Making Britain GREENER!

Trash-Off Kensington Meadows – Litter Pick Sunday 15 April

Eleven volunteers came out in the morning sun to help launch Friends of Kensington Meadows’ and London Road & Snow Hill Partnership’s programme of 2007 litter picks on Sunday 15 April. You see nine of us in the picture. Janice and Chris joined later.

Our litter picks are part of CSV’s Action Earth 2007 campaign and featured on CSV’s website http://www.csv.org.uk/Campaigns/Action+Earth/. We will receive a grant from CSV (Community Service Volunteers) for materials, which should enable us to continue keeping the Meadows clean, especially with such excellent support from the community.

Action Earth 2007 is also supported by Morrison’s Supermarket, which happens to be next door to the Meadows.

We recycled six bags of glass bottles and aluminium cans in Morrison’s recycling centre, and bagged up around 20 other bags of general rubbish. Morrison’s supplied many of the bags and took some for disposal. Most were left at the Kensington Place and Grosvenor Bridge entrances to the Meadows for the Council to pick up.

Now the Meadows look a lot better and we’d like to ask people to keep them clean. Take litter to the nearest bin and dump it there, not on the grass or in the bushes. And dog owners, please use those dog pooh bins!

Photo caption: Sun and fun tackling the trash for Action Earth 2007 – from left to right: Keith, mystery man, Diane, Paul, Cllr David Dixon, Frank, Liz, Susan, Richard.

Poor Pavements - Bathwick Estate

We have noticed over the past years the deterioration of the pavements in and around the Bathwick Estate.

Unfortunately there has been complete lack of investment in this area for better pavements, and Local Councillors Colin Darracott and David Dixon will continue to campaign for improvements.

We have seen pavements which are uneven, with puddles gathering in the middle and those which haven't had any attention for years.

We have succeeded in the past on these issues, in 2002 Bathwick Street pavement was firstly resurfaced with tarmac and Cllr David Dixon managed to get this replaced with paving slabs.

Unfortunately since 2003 the Tories have been looking after our footpaths and no such investment has been forthcoming.

Thomas Street - BAD PARKING

We have been indundated with stories and pictures of awful parking in and around Thomas Street.

This picture shows a double parked car next to the turning for Pera Road, anyone turning out of Pera Road wanting to turn left would have had severe diffculties. Residents are urged, that if they must double park, that they do so for a short time, put a note in their window to tell people where they are, and PLEASE be considerate.

Space is tight, the are still too many cars parking in this area and many spaces are being taken up by visitors who parking in this area and walk into town and by commuters.

I agree with the majority of residents that the only solution seems to be a residents' parking zone, and will push for this work to be carried out as soon as possible.

Hustings Events

Nominations are now closed for the May 2007 Elections and it appears that Colin and I are doing a good job as not as many candidates have come forward to contest the seat as did so in 2003.

Colin and I are standing for re-election and we have the usual two from Labour and Conservative Parties.

The Greens have only put up one candidate , who was the independent fron the 2003 election who wanted to knock several stories off Berekley House. So that leaves 7 candidates. 10 stood in 2003.

There are two husting events in the ward this year.
Monday 23rd April at St John's Church Hall - 7.30pm
Thursday 26th April at Snow Hill Christian Centre - 7pm

These are two wonderful opportunities to meet the candidates and ask us all questions on what we have done for Walcot and what we plan to do in the future if re-elected.

Croft Road and Eastbourne Avenue

Traffic on Eastbourne Avenue

One local resident recalled that at one point, Eastbourne Avenue may have had a weight restriction, which seems to have disappeared. We will be making enquiries as to where this has gone and whether we can get it back. The only onward route for lorries would be up through Fairfield Road or to Lansdown Road, which has a 7.5t weight limit, so they should not be using that. The only other route that they could be taking is Tyning Lane and Snow Hill.

We will ask that traffic on Eastbourne Avenue and indeed along the length of Camden Road is reviewed as it seems as though the current situation will not do. If re-elected we will consult as to possible solutions.

Recycling Bins

A number of local residents have raised concern over how recycling bins are being placed back after emptied by operatives. Once emptied they should be placed back at the edge of your property as it was found. We will raise this concern with waste services and ask that this is done. We agree that it is not good enough for them to be left anywhere else.

Southbourne Gardens Allotments Land

Through the good work of residents and with the support of Cllr Colin Darracott, we have seen the appeal narrowly fought off. We are now working with Council Officers to work up a compulsory purchase order for the land, so that we may bring this back into community usage. This would be the first CPO of it’s kind for the Council and it is hoped that if we can succeed on this that we can look at safeguarding more sites across the city.

Full marks to the efforts of Claremont Resident’s Association!

Midsummer Buildings and Hampton View - Footpaths, dog mess and rat running!

Over the past 4 years of the Conservative rule over our highways - including footpaths we have seen more and more deterioration of the footpaths.

We will be asking the highways department for more attention to be paid to the footpaths around Hampton View, Midsummer Buildings and Croft Road.

I think that the picture here sums it all up quite well. 21st century footpaths and roads? More like a 18th century dirt track. The Romans did a better job than this!

We have asked that seperate dog bins are installed near children's play areas for dog mess.

Hampton View - Rat running.

Hampton View has been the subject of rat running recently as traffic head down it to use the lane at the bottom. Why anyone would choose to use such a poor conditioned lane is beyond us, but there we go. We are awaiting advice from Council Officers as to what we can do here, as it is not public land it makes things a little more difficult, plus we have to bear in mind that local residents do need to use it too. We hope to have some ideas soon on this.

Tory Lies

When it comes to politics sometimes I will admit that things can be dressed up and made to sound better or worse - personally I try to call a spade a spade and tell it how it is.

What infuriates me though are outright lies. A resident today thought that the Council were going to move to fortnighty refuse collections. This, it appears as stemmed from Tory literature recently sent out which objects to Lib Dem and Labour plans for fortnightly waste collections.

The Liberal Democrats have no plans to move to fortnightly refuse collections and to say that we have such plans is on outright lie. In fact quite the opposite is true and we would like to see the introduction of same day collection for all waste, recycling and garden waste, cardboard collections.

I knew that the Tories are keen to take control of the Council, but through such blatant misuse of the truth, keen seems to have moved up a notch to desperate.

Midsummer Buildings and Hampton View

This evening we have picked up a number of issues at Midsummer Buildings and Hampton View.

Firstly we found this fly tipped rubbish and we have reported it to be cleared to Council Connect.
We have also spoken to a number of residents about the state of the footpaths both on the highway and between different areas. We were more shocked to realise that some had not been resurfaced too long ago - we will ask that these are given some attention.

We have also been notified of an increase in dog mess and have asked the Council's Dog Warden to see what can be done.

Lib Dem Manifesto

Today the Bath and North East Somerset Liberal Democrats launched their manifesto. Outlining our promises fo delievry over the next four years should the electorate choose the Liberal Democrats to take control of B&NES Council.

Our five priorities are:

• Running an efficient council that is truly local.
• Providing better public trasnport and a cleaner, greener environment.
• Creating safe neighbourhoods and providing affordable housing.
• Caring for older people, the young and the more venerable members of our community.
• Promoting culture, regeneration and active, healthy lifestyles.

Over the coming weeks I will put up more details over the 5 priorities, but if you would like a full copy of our manifesto please do let us know.

LOOKING AHEAD, RESPECTING THE PAST AND GETTING THE JOB DONE.

Residents' Parking - Update

Frustrated residents are joining forces to save their streets from commuter parking.

Two groups have combined their efforts to battle for parking permits.

Residents from Thomas Street and the surrounding area have been pushing for a residents' parking scheme for some time.

They say the area, which is a short walk from the city centre, is currently a parking free-for-all.

Camden Residents' Association has been fighting a similar battle after the issue was first raised several years ago.

Now the two areas are joining forces to lobby for funding to create the permit zone in the coming council year.

Amy Morris, who has been heavily involved in the Thomas Street campaign, said that new double-yellow lines on a neighbouring road increased pressure on the available spaces. The lines on Pera Road were put in last week, but the problems are still going on. A few spaces have been lost, but the number of commuters, residents and shoppers hasn't gone down. There is a lot of support in our area for the residents' parking zone. However, at the moment the council won't move it on because the area is too small for a zone on its own."

Chairman of the Camden association Nigel Sherwen said that initial enquiries in the area, around two years ago, had been split in half for and against residents' parking.

But a survey from March last year had seen figures rise to a more conclusive majority in favour.

"We agreed at the AGM we would review the figures we had," he said. This time there was a healthy majority for a zone - at the west end of Camden it was up around 80 per cent. The council told us this was enough support, but that we weren't a big enough zone. That's where Thomas Street comes into it, to the south of Camden. We want to help the council. We have offered to distribute information and hopefully we can get money into next year's budget for the ground work. If it all goes well, then by September or October, it could be in place."

Councillor David Dixon (Lib Dem, Walcot ward) said joining forces was likely to prove beneficial for both areas.

"That area is the closest place to the city centre without residents' parking schemes. We need to take a wider approach on these things and think about the knock-on effect for each area. I don't think you can bring it in to one area and not the other. It will just displace all the traffic to the other area."

Story thanks to Anna Mansell, Bath Chronicle

Massive Investment in Youth Centre

Thanks to the efforts of Local Liberal Democrats £130,000 has been ploughed into improvements at the Riverside Community Centre on the London Road.

The centre, which is based behind the Porter Butt next to the river Avon, was a couple of years ago under threat of being closed down after an unfortunately unsuccessful bid to turn it into a Healthy Living Centre.

However this did not stop Councillor David Dixon (Lib Dem, Walcot) and local residents’ enthusiasm for keeping this centre alive. The Riverside Community Association was set up under the Chairmanship of Cllr Dixon with the aimof keeping the valuable facility at Riverside.

Last year Local Councillor Colin Darracott agreed £130k worth of works to take place at the centre to bring it up to standard for the Disability Discrimination Act.

12 weeks of work started in January at the centre which will see significant improvements and a much better facility for users.

Cllr Darracott said of the scheme, "I am really pleased that I have been able to allocate these funds to the centre. Last year we saw Council investment into a state of the art music studio in one part of the centre and with this extra £130,000 I think the local community will be really pleased with these developments."

Andy Tanner, a local campaigner and landlord of the Porter Butt is also pleased to see improvements at the centre and is working with the Council to help improve the access road, which we hope to see resurfaced once the works at the Centre are completed and a regular cleaning schedule with Wessex Water, The Porter Butt and the Council working together to keep it litter free.

Clear Drains at Ringswell Gardens

After many efforts by a number of local residents at Ringswell Gardens, Councillor David Dixon is pleased to report that Bath and North East Somerset Council and Wessex Water have successfully worked together to stop the flooding which occurred after heavy rainfall in cul-de-sacs at Ringswell Gardens.

Councillor David Dixon had been in contact with Colin Skellett (Chief Executive, Wessex Water) to make sure that this problem is solved once and for all, and passed on the positive comments received from local residents on the attitude and communications received from contractors working for Wessex Water and for the Council.

Councillor Dixon said, “It is great to see that the Council has worked well with Wessex Water in solving this problem. I was horrified to see how much flooding occurred at this location and full credit to the local residents who fought hard to bring an end to this problem. I am glad that this has hopefully now been resolved.”

Kensington Gardens Park

The small park at Kensington Gardens has had a revamp thanks to the efforts of local residents working closely with the Council’s Park’s Department.

In the initial consultations a number of residents had concerns over the proposed loss of the handrail. Local Lib Dem Councillor David Dixon, sought reassurances from the Council that a handrail would be installed. Unfortunately as many would have noticed this took a while longer than anticipated but Cllr Dixon is happy to report that the handrail is now in place.

On inspecting the handrail Cllr Dixon said, “I am really pleased that this scheme got off the ground, I have to thank local residents and the London Road and Snow Hill Partnership for moving this project forward. I am pleased to see the new handrail finally in place as it provides invaluable assistance to people who need it. I have been asked if we can reinstall a separate dog bin at this location and I do my best to get this back into place”.

The Council’s parks department have also agreed to improve maintenance of the park to ensure that it stays in good condition.

London Road Pollution

Liberal Democrat Councillors and local landlord Andy Tanner are campaigning to ban lorries from the London Road. Unfortunately the Conservatives in charge of transport have failed to take action on this. Cllr Colin Darracott said, “Once we take power from the Tories over transport issues we can seriously look at banning HGV’s from the London Road. We are keen to work with local campaigners such as Andy to lobby for such measures.”