The Bradley Stoke Journal

TV crews were today once again in action at Baileys Court bowling green as they recorded members of Northavon Bowls Club removing equipment from the facility. In an ongoing dispute over the rental agreement for the green, Bradley Stoke Town Council (BSTC) had ordered the Club to remove its effects by 5pm on 28th May.

Despite today’s retreat, the bowlers are confident that legal action will eventually allow them to return to the green. A spokesperson for the Club revealed that it has recently used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain crucial documents from BSTC, which the Club claims strengthen its case against the Council.

Today’s events are expected to feature in tonight’s BBC and ITV regional news programmes and tomorrow’s Western Daily Press and Bristol Evening Post.

More photos of today’s events may be viewed in our PicasaWeb Gallery [album, slideshow].

Northavon Bowls Club is taking legal action in an attempt to regain access to the green at Baileys Court Activity Centre in Bradley Stoke. The Club has been prevented from using the green for several weeks in a dispute with Bradley Stoke Town Council over a proposed new rental agreement.

The Council decided at its Annual General Meeting on 22nd May to cease negotiations with the Club and ordered it to remove all its equipment from Baileys Court by 5pm on 28th May.

In a press release put out this evening, the Bowls Club says it will remove its equipment “under duress” tomorrow (27th May). The statement goes on to say that the Club is “prepared to pay the full cost attributable to its occupation of the premises”, but claims that the Council is “not prepared to make a fair assessment of those costs”.

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.

In his latest press release concerning the actions of Bradley Stoke Town Council at a Special Council Meeting on 8th May, John Kiely, Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesman for Filton and Bradley Stoke, claims that “Bradley Stoke Town Council is fast gaining the reputation of the most unhelpful Council in England.”

Following the meeting, Mr Kiely announced that he had written to the Council’s external auditor to complain about the way in which the Council dealt with the Northavon Bowls Club issue.

The ruling Conservative group provided no paperwork nor a report on the financial implications of any of the options they outlined to full Council.

That opposition members did not receive a copy in advance (or at all!) renders this decision ‘ultra vires’.

Mr Kiely said he had copied his letter to the Audit Commission, Freedom Commissioner and the Government Office for the SW.

Tuesday’s press release reveals that the Council’s external auditor Mazars has confirmed receipt of Mr Kiely’s complaint and will now consider whether any action should be taken.

Tuesday was also the deadline imposed by the Council for the Bowls Club to accept the proposed new rental agreement or “that would be it”, meaning that the Bowls Club would have to remove all its equipment from the Baileys Court green and pavilion. No news of a final outcome was made available by either party, but a source in the Bowls Club hinted that a last minute attempt at mediation was being made by South Gloucestershire Council Cabinet member John Godwin (Conservative).

The bowls dispute is due to be discussed again at today’s (Wednesday’s) Annual General Meeting of Bradley Stoke Town Council [agenda] that takes place at 7:30pm at the Jubilee Centre, Savages Wood Road [map].

A remarkable U-turn by Tesco public affairs consultant Dan Bramwell has seen the supermarket group agree to hold a public consultation over the naming of Bradley Stoke’s new town centre currently under construction at Savages Wood Road. The move comes less than two weeks after Mr Bramwell stated on Radio Bristol that “having a competition now would delay the building of the town centre”. In the radio interview he also stated that a decision to call the development “The Brooks Centre” had been made back in March, when Bradley Stoke Town Council had been informed that no competition to choose the name would now take place, despite an earlier promise in a Tesco press release.

In a fumbled attempt at embarrassing Tesco, the Bradley Stoke Town Council (BSTC) planning committee had unanimously objected to a planning application by Tesco for advertising signage that sported the “Brooks Centre” name. In doing so they overlooked the fact that South Gloucestershire Council’s (SGC) consultation period for the application had already expired. The planning committee’s grounds for objection served only to demonstrate their ignorance of planning law, the grounds being dismissed later by SGC planning officials as “irrelevant”.

In an address to Thursday evening’s Special Council Meeting, Mr Bramwell confirmed that the town centre development is “on schedule” for opening “later this year”. Marketing of the retail and office units is well underway, he added. However he also made several references to the imapct of the “economic slowdown”, which could be taken to mean that the developers are struggling to find tenants for some of the units. No mention was made by Mr Bramwell of any progress made in agreeing a joint BSTC/SGC drop-in centre in the new town centre.

Tesco’s local marketing team is due to take over the reins from Mr Bramwell in six weeks time.

The public competition to choose the name of the development will be launched early next week. The judging panel will be formed of two representatives from Tesco and two fom BSTC, with the winner receiving a £50 voucher and the right to nominate a local school to receive a personal computer donated by Tesco.

The Special Meeting had earlier held a fractious discussion about the Council’s ongoing dispute with Northavon Bowls Club over their rental agreement at Baileys Court. Unusually, members of the public had not been given the chance to speak at the start of the meeting and chair Julian Barge was adamant that the discussion should exclude the views of the assembled group of over 30 onlookers, including many members of the Bowls Club. Councillor Mark Forsyth began the meeting by summarising the discussions that had taken place between the Council’s working group and the bowlers. Expressions of disapproval from the audience eventually resulted in the meeting being adjourned for the Bowls Club to appoint a representative to speak on their behalf.

Once the meeting resumed (but still officially in an “adjourned” state), Brian Newland of the Bowls Club refuted many of the allegations made by Councillors earlier in the discussion and repeated calls for an independent arbitrator to be brought in.

With the meeting then officially reconvened, the Council resolved by a majority verdict to inform the Bowls Club that no change would be made to the “originally proposed agreement” (incorporating an 8% annual increase) and that the Club be given a further ten days to accept it or “that would be it”.

The Bradley Stoke Journal has learned that tonight’s Special Meeting of Bradley Stoke Town Council [agenda] has already attracted the attention of the local media. A source within Northavon Bowls Club has told The Journal that a reporter and cameraman from the Bristol Evening Post will be at the meeting. The source also revealed that the Club has been asked to take part in a discussion on Radio Bristol tomorrow (Friday) morning at 8:15am.

The Special Meeting, which takes place at 7:30pm in the Jubilee Centre, Savages Wood Road, has been called to discuss the ongoing bowls dispute and issues surrounding the new town centre development.

Tesco representative Dan Bramwell is expected to attend for the town centre discussion.

South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) has approved a “controversial” planning application for advertising signage in Bradley Stoke’s new town centre development. As reported in The Journal’s article on 30^th April, Bradley Stoke Town Council’s (BSTC) planning committee unanimously agreed to oppose the application at a meeting on 23^rd April, but the committee apparently overlooked the fact that SGC’s consultation period for the application had already expired on 15^th April.

An online objection was lodged by The Town Council on 28^th April, followed by a written objection (also received by SGC on 28^th April). However, a decision to recommend approval of the application had already been made by the SGC case officer with the issuing of a Circulated Schedule Report on 25^th April. The final decision to approve was made on 2^nd May after no requests were made by SGC councillors (or BSTC) to “call in” the application for a site visit or for determination by the SGC planning committee.

Quite why none of the SGC councillors representing Bradley Stoke chose to “call in” the application remains a mystery, particularly when four of these councillors are also members of the Town Council, including two (John Ashe and Sarah Pomfret) who sit on the BSTC planning committee that opposed the application.

The new town centre development is one of two topics to be discussed at a Special Meeting of Bradley Stoke Town Council on Thursday (8^th May). The ongoing dispute between the Town Council and Northavon Bowls Club over the Baileys Court rental agreement is also on the agenda. The press and public are invited to attend the meeting, although it is noted that recent deliberations on both of these matters have taken place “in camera” (i.e. the press and public have been asked to leave the room during the discussions).