Councillor Roger Avenin was elected as the new mayor for Bradley Stoke on Wednesday 20th May. He has kindly found some time in his busy schedule to answer some of our questions, so that the readers of The Journal may get to know him a little better.
Roger, a retired accountant in the MOD, is married with one son. He moved into Bradley Stoke nearly 25 years ago when the town was still in its infancy. At that time, neither Bradley Stoke Way nor Brook Way were completed and the town was divided into North and South; over time he has seen it develop into a fully cohesive town.
We asked Roger what he thinks about Bradley Stoke as a place to live: “I believe that Bradley Stoke is now a good place to be, with numerous clubs and societies, good schools, excellent council facilities and a thriving town centre and leisure centre, although the last two took a considerable time to materialise! Bradley Stoke also has good road and rail links and affords its residents good access to other parts of the country.”
Roger has been a town councillor since 2007, representing Lakeside at first and now representing Baileys Court. He has served as the Chair of Finance for three years and last year he was Deputy Chair of Council. This year he was very pleased to also be elected to the district council and he is looking forward to his new role, although he admits he is “on a fairly steep learning curve”.
When asked about his achievements as a town councillor, Roger said: “My main focus has been in achieving value for money for the residents and I think we have achieved this with continuous freezing, over the last five years, of the precept (the town council’s share of your council tax).”
As mayor for the coming year, Roger believes that some further youth provision is needed and he is looking forward to the building of the new state-of-the-art skate park. He hopes this will address the need for facilities for older children in the town. He does not think that wide scale change is needed in the town and his main focus will be on trying to preserve the status quo.
His main concern regarding the development of Bradley Stoke is the significant increase in traffic: “The MetroBus project is intended to reduce traffic, but I believe that when the Stoke Gifford By-Pass is completed, even more traffic will be funnelled down Bradley Stoke Way. Some solution to mitigate this needs to be found, but sadly this is not in the remit of the town council.”
Roger has not yet formally decided which charities he intends to support over the coming year, but he will notify The Journal as soon as this has been finalised.
Although Roger has a very full and busy retirement fulfilling his council duties, he does find time to relax. A keen sportsman in his younger days, he now enjoys playing golf and can be found occasionally playing a round at the Woodlands Golf and Country Club course on Trench Lane.
We wish Cllr Avenin a happy and successful year in office.
This article originally appeared in the June 2015 edition of the Bradley Stoke Journal news magazine, delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to 9,500 homes in Bradley Stoke, Little Stoke and Stoke Lodge. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.
I wonder if this Tory Mayor will defect to UKIP like some of his predecessors have? What the plan Roger??? Going to join Ben and the Kippers or are you a trusted member of the Sicilian Politburo? Just remember if your face doesn’t fit Rog then you’re out. Ask Ben!
Well I don’t think it’s this particular mayor who is planning to jump ship just yet, but I was chatting to a maverick former mayor is who has even met with Farage, they are just waiting for the right moment. It would seem he had a big time falling out with the usual suspect who likes things his own way in his ‘patch’.
Its a pity that Powelly couldn’t use his real name ( although I suspect I know who you are ).
Having been a Conservative for over 40 years, a Conservative Town Councillor for 8 years and now a Conservative District Councillor I can confirm I have no plans whatsoever to join UKIP any time soon. Hope this puts your mind at rest and you can now sleep more easily.
Just as an aside whilst we are on the subject of our newly-elected overlords – I note from the Gazette & Herald this morning that the new MP for Thornbury Luke Hall has had the good sense to donate his whopping 10% MP pay rise to as local charity. I wonder if our own re-elected MP for Bradley Stoke Jack Lopresti will follow suit and do the same? Lopresti has already trousered five years of MP’s salary and expenses. By the time he stands down and retires in 2020 he will have pocketed over a million quid! Will he do the decent thing and refuse the pay increase like most of his colleagues? I think Steve of the Bradley Stoke Journal should ask the question! I guess the Tories are now jockeying for position over who will replace retiring Jack, but he’s laughing all the way to the bank with his 10% cash boost!
WillIam makes a good point. Good on Luke Hall for resisting this increase. Is my own MP Jack going to do the same? Where can I look up his expenses claims? It seems to me that by the time he retires in 2020 he will have had ten good years in the trough. That’s better than a lifetime of graft and saving for the rest of us!
Was Jack Lopresti’s flagpole claimed on expenses? Just like the MP’s Duck House? As taxpayers we should be told. C’mon Jack, do the decent thing. Tell us if you are pocketing the 10% or are you giving it back? Maybe it could go to the Concord Museum at Filton? After Jack’s involvement in the demise of the airfield in cahoots with the developers I think it’s the least he could give back to the community in Filton and Bradley Stoke! My my how the rich get richer for just being elected and nodding things through!