Tern Inn appeal withdrawn - but what next?

Focus Team members Tony Davis, Louise Harris
and Paul Hulbert at the Tern Inn

Great news - the developers have withdrawn their appeal, so their plan to demolish the Tern Inn pub and build flats right across the car park is now dead in the water.

But does this mean that we've won? Not necessarily. It just means that the developers reckon that they have no chance of getting their CURRENT plan approved.

They might submit a slightly revised planning application, so that the whole process has to start again. They might "land bank" the site for a few years and see what the economic situation is like then. Or they might even be willing to sell the site to the community or a brewery.

So we need to wait and watch to see what the developers do next. Whatever happens, the Focus Team will continue to support all the hard work being put in by the Birds Resident Group and Dodington Parish Council on behalf of our community.

If you're on Facebook you can follow the Birds Resident Group here.

Tern Inn - date set for Planning Inquiry - UPDATED

Many thanks to everyone who helped with the Heron Way traffic count (and kept us topped up with tea and coffee!)

This information is being analysed at the moment and will be passed on to the Government's Planning Inspector who is considering the plan to replace the pub and the car park with flats, with all the traffic chaos that will bring.

The Planning Enquiry will have a public hearing - it won't just be done on documents.

UPDATE: The hearing has been delayed, and we expect the hearing to be held at a local venue around 20th November. As a result the date for comments has been extended to the 31st July 2018.

You can submit any other (factual) comments of your own between now and Tuesday 31 July 2018 at the Planning Inspectorate website - please note that this will be offline between 9pm and midnight on Wed 13 June.

You can follow the Save The Tern Inn Facebook page here

Tern Inn - please help with traffic count

Dodington Parish Council, in partnership with the Birds Resident Group, is organising a traffic count on Heron Way to help the case opposing flats being built on the Tern Inn and car park site. This would be presented as evidence for the planning enquiry that will be held in the next few months.

The count will take place over the week commencing next Monday, 4th June (Yes, we know that next week includes an Inset Day and the School Sports Day etc - this will give us a week with varying activities so that we have a realistic picture of traffic patterns on the road)

Community volunteers are needed to help with the traffic count. If you follow the Birds Resident Group on Facebook you can contact them there, or you can email Dodington Parish Council on dodingtonpc@southglos.gov.uk

The survey will just count the number and types of vehicle (car, bus etc) - it won't be checking traffic speeds, and traffic won't be held up at all. Please just use the road as you normally would.

Update: Because we already have some data from South Glos, we just need to do a count on one day at peak times. The count will be this Wednesday (6 June) but you may see photos being taken at other times during the week.

Tern Inn redevelopment - appeal submitted

The owner of the Tern Inn and car park in Heron Way has submitted an appeal against being refused planning permission to rebuild the pub and car park as flats.

Some outline documents are on the South Glos Planning Website but the Planning Inspectorate will not consider the appeal until the developer has provided some missing documents. It's not yet visible on the Planning Inspectorate's own "Appeals Portal" but when it does, it will be under Case ID 3190390.

For the back story of this proposal, which has been strongly opposed by local residents and Dodington Parish Council, please check out our previous Tern Inn stories.

Peter Rowell found safe and well

We are glad to report that radio and TV presenter Peter Rowell, who went missing in the Yate area yesterday, has been found safe and well in Cumbria.

The BBC has more detail here

Police seek help to find missing man in South Glos

Avon and Somerset Police have issued an appeal for the public's help to find a vulnerable missing man in the South Gloucestershire area.

Peter Rowell aged 52 years of Wickwar, was last seen this morning at about 8.30am, when he left home for work as normal. (Yes, it is the Radio Bristol and former ITV News presenter - Editor)

He did not turn up for work and concern increased when he could not be contacted.

Peter parked his car at Morrison's supermarket in Yate.

Peter is described as a white man with white/silver coloured hair. He is 5ft 10ins of stocky build. He is possibly wearing brown coloured jeans and a white shirt.

He is thought to be depressed, following the death of a close relative.

Police would like Peter, or anyone spotting him to contact them. Anyone with information is asked to contact Staple Hill police station on 0845 4567000.

Update 30/03/2011 - We are glad to report that Peter was found safe and well today in Cumbria. The BBC has more detail here

Note - click here for a photo.

DEC Gaza Appeal - BBC & Sky won't show it but we will

The BBC and Sky refused to show the DEC Gaza appeal, Nick Clegg today made the decision to show the video on www.NickClegg.com, his Facebook profile and the Liberal Democrats are also showing the video on the party site www.LibDems.org.uk.
We are showing it here too - just click on the video above.

Please help.

Link to DEC website
Appeal phoneline 0370 60 60 900