Is Every Service at Council to be Privatised?

The Liberal Democrats and Trade Union has expressed concern over draft proposals to outsource many services provided by Conservative run Bath and North East Somerset Council.

Althgough the plans are yat to be finalised, the concept is to reduce the Council down to a Core of just 700, with many direct facing services, such as home care and street cleansing to be privatised or delivered in partnership with other orgainsations.

The draft policy document, The Future Council, says: "The future council should be strategic rather than operational - focused on convening and working with its partners to prioritise and commission public services rather than delivering services itself."

Other councils that have gone down this route, services that had been privatised included home care, sheltered housing and social services.

The Conservatives have said the authority needs to make 5% efficiency gains in the coming year. By Privatisation of services savings might indeed be made, but at what cost to delivering services to our residents?

Even between services the holistic approach of being one council does not exist, you only have to look at the fiasco with waste collections and cleansing. If the waste collection team arrives to collect your waste and your bag has been split they leave it to the street cleansing team, but do they think to actually let them know that a mess exists for them to tidy up?

Longacre Tavern for Sale

An offer has been accepted for The Longacre Tavern on London Road after its owner, the Wadworths brewery, decided the pub no longer fitted with its portfolio of properties.

It had been run by landlord Mervyn Thomas for more than 30 years until his recent retirement.
Wadworths conducted a review of the premises and decided a sale was the best commercial option.

Pub, hotel and restaurant specialist Fleurets is marketing the pub and a spokesman for the agent confirmed the buyer was a small business but had not yet stated if the intention was to keep the premises as a pub.

The property was on the market for around a month and attracted strong interest before the deal was struck in the last week.

Alex Schlesinger, chairman of the London Road and Snow Hill Partnership, said the pub had become a focal point for the community for many years.

He said: "I have got no objection to it being a pub. I certainly object to what has become attached to it in recent years. A lot of the community have been unhappy with the ambience of it and we look forward to some change. You can't blame the pub or the licensee, it is the people who are using or abusing it that are the problem."

Local councillor David Dixon (Lib Dem, Walcot) said he hoped the building would remain as a pub.

He said: "I know the area has had its issues in the past but I would not like to see it turn into anything but a pub. A strong community is one that keeps talking to each other. The Snow Hill area has had its issues but this is a community that knows each other."

Bath Fringe - Kensington Meadows

Bath Fringe 2009 on Kensington Meadows

This year the Bath Fringe are planning a 3 day event over the weekend of 5th – 7th June.
Friday Evening Cabaret Bar till 10.30/event finish 11pm;
Saturday Daytime Boom Stage 12 – 7pm Sat eve Comedy show 8 - 10.30/event finish 11pm;
Sunday Walcot Community event 12noon – 7pm.

These events are subject to the following Licence Application being granted: -

They have made an application for a ‘premises licence’ for Kensington Meadows (this is similar to an old-style ‘Entertainment Licence’, for anyone unfamiliar with the changes to the licensing system).
This has been done in order to put the events we’re planning more under the jurisdiction of the licensing system than with the ‘Temporary Event Notice’ we used last year. A full licence also gives us many more responsibilities, which we hope reflects our commitment to be a good neighbour on the meadows.

This licence, if passed, would give licensing permission to run an event for a 4-day long weekend once a year. This is still subject to an annual agreement with the B&NES Parks Department for the use of the land, so there is no sense a carte blanche to do what they like on the site. There is also the requirement to consult with the council’s Events Safety people, the Police and the Fire Service every year. All of this means that performing will be overseen by the Council and there will be a continued line of communication for local residents via the council.

It is intended to run the Boom Stage youth music afternoon on Saturday 6 June, and an afternoon performance picnic on the Sunday. They will not be running music events later in the evenings, but circus/cabaret events which should be very much quieter – we are aware that this was an issue for some people in 2008.

The Fringe are committed to advertising that there is NO car parking available in or around the Meadows – the main afternoon events are orientated towards local people who wouldn’t need to drive to the site anyway – though we will be providing secure cycle parking. They will have to erect a tall fence to define the area under our jurisdiction and to ensure that the various rights of way on the Meadows are not obstructed, and while this is not the most beautiful thing in the world it does have its advantages too. Inside will be the expected tents, performance areas, food concession, bar, portable toilets etc. – it is a condition of the licence that the public is not allowed to bring alcohol or glass onto the site. The event area will be about 20% smaller than that for the 2006 Walcot Independence event and will stop well short of the gate from Ringswell Gardens, which will remain shut and used for Emergency Vehicle access. Events will be confined to the southern end of the Meadows, leaving lots of space for dog walking and games, and won’t be intruding on the lower levels by the river at all.

There will be holding an Meeting to discuss this event and the licence application at Riverside Youth Centre on Friday May 1st at 5.30 pm and would like to invite local residents and others with an interest in the event to come along.

You can contact Wendy Matthews; Steve Henwood & Bath Fringe Committee at:

103, Walcot Street
Bath Fringe BA1 5BW
Tel 01225 480079
admin@bathfringe.co.uk

Discussions to start on the Rapid Transit Link for the London Road

Council highways officers and local businesses at the end of September will be leaving the Guildhall at and walking the route to the Lambridge training ground. The purpose of this is to give residents, councillors and businesses an early indication of the proposals, but more importantly to share their concerns over highway and pedestrian safety along this route.

The Council have now reconsidered Lambridge as the prefered location for a park and ride site and Mill Lane near Batheaston is now the prefered location, this will deliver 540 more car parking spaces for cheaper, but will of course mean higher volumes of buses using the London Road bus lane and the Bath Package include London Road and Walcot Street as a rapid transit link, similar to that planned to rail road through people's gardens in Newbridge.

Cllr David Dixon said, "Although this will not be an open public tour, the views of residents who use Walcot Street and the London Road are important to us as local councillors. Anyone who has a particular view that they would like to share are encouraged to contact us on 01225 462590 or by email david_dixon@bathnes.gov.uk . We want to help get this right, hopefully then we can ensure that the delivered scheme is responsive to the needs of local residents and businesses, and will go someway to improving highway safety along the London Road."

Following pressure from a number of councillors including Cllr David Dixon and and Cllr Colin Darracott, the Council is currently advertising for a Road Safety Accident Investigation and Prevention Engineer. This person's role would revolve around looking into accident clusters and coming up with ideas for remedial measures. It is envisaged that the first area for the new engineer to deal with will be the London Road.