Happy to Chat more

So the Happy to Chat benches have started to spring up on Yate Town Council land all over Yate - but now the Town council are challenging other landowners in the town, pubs, cafes, surgeries etc to think about whether THEY could put in happy to chat signs on some of their seats.

Loneliness is all around us, so why not label a table, or group of seats as a happy to chat area?

Work starts on new 'multi-activity' sport building for Yate

This week the trenches have been dug starting work on a new sports building at Yate Outdoor Sports Complex - behind Brimsham green School. The building is being funded by Yate Town Council with grants from Sport England and help from Yate Boxing Club.  It will provide a new home for the boxing club and space for lots of other local sports.

The photo shows the Councillors who have been leading the project on site with the contractors  and Yate Town Council estates manager as work starts.

Declaration of climate and ecological crisis

At its meeting on 25 Feb Yate Town Council adopted a "declaration of climate and ecological crisis and commitment to action" - and agreed its action plan. The action plan covers every aspect of council work to deliver net zero carbon by 2030 - but with an emphasis on doing as much as possible as soon as possible. As a very simple first step the Council is abolishing paper at meetings. Just by doing that a whole box of paper was saved by not printing papers for Tuesday's meeting - so as a symbol of the commitment councillors gathered round the box of paper that had been saved. Of course that is one small step on what is a very big scale of change. But building the future we want has to start somewhere.

Here is the text of the declaration:
 

CYCLISTS and WALKERS - have your say on what needs doing

The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) is consulting about its "Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan". This document suggests lots of local minor improvements, but in our area it doesn't contain anything that resembles a strategy. The walking part is mainly about how people get from one shopping area to another, from Chipping Sodbury to Yate Shopping Centre and then along Station Road.

The cycling section hasn't considered any of the major issues that local cyclists want, like the link to the Bristol to Bath Railway Path and improvements to the Goose Green Cycleway. We don't know about any local cycling organisations that have been contacted - for example they haven't spoken to the Joint Cycleway Group, which is where local councils and cycling groups meet South Glos to suggest major cycling improvements in our area.
This looks to us like a costly desktop exercise that hasn't asked local people what improvements they really need around here. But please take a look at it, particularly the maps of Yate and Chipping Sodbury, and let WECA know what you think.


If we don't tell them what we want, then we certainly won't get it. But if we all feed in our worries, then there is a chance they will realise they have not been listening to real pavement road and cycleway users.

Whatever it is that niggles you. Tell them!

The consultation is open until 15 March - you can find it here:

https://travelwest.info/projects/transport-consultations/west-of-england-local-cycling-and-walking-infrastructure-plan

WANTED - OLDER RESIDENTS OF YATE

If you live in Yate and you are 60+ would you be interested in becoming a' Champion' - Yate Town Council has worked with outside experts consulting and listening to local residents to identify an ambitious plan called Yate Ageing Better. The aim is to make our whole town more age friendly. A key part of the plan is to find older residents willing to be champions. A champion will - keep their ear to the ground, alert the Ageing Better group when they hear problems, and share news and ideas with people they know or groups they attend. Does that sound like you? If so, could you ring Leah on 01454 866506. Some Champions may also decide to get stuck into making change happen - and that would be great, but not every Champion will want to do that.

Birds - Tree planting

Local councils and groups have been working with South Glos on the first year of a major tree planting programme. Across South Glos around 8,250 young trees have been planted. 

In Dodington Parish local councillors worked with residents to find out where they did and didn't want trees. For example they didn't want trees that would block where children play.

In Lilliput Park a class of children from Raysfield School planted 100 trees, helped by South Glos and Dodington staff and by volunteers from Avon Wildlife Trust Southwold Group. Before Christmas the same partnership helped schoolchildren create a wildlife flower area.

South Glos also planted trees near Goldcrest play area and along hedges around Abbotswood School, Kelston Close and near Chedworth. 

In all about 800 trees were planted in the parish. The extra trees will improve air quality and capture something between 0.5 and 5 tonnes of CO2 a year, bringing health improvements for local people.

Many of the trees will  have pollen rich flowers and fruit, ideal for birds (e.g crab apple, cherry and rowan), so there will be definite biodiversity gains.

Free Course, cooking on a budget. Abbotswood

FREE Leisure Centre activities for people with Dementia and their carers

Yate Leisure centre runs FREE sessions on Mondays - with singing, tea and coffee and chance to use a range of sports facilities for people with dementia and their carers. To find out more ring or email Mike at the Leisure Centre - mike.jones@circadiantrust.org or 0300 333 0300

Ladden Gardens Play Area Fiasco

If you were planning a new play area on the new development in north Yate, would you put it within 30m of the existing well loved play area in the current park, Brinsham Fields?  Well that is what the planners are insisting the developers do. Instead of using the money to put more equipment in the current play area, they are insisting they build a new one just yards away - which means money gets wasted on unnecessary fencing, bins etc, when they could use that money in the existing fenced play area to put in more equipment.  It will mean a teenage kickabout area being with 30 m of houses.

But don't blame the developers. They were willing to talk to the Friends of the Park and the Town Council who run the park about a better solution. But S Glos officials were insisting it had to be separate.

Yesterday, the Friends of the Park, and Cllrs Chris Willmore and Mike Drew took the issue to the highest level, at South Gloucestershire Strategic Sites Committee. They showed officials and councillors the problems, they asked for them simply to agree to come to the negotiating table to find a better solution.

South Gloucestershire refused. They insisted on ploughing ahead and giving the green light to this crazy situation. Lib Dem and Labour Councillors voted for Mike Drew's proposal to get everyone round a table to sort it out. But the Tories, none of whom live anywhere near Yate pushed through the officer recommendation. 

The Friends of the Park raise money from all sorts of sources to improve our park, to see money being wasted just yards away is disappointing. We still hope we can work with the developers to get around this crazy mess.

(Picture: The red mark is the play area S Glos is insisting the developers put in, the blue one is the current play area in the park, which has lots of space for more equipment)

Zero Tolerance to Graffiti in Yate: Graffiti Busters

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  Led by the Focus Team, Yate Town Council  has launched a new, FREE graffiti removal service to residents. Call 01454 856506
  
  
  Lead Councillor on graffiti, Alan Monaghan has made it clear that graffiti is not something the Town Council or residents are willing to accept in Yate.  
  
  
  The Council is proud to launch our own Zero Tolerance Scheme offering FREE graffiti removal for householders - any resident in Yate can use this service. 
  
  
  The Town Council has purchased specialised steam cleaning equipment and has introduced a ‘One Stop’ graffiti reporting service.
  
  
  To try to prevent the problem, the council is working with South Glos’ Anti-Social Behaviour and Community Safety Team and The Local Beat Team, who have created an active Problem-Solving Plan.
  
  
  Detached youth workers are working with young people to highlight the problems graffiti causes.  The council are also working with Virgin Media and BT Openreach to identify and clean the green and grey communication cabinets that have been attacked by spray can vandals.
  
  
  How can you help?
  
  
  You can help by reporting graffiti attacks, but we’ve identified that some of the graffiti tags round here are from groups based in Bristol.   Do you know who your younger family members are hanging out with?  Involvement with graffiti often leads to more serious crime.

Doing up Millside park and playzone

Members of the Focus Team on Yate Town Council have been working with officers to raise cash to add a new multi play unit at Millside , and expand the sculpture trail in the park with more wood carvings and interpretation boards to extend play and help children to learn about their natural environment through play..

This will replace the carvings vandalised last summer.
We are delighted to announce we have now got £45,155 so we can go ahead with the project).

(You may have seen reports of this in the newspaper a couple of weeks ago, but that was a press release from someone who had not been involved in the grant process, and just heard we had an application in and we were likely to get the money.) Now it has been confirmed.

We are also working to raise the money to put in a grit or gravel path through the park, as particularly at the Goose Green Way end, it gets extremely muddy.

Have your say on S Glos plans to increase charges to elderly and disabled residents.

South Glos Council is considering making changes to the charges paid by people newly accessing the care system who are paying the full cost themselves. The new arrangements would come into effect on 1 June 2020. There are three changes proposed:

• New users of dementia, learning disability and specialist day care would be charged £96.30 per day.
• New purchasers of community-based services would be charged a £295 one-off arrangement fee and an annual charge of £75.
• Service users may also become eligible for a £295 fee if they decide to change providers (and ask the Council to arrange it) for a reason not related to their care needs.
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More details can be found on their consultation webpage:https://consultations.southglos.gov.uk/consult.ti/Fees2020

Do please have your say before their deadline of 17 March. These fees would mean someone would be paying nearly £100 a day for specialist day care. 

And by charging £295 for people to change provider, they risk locking vulnerable people into having to use a provider that they find they don't like.  Vulnerable people may not reply - but you can. 

Want get out playing sport again?

train problems this spring

News from GWR affecting our local trains this spring. 

• Track renewals affect trains between London Paddington and Bristol or South Wales on Saturday 29 February and Sunday 1 March
• Track renewals also affect trains between London Paddington and Bristol or South Wales as well as Gloucester and Bristol Parkway on Sunday 8 March
• Bridge replacement and tunnel work will affect trains between Bristol Parkway and Newport over the Easter period from Saturday 11 to Sunday 19 April
• Further work affects trains between Bristol Parkway and Newport as well as Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway on the weekends of 25/26 April and 2/3 May
• Trains also run to an amended timetable when only two tracks are available between Bristol Temple Meads and Filton Abbey Wood on Sunday 17, 24 and 31 May

More details are at  gwr.com/Bristol

Yate Minor Injury Unit update

Claire Young and the Focus Team have  been pursuing the health authorities for improvements and more services at Yate MIU. Today we received the following from the NHS commissioning team who decide where more services go.

We THINK this is good news, though it is in NHS speak.

"As part of our strategies for urgent care, the implementation of a new BNSSG-wide contract for adult community health services from April, and our development of integrated locality services, we are actively discussing opportunities for further development of hubs, including in Yate"

We will keep you posted. 

Do you have a group looking for a regular meeting space?

The former YMCA hall has been done up. It is now available to local groups to rent, afternoons and evenings. it has a kitchen area, and a hall. Not quite as big as the Parish Hall next door, it can seats 60 ish but is also great for meetings of 12 - 20 people.  (It's 8.66m x 6.16m ). £9.30 an hour to hire.

For bookings or to look round call 01454 866251.

You can find it on Station Road, one of the three community buildings by the small Tesco. It's the own nearest the town centre.  BS37 5PQ

(The photo shows the Focus Team members who managed to raise the cash to buy this for continuing community use and get it done up)

Focus Team win cash for Yate Outdoor Disabled Sports

At last, we have got confirmation that we will be getting a grant for more kit for disabled sports at Yate Outdoor Sports Complex. (You may have seen reports of this in the newspaper a couple of weeks ago, but that was a press release from someone who had not been involved in the grant process, and just heard we had an application in and we were likely to get the money.) Now it has been confirmed.

This is £57,618 for track and field equipment for disabled athletes at YOSC and some additional drainage work.

If you've never been to YOSC or don't know where it is, it is worth going up to have a look. You could pop in and have a drink in the bar and find out more.

A committee, made up of councillors from  the Focus Team  have raised over £1.5MILLION to do the site up since South Gloucestershire transferred it back to Yate Town Council. South Glos had let it get run down, but it now  brand new athletics track and field, a target sprint  facility, brand new all weather surface for hockey and football, grass pitches and work starts next week on a new multi use indoor sports building. All paid for by money the committee has raised from local businesses, councils, Sport England and developers.

The entire facility is run by a group of volunteers, called YOSC Ltd - transforming it from a site that lost £190k a year when S Glos run it, into a self financing project without putting up charges!

Princess Anne visited the site last year to congratulate the councillors and volunteers who have transformed the facility.  So if you are interested in sport, and have not been, do check it out.

(Head for Brimsham Green School and just beyond the School you will find the access road)

Photo - users, volunteers, members of the Focus Team, town council staff and contractors at the handover of the upgraded facilities.

Abbotswood Play is OPEN

The fencing is down, the new Abbotswood Play equipment by the shops is OPEN

There are still things like bins  and signs to be done, but it has passed its safety certificate today, so it can be used.

Here's the giant ant and the web - just two of the new pieces of equipment - alongside new paving and seats.  They're very different from the usual play area kit so worth checking out.

The whole design is the result of consultation with local residents, and the Abbotswood Action Group. Installed by Yate Town Council's Play Area group who raised the money to do what residents were asking for.  Do let Cheryl Kirby or Tony Davis from the Focus Team if you spot teething problems.

Howard Lewis Park new play equipment

Have you visited the new play equipment in Howard Lewis Park?

If you've not been there before, it's on the Ridge (the area by the tree sculpture)  behind the shops.  Why not visit the local shops whilst you are there too.

The photo shows the Mayor, others members of the Focus Team and Town Council staff at the opening - who were involved in raising the funds and making it happen.

If you have ideas for how to improve the play areas in our town, please contact your Focus Team.

MORE roadworks on Goose Green Way

Starting 2 days after the Randolph Ave roundabout works, there will be a major resurfacing job on Goose Green Way from just south of where Greenways Road bridge crosses it, down to the Link Road roundabout.  Works will be noisy and run from 8pm to 6am.

Goose Green Way & Randolph Ave closed for noisy night resurfacing

The section of Goose Green Way  coming into Yate approaching the Randolph Ave roundabout, and the entrance to Randolph Ave is going to be closed from  8pm until 6am from 26th Feb until the work is done.
South Glos say this will create a significant amount of noise. The road will be closed so all access to Brimsham Park will be from Peg Hill - and all traffic coming into Yate will need to use other roads such as Greenways Road.

South Glos says that they will do their best to ensure people can still get to their properties, but ' there may be periods of time when access will be unachievable.

Here's the plan showing the area they will be resurfacing.

Want some new IT skills?

This really friendly small group provides 1:1 support for whatever you are trying to do on your computer or smart phone - from how to switch it on, right through to advanced excel. It will help you with projects like writing up holiday diaries or inventing a spread sheet.  You can pick which morning you want to go to, and go for as  many weeks as you want.  The Brockridge is easy to get to by bus (it is about 5 mins walk down Woodend Road from the bus stop nearest the Miners Institute on the Badminton Road at Coalpit Heath). Yate residents very welcome.

Can't wait? Looking for a loo

Have you ever encountered that moment when you are desperate for the loo and there isn't a public look around? The Can't wait scheme is designed to tackle that.

If you spot this sign, it means the shop or building has agreed to make their private toilets available to disabled people with an urgent need. with have a 'can't wait' card. 

The Focus Team has  got all Yate Town Council's buildings to join the scheme  - so you can use their loos if you're a card holder.

If you run a business or community building in our town, could YOU sign up and display a postcard in your window to support the scheme.

If you would like to support the scheme or need info on how to get a Can't Wait card, following the link below:
http://www.sgden.org.uk/can't-wait/

Rodford Way and Shire Way Speeding

Residents who came to the town council meeting  and their councillors

Residents from the Rodford Way and Shire Way areas met with Town Councillors from the Focus Team to identify a 6 point action plan to try to tackle  speeding, particularly late night speedsters, and other problems on Shire Way and Rodford Way. Since then we've taken advice from other communities who have encountered similar problems, the police have been out doing speed checks. Residents have been advised to call the police when they get late night problems - if we don't log the problems then the police won't allocate resources to sort it.

Play area and 'pavilion' plans behind Meadow Mead

Developers have put in plans for a play area and 'pavilion' right behind the houses in Meadow Mead to be used for community events. 

Two years ago, when developers first put in plans, they included an aerial cableway. Residents got a promise it would be removed. But it is back in on the latest plans. And on top of that they have added a wooden ' Pavilion' for public events, right behind houses. It will not be locked, will not have doors or windows, but will be flat roofed (ideal for climbing on). The Focus Team have written to residents alerting them to the plans, so they can comment. We've put the plan for the play area and the pavilion drawing below to give you an idea of what they propose. You can see where the existing Meadow Mead houses are at the bottom of the plan (number 6, is 6 Meadow Mead).

 Yate Town Council has objected, saying the play equipment should be in the park, in the existing play area within yards of this, not right behind houses.  Residents have been lodging objections. If you want to see what is planned and add your comments go to  the S Glos planning site:

https://developments.southglos.gov.uk/online-applications/ and put in the application number PK18/0529/RM

Are you a bus user? Want to improve bus services?

Focus Team members campaigning for better bus services

If you're reading this sitting on a bus, or use buses/ would like to use them, please could you check out the new plans for buses across the whole area around Bristol (called the West of England Bus Strategy).

There is a survey form and a set of proposals.

If you want to get better services here in Yate it would be really helpful if EVERYONE filled it in. The more people fill it in, the more likely they are to notice that we want better and cheaper services.

Most of the document is stuff that of course we want - but don't forget to add in details about what really frustrates you about buses round here at present. Take it as a chance to get things off your chest.

Just click on https://travelwest.info/projects/transport-consultations/west-of-england-bus-strategy

URGENT - SEND (Special Education Needs Review) SURVEY & MEETING 10 Feb

If you have any experience of the way children with special needs are supported in schools here - or worry about funding please contribute your views. Claire Young and your Focus Team have  been  supporting parents arguing for better funding for schools and children with special needs.Now current and future children with special needs,  need your support, by feeding into the review. To find out more about groups working to get improvements to special needs support here look for 'SEND Emergency' on facebook 

The Ofsted re-visit will take place from Monday 10 to Wednesday 12 February 2020. The Ofsted/CQC team will be keen to speak to as many children and young people and their parents and carers as possible, specifically about the weaknesses identified in the written statement of action (WSOA) for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).You can complete an online survey ahead of the re-visit, from 12 noon on Monday 3 February to 12 noon on Friday 7 February. Parents and carers who would like to take part in this survey can follow this link: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/SouthGloucestershireRe-Vis…/ .

There will be an open meeting of parents and carers and the Ofsted/CQC re-visit team. The meeting will take place on Monday 10 February at BAWA, 589 Southmead Road, Filton, BS34 7RF from 7pm until 8.30pm. Please register your interest in attending the open meeting through South Glos Parents & Carers (the local SEND Parent Carer Forum).https://www.sglospc.org.uk/shop/ofsted-cqc . - you can find more info about the meeting there. 

For full details of the re-visit and how you can contribute your views visit www.southglos.gov.uk/SENDrevisit

Nibley Lane closed 13 Feb

Nibley Lane, Yate will be closed on Thursday 13 February from 9.30am – 3.30pm for cleansing work. This involves litter clearance, gully emptying and road sweeping. South Glos say they cannot do this work safely without closing the road. 

The alternative route is via Badminton Road, Station Road, Westerleigh Road and vice versa. They've apologised for the inconvenience caused. It will also mean Station Road is a lot busier that day.