The Bradley Stoke Journal

Plans for extensions to Bradley Stoke Community School (BSCS) have been submitted to South Gloucestershire Council’s (SGC’s) planning department.

The proposed scheme involves the construction of a new sixth form centre (A) at the south-western end of the school’s curved frontage plus the addition of a dance studio (B) and further changing rooms (C) at the rear and side of the existing sports hall.

The proposed sixth form centre would cater for up to 200 students in the 16-19 age group. Documentation supporting the planning application predicts that, without the new centre at BSCS, the deficit in provision for post-16 education within the local ‘Group 3′ schools (BSCS, Patchway Community College and Filton High School) might range from 51 to 195 places in the academic year 2011/2012. The lower figure is calculated using the current ‘Group 3′ stay-on rate of 32%, while the upper figure reflects the highest South Gloucestershire stay-on rate of 70% seen at Castle School, Thornbury.

The school states that it would like to have the sixth form centre up and running by September 2010, so that the current Year 9 students (the oldest currently at BSCS) will have continuity of provision when they reach Year 12, should they so desire. The exact combination of post-16 courses to be offered at BSCS will be determined in consultation with other members of the Concorde Partnership, a larger conglomeration of schools that includes Castle School, Marlwood School, New Siblands Special School and Filton College, in addition to the two other ‘Group 3′ schools. Offerings are expected to include BSCS’s specialisms in Performing Arts and Modern Languages as well as the new Diploma courses being rolled out nationwide from September 2008.

The proposed dance studio is thought to be intended to support the school’s specialism in the performing arts, while the additional changing rooms are said to be needed to support the additional demand from sixth form students and allow for greater community usage.

Comments on the planning application may be made by following the ‘Comment on Application’ link at the top of the case file page on the SGC website. The deadline for comments is given as 6th August. The SGC target date for a decision on the application is 2nd October.

Obtaining planning permission is a prerequisite for applying to the Learning and Skills Council for funds to implement the proposed developments.

One of the UK’s largest pension funds has acquired a 50% share in the Willow Brook Centre, Bradley Stoke’s new town centre currently under construction at Savages Wood Road. Supermarket group Tesco has announced that it has agreed an £80 million joint venture with the massive BP Pension Fund, whose assets were recently valued at £14.7 billion.

The fund, which has 12,000 active members, is one of the few in the country that remains open to new members and has assets which exceed its liabilities by 35%. In fact it is so well over-funded that the BP company is not currently making contributions into the fund.

The joint venture, which enables Tesco to release funding for other development projects elsewhere, is reported to generate a yield of 5.35% for the fund.

Tesco’s press release claims that the deal “highlights the investment that Tesco brings and attracts, even in the in the present [economic] climate.”

Southern Brooks Community Partnership (SBCP), a registered charity providing a wide range of services for children, young people and families in Patchway and Bradley Stoke, is holding a fundraising Summer Disco on Friday (18th July) at the Aztec Hotel.

The event, which runs from 7:30pm to midnight, is sponsored by the Aztec Hotel and supported by Cove Digital and Bradley Stoke Small Business Forum.

Tickets cost £10 (to include nibbles). Enquiries to SBCP on 01454 868570.

The campaign to find staff for Bradley Stoke’s new Tesco Extra store has stepped up a gear with the opening of a dedicated recruitment centre on the Aztec West Business Park.

According to information on the Tesco Careers website, the Bradley Stoke Tesco Recruitment Centre in the Rombourne Business Centre, 130 Aztec West [map] is now open and is scheduled to operate until 6th October. The telephone number of the centre is 01454 629623.

The same Aztec West office was recently used to recruit staff for the new Tesco Direct store that has now opened on the old B&Q site at Cribbs Causeway.

The new store in Bradley Stoke is scheduled to open in “late autumn”, in time for the peak Christmas trading period; the supermarket group is expected to announce a more precise opening date within the next few weeks.

Construction of the new store has been underway since January and progress is said to be “on schedule”. The exterior of the store is at an advanced state of completion and work is now focused on fitting out the interior. Elsewhere on the site, construction of a shopping mall (attached to the northern side of the new store) and town centre units (around a new “town square”) continues.

The new store is approximately two-and-a-half times the size of the existing Tesco store in Bradley Stoke and just 5% smaller than the Asda Wal-Mart store at Cribbs Causeway.

A separate campaign to recruit mangers for the new store has been running since June, and the closing date for these positions is now given as 21st July on the Tesco Careers website.

For the latest news on jobs available in Bradley Stoke’s new Willow Brook shopping centre, check out The Journal’s dedicated New Town Centre Jobs page.

Parents of school-age children in Bradley Stoke looking to keep their offspring occupied during the summer break can choose from options offered by (amongst others) Southern Brooks Community Partnership (SBCP), Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre and Bradley Stoke Library.

SBCP, through its Five Alive scheme (previously Four Towns), will be providing four weeks of free activities for children aged 5-11 at three different venues throughout the town:

• Monday 28th July to Friday 1st August:
  Baileys Court Youth Club, Baileys Court Road
• Monday 4th August to Friday 8th August:
  Jubilee Centre, Savages Wood Road
• Monday 11th August to Friday 15th August:
  Bradley Stoke Community School, Fiddlers Wood Lane
• Monday 18th August to Friday 22nd August:
  Bradley Stoke Community School, Fiddlers Wood Lane

More details can be found in the Five Alive leaflet [PDF, 258KB].

Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre’s Summer Holiday Programme runs from Monday 28th July to Friday 29th August. Activities are focused on the 4-11 age group and include roller-skating, trampolining and fencing.

Bradley Stoke Library’s “Team Read” reading challenge gets underway on Saturday 19th July, with young readers being set the target of reading six books over the holiday period. Free activity sessions for children aged 5-10 will be held at the library on Sunday 27th July, Monday 4th August, Monday 11th August and Thursday 21st August, while a “Just Do It” session for those 11 and over is planned for Wednesday 13th August.

Friday 11th July is the last day for the public to comment on the South Gloucestershire Core Strategy (Issues and Options). The document outlines plans for the future development of the district following proposals from the South West Regional Assembly (SWRA) which could result in the building of nearly 31,000 new homes within South Gloucestershire by 2026.

Several of the planned development areas are close to Bradley Stoke, with major schemes at Northfield (Filton) (2,200 dwellings), Harry Stoke (1,200 dwellings) and Wallscourt Farm (Abbey Wood) (900 dwellings).

An appendix to the plan [PDF, 2.9MB] also outlines two options for further development along the M32 corridor (marked by blue circles in the centre of the image above), in an area that stretches from the A4174 (Avon Ring Road) in the south to the B4057 (Winterbourne Road) near the Vantage Business Park in the north. The appendix suggests that between 2,700 and 3,300 dwellings could be built in this area.

Responses to the consultation may be made using an online questionnaire (registration required), by post or by email.

A planning application for an astonishing 856 illuminated and non-illuminated signs in Bradley Stoke’s new town centre has been submitted to South Gloucestershire Council by Tesco Stores Ltd.

The schedule lists items ranging from large signage gantries to anti-ram bollards and “no smoking” signs.

Notable items are the signs for vehicle set down points (along the northern side of the mall), bus stops (on the edge of the town square) and taxi ranks (in front of the five non-food retail units).

Interestingly, the detailed plans show the “Brooks Centre” moniker on some of the signs, despite this having been scrapped in favour of the “Willow Brook Centre“, following a public competition to choose the name of the new town centre. The Planning Committee of Bradley Stoke Town Council, which kicked up a stink when Tesco seemed to be set on sticking with the earlier name, can however rest assured that the plans were drawn up before the naming competition had been judged.

One of the signs carries the message “Please do not take your trolley beyond this point; trolleys have been fitted with a locking device”. This would appear to confirm suggestions that Tesco intends to implement a system to prevent trolleys being taken off site, an issue that was raised at the local Stronger and Safer Community Group meeting on 10th June. A representative from Tesco is to be invited to attend the Group’s next meeting on 30th September in Bradley Stoke Community School to discuss issues relating to the new town centre development.