Library consultation - phase 2

South Glos Council has been thinking about the responses to the library consultation earlier this year and has now come up with a new set of proposals. The effects for our area are as follows:

• Savings target reduced from £650,000 to £500,000 (within a budget of £2.6million, so about 20%)
• Staffed opening hours to be reduced by a smaller amount than proposed in consultation phase 1
• "Swipe card" access allowing opening hours to be extended
• Mobile library service to be replaced with community centre based libraries across South Glos
  and run by volunteer groups, plus the the esisting home visit service
• Chipping Sodbury Library to be run by volunteers, with professional staff providing background support. The council’s library service would also provide stock and IT support
• Book Fund to be reduced by £81,000 (28%)

Full details are on the South Glos website

There will be a public meeting at Yate library on Tuesday 1 November at 7pm.

The consultation is open until 2 January - please have your say!

Community Engagement Forum date moved

The Community Engagement Forum for Yate, Chipping Sodbury and Dodington (which replaces Safer Stronger and the Area Forum) has unavoidably had to be postponed to 21 November, 7 pm in the Main Hall at Chipping Sodbury Baptist Church, High Street, Chipping Sodbury.

• Mark King, the Head of Street Care and Transport for South Glos Council will be attending
• The meeting will also include an update on the Libraries consultation
• Plus how a Community Plan can benefit YOUR Community

If you have any issues or concerns you would like to raise please email your local chair via community.engagement@southglos.gov.uk

Below are just some of the concerns that have been raised by residents at CEF meetings which members of the group have been able to take forward on their behalf:

• Concerns from residents about Health Care provision in the area; Clinical Commission Group, North Bristol Trust and Sirona Health all attended the next meeting to answer residents questions.
• Speeding and Parking concerns in the area, work undertaken by Avon and Somerset Police, Community Speedwatch, Police Camera Van and South Gloucester Highways to investigate the concerns.
• Supermarket trollies being abandoned in the area, the group worked with local supermarkets and SGC departments to investigate ways to reduce the problem.
• Antisocial behaviour and damage to vehicles in Yate, investigated by Avon and Somerset Police

Blooming good results for local nature groups

Lilliput Park

All five local entries for the 2016 South West In Bloom awards have been given the top grade of 'Outstanding' in the Neighbourhoods category. This recognises the effort put in by our dedicated groups of volunteers and the support given by Dodington Parish Council and Yate Town Council.

The award winners are:

•     Dodington Allotment Association (Dodington)
•     Friends of Kingsgate Park (Yate)
•     Friends of Lilliput Park (Dodington)
•     Wapley Bushes Local Nature Reserve (Dodington)
•     Wapley Common and the Orchard for the Future (Dodington)

Representatives of the groups were presented with their awards at the South West In Bloom ceremony in Taunton.

Thousands of new homes in our area?

A plan that could change the character of our area has been published this week.

The "Towards an Emerging Spatial Strategy" plan proposes:

• 1,500 new homes at Coalpit Heath 
• 2,600 around Yate and Chipping Sodbury
• Up to 1,000 homes at Charfield
• Up to 600 homes at Thornbury 
• 2,200 homes at a new garden village at Buckover near Thornbury 

That's on top of all the houses we already knew about.

The plan, drawn up by Conservative-run South Gloucestershire Council in collaboration with the three other West of England Councils, will go out for consultation in November.

This will come as a huge shock to many local people. It's striking that under these proposals most of the new homes we need are being concentrated in just a few communities to the north of Bristol.

Will these proposals create places where people want to live, where they can access services like doctors, dentists and schools and where they can easily get to the places they need to go? Will there be truly affordable homes for those who so desperately need them? Do you think the loss of the Green Belt, which is already very narrow, is a price worth paying for new roads? How does this fit with the Conservatives' promise to protect the Green Belt?

You can view the plan here.

The plan also talks about transport infrastructure, in the tables on pages 26, 29 and 30, where it includes mention of a "Coalpit Heath distributor road", and later on page 46 it says of the Yate to Bristol corridor:

"We are proposing a package of highway and public transport schemes including a link to a new junction on the M4 from the A4174 Ring Road (along with smart motorway management), park and ride, a new road north from this junction to Yate, and a MetroBus extension to Yate from Bristol along the A432. The new road to Yate and the MetroBus extension form a package, with road space on the A432 prioritised for public transport and cycling."

A map on the same page suggests the new road could impact on Westerleigh village. On the other hand it could provide a route for the articulated lorries instead of going via the Latteridge and Wotton Roads

It's vital we all have our say on these plans.There will be a consultation from 7th November to 19th December - we will let you know then how you can make your views known.

View plans for Dodington Road bridge traffic calming this Wednesday

There will be a drop-in event on plans for traffic calming around the Dodington Road railway bridge on Wednesday 5^th October from 4pm to 7pm in the sports classroom at Chipping Sodbury school, Bowling Road.

 In August it became apparent to Network Rail that there would be a reduction in visibility due to the railway bridge works.

Network Rail have now agreed a solution with South Gloucestershire Council with the following features:

• Single speed pillows on the north and south approaches to the bridge
• Road markings to be repainted where necessary
• An additional “SLOW” painted on the road on the south approach
• New solid centre line to be painted on the carriageway
• Post-mounted signs warning of speed pillows

Network Rail will pay for these works, which will require a road closure.  This will then leave them free to erect the parapet extension on the west side of the bridge, which they haven't been able to complete due to the visibility concerns.