The Bradley Stoke Journal

The construction of a new Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre in Bradley Stoke reaches another milestone this week when the roof is put into place on the structure.

Work on the building, located between Bradley Stoke Way and Wheatfield Drive (close to Primrose Bridge) has been underway since June and is set to be on target for completion by the end of the year.

The centre, which is expected to come into use in mid-January next year, will replace the existing West of England facility that has been based in Nailsea, North Somerset, for the last 25 years.

The charity behind the project has set up a live camera feed on its website, allowing people to monitor progress as it happens.

The Mayor of Bradley Stoke, Cllr Ben Walker, and other guests of the charity visited the site today to hear about progress on the building from charity leaders and supporters.

The new centre will allow the charity, which relies entirely on donations from the public for funding, to provide the physiotherapy, oxygen therapy and other treatments to many more people with the condition in Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset.

Multiple Sclerosis directly affects about 1,700 people in the Greater Bristol area and the MS Therapy Centre already helps 285 people, but the membership continues to grow.

Mike Gelder, chairman of the Moonstone Appeal, which was set up to raise the funds for the new centre, said:

“We are extremely pleased with the progress of the construction here in Bradley Stoke, which has been made possible entirely because of the generosity of several charities, companies and private individuals who have backed our campaign.”

More: Charity offers sponsorship opportunities at the new centre »

A media event was held on Wednesday (6th July) to mark the start of construction work on the new West of England MS Therapy Centre on a site between Wheatfield Drive and Bradley Stoke Way [map].

Former rugby and cricket star turned broadcaster Alastair Hignell was joined by leading members of the charity to celebrate the start of work and also to announce details of extra funding that has been secured for the project.

The charity behind the centre has revealed how a funding boost of £400,000, made up of a recent donation of £150,000 and an interest free loan of £250,000, has allowed work on phases 1 & 2 of the development to be started simultaneously, “causing less disruption and inconvenience to residents in the area.”

The new facility will replace the centre that has been based in Nailsea, North Somerset, for the past 25 years.

Construction of the new centre, which started in early June after a lengthy planning wrangle, is being carried out by contractors Elliott Off-Site UK Limited, and said to be due for completion by December 2011.

The contractors and the charity that runs the centre say they are committed to ensuring disruption to neighbours and the nearby Wheatfield Primary School will be kept to a minimum.

The boost to the Moonstone Appeal, which has been raising money on behalf of the charity for the £1.15 million new centre to built, means there is just another £100,000 needed to complete the fitting out, and the charity is hoping that other businesses and individuals will come forward and generously give to reach that target.

Alastair Hignell, who became patron of the appeal after he developed MS in the late 1990s, said:

“It is great news to see that building work has now started on the new centre in Bradley Stoke, which will be able to provide such important treatments to so many people in this area.”

“I have been supporting the Moonstone Appeal because the treatments I have had at the Nailsea centre meant I could keep on working for many more years than I would have thought possible.”

Continue reading to find out more about the funding of the project and how you can help »

Work on the construction of a new MS Therapy Centre on a site between Bradley Stoke Way and Wheatfield Drive finally got underway this week after years of funding crises and planning wrangles.

The first planning application for the centre was made in September 2001 but this was not approved until June 2007, subject to a clause that required access to the site be from Bradley Stoke Way only.

Funding issues then meant that little happened until a revised planning application was submitted in June 2009. This was followed in February 2010 by a further application for the construction of a respite centre on the same site.

The 2010 application caused controversy because it altered the proposed access for the site to be from Wheatfield Drive rather than Bradley Stoke Way. South Gloucestershire Councilllors refused permission for the change in access arrangements but their decision was overturned by the Planning Inspectorate in August 2010.

The BBC announced on 13th May this year that construction of the MS Therapy Centre would start “by the end of May” and the media were subsequently notified that a ceremonial first sod-cutting would take place on Tuesday 31st May.

However, the ceremony was cancelled a few days later, with the centre’s PR agency saying the event had “been postponed due to unforeseen circumstances relating to a last minute administrative issue, which is due to be resolved within the next 2 or 3 weeks.”

Read more about the start of construction at the Wheatfield Drive site »

A charity looking to build an MS therapy centre and respite care facility on land adjacent to Wheatfield Primary School has won its appeal against South Gloucestershire Council’s (SGC’s) decision to refuse planning permission.

Permission to build the therapy centre was granted in November 2009, subject to a condition that the site be accessed exclusively from Bradley Stoke Way – following scores of objections from residents of Wheatfield Drive who feared that the alternative of allowing access via their street would worsen already-existing traffic issues in their neighbourhood.

But when the charity later submitted plans for a respite care facility on another part of the site, the proposed access switched to Wheatfield Drive because, it was said, fibre optic cables had been discovered running immediately beneath the line of the proposed access road off Bradley Stoke Way.

A BBC article at the time said it would cost an astonishing £1 million to move the cables, which the charity said it couldn’t afford.

SGC failed to issue a decision on the revised access plans within the stipulated eight-week period, leading to the application being referred to the Planning Inspectorate.

Despite the referral, Councillors on SGC’s Development Contol (West) Committee went on to consider the application and finally voted to reject it in late June. That decision was made against the advice of the Council’s officers, who had concluded that the access proposals were:

“safe … and would not result in a material impact upon highway safety and amenity.”

Bradley Stoke Town Council’s Planning Committee had previously voted unanimously to reject the application and residents’ concerns were supported by local MP Jack Lopresti.

In the decision report published yesterday, the Inspector says:

Overall, I conclude … that vehicle movements associated with the proposed development would not unacceptably affect the safety and convenience of road users in the area and would not unacceptably affect the living conditions of residents in the surrounding area.

Read on to find out how the Inspector justifies the appeal decision »

South Gloucestershire Council’s (SGC’s) Development Contol (West) Committee has rejected an application by the developers of a proposed new MS therapy centre in Bradley Stoke to allow access to the site from Wheatfield Drive.

In making the decision, members of the Committee (which includes two Bradley Stoke Councillors) ignored a recommendation from planning officers that the application should be approved since:

“… the proposed access from Wheatfield Drive is safe … and would not result in a material impact upon highway safety and amenity.”

Permission to build the centre was granted in November 2009, with a condition that the site, behind Wheatfield Primary School, be accessed exclusively from Bradley Stoke Way.

The developers of the centre later caused uproar amongst local residents when they submitted revised plans showing access from a cul-de-sac in Wheatfield Drive.

According to a recent BBC website article, the Moonstone Appeal says it was forced to make the U-turn after fibre optic cables were discovered running immediately beneath the line of the proposed access road off Bradley Stoke Way.

The BBC article said it would cost an astonishing £1 million to move the cables, which the charity says it cannot afford.

SGC failed to issue a decision on the revised access plans, leading to the application being referred to the Planning Inspectorate, which is expected to issue a ruling at the end of July.

The Moonstone Appeal then submitted a duplicate planning application to SGC, in the hope that it might yield a decision before the Inspectorate was able to make a ruling on the first application.

Read how Councillors voted to reject the applications despite advice to the contrary from Council officials »

Councillors on South Gloucestershire’s (SGC’s) Development Control (West) Committee are to visit the site of a proposed MS therapy centre off Wheatfield Drive on Friday morning (11th June).

The site visit, scheduled for 9:45am, has been arranged after Bradley Stoke SGC Councillor Brian Hopkinson “called in” the planning application “in order to allow members to consider the highway safety issues”.

Residents of Wheatfield Road and the Governors of Wheatfield Primary School were angered when applicants Perpetual Legacy, acting on behalf of the Moonstone Appeal,  submitted revised plans that would see the site accessed from Wheatfield Drive rather than Bradley Stoke Way (as previously approved).

The application now being considered by the Committee is a duplicate of another submitted earlier in the year. That earlier application is currently being assessed by the Government’s Planning Inspectorate after SGC failed to make a decision on it within the legally required time frame.

Bradley Stoke Town Council’s Planning Committee has unanimously objected to both the previous and current applications on the grounds that:

“The proposed access to the site via Wheatfield Road will lead to an unacceptable increase in traffic movement through this, already congested residential area, which will be detrimental to highway safety, and have a negative impact on surrounding residents.”

Read on for details of objections raised by local residents »