TOWN CENTRE PARKING

Thank you to everyone who replied to the Focus team on facebook or email in response to the leaflets. Almost everyone who replied supported the proposals, but many wanted the parking controls to go further.

A key part of the problem for many people is all day parking by shopping centre staff who can't use the shopping centre. Some people felt the shopping centre should be doing more to manage this problem itself.

Yate Town Council draft reply is below.

Is there anything you want your Focus Team to add??

Deadline for the Town Council to reply to S Glos is 15 June

PARKING & PUBLIC TRANSPORT

*** Parking restrictions are now being enforced again

*** From 15 June - next Monday - you will need a face covering to use buses or trains.

Here are a couple of links to guides on how to make them, whether you make a 1 layer basic or a 3 layer one. It also has links to where to buy them. But rather than using those sources to buy there are a number of residents in Yate who have been making and selling them.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52609777

https://www.creativebloq.com/news/how-to-make-a-face-mask

STANSHAWES CRES PARKING BAN PROPOSALS

South Glos has published a big set of proposals for new parking restrictions around the centre of Yate. Here are the proposals for Stanshawes Cres / Kennedy Way - we have been delivering a special Focus to alert residents  but please will you share with people you known who might be affected , so they can comment. The S Glos deadline for comment is 15th June.

Please note, that to comment officially, rather than emailing Joshua direct, you need to do it by post, OR go to the website and look for ' Yate Various roads' then register with S Glos and then you can add your comments. Bureaucratic (don't blame us) but it really is important your comments count. If you can't get their official site to work properly, then email Joshua and he will pass it on.

We will be publishing the rest of the proposals on this site in separate posts in the next few days - you can see the whole package at southglos.gov.uk/consultations

CHURCH RD PARKING BAN PLANl

South Glos has published a big set of proposals for new parking restrictions around the centre of Yate. Here are the proposals for Church Rd - we have been delivering a special Focus to alert residents in Church Rd but please will you share with people you known who use the school, church, pubs or just drive through , so they can comment. The S Glos deadline for comment is 15th June.

Please note, that to comment officially, rather than emailing Joshua direct, you need to do it by post, OR go to the website and look for ' Yate Various roads' then register with S Glos and then you can add your comments. Bureaucratic (don't blame us) but it really is important your comments count. If you can't get their official site to work properly, then email Joshua and he will pass it on.

We will be publishing the rest of the proposals on this site in separate posts in the next few days - you can see the whole package at southglos.gov.uk/consultations

NEW PARKING RESTRICTIONS ON RIDGE

South Glos has published a big set of proposals for new parking restrictions around the centre of Yate. Here are the proposals for the Ridge - we have been delivering a special FOcus to alert residents on The Ridge but please will you share with people you known who use the school or the shops or dentist, so they can comment. The S Glos deadline for comment is 15th June. We will be publishing the rest of the proposals on this site in separate posts in the next few days - you can see the whole package at southglos.gov.uk/consultations

AUTUMN BROOK plans for 20 mph limit and parking restrictions.

Deadline for comments 22nd June. S Glos have published plans for a 20mph limit and no waiting areas in Autumn Brook. For details see the Focus Special - full details at http://www.southglos.gov.uk/

WAITING RESTRICTIONS & KEEP CLEARS NEAR ABBOTSWOOD & CULVERHILL SCHOOLS

The statutory notice for proposals to create waiting restrictions on Kelston Cl and Rodford Way by the schools has been published. You have until 8 June to comment. You may have commented on previous informal consultations, but thi sis the formal, final legal one - so if you are affected please check it carefully and reply to South Glos if you spot a problem.

The waiting restrictions are at https://consultations.southglos.gov.uk/consult.ti/PT.6507KelstonRodfordWR/consultationHome

The Keep Clear proposals are at

https://consultations.southglos.gov.uk/consult.ti/PT.6508KelstonSKC/consultationHome

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.

South Glos consulting on HGV parking ban on Rodford Way near Kelston Close

For years people living near this part of Rodford Way have been woken up in the early hours of the morning by heavy goods vehicles starting up - they've been using this stretch of road as an unofficial lorry park.

South Glos are now considering banning HGVs over 7.5 tonnes from parking there, and they want your views.

The consultation is open until 8th October - you can see the documents and comment here

Kelston Close - consultation on waiting restrictions - revised plan

South Glos Council is consulting on replacing the existing unenforceable restrictions with a mixture of no waiting at any time (double yellow lines), no waiting during prescribed hours (single yellow lines) and no stopping on school entrance markings (yellow school zig zags)

Due to an administrative error South Glos uploaded the wrong plan. If you have already commented please look at the consultation and plan again. Any comments received on the incorrect plan - i.e. before 1 pm on 11 July - will be disregarded.


You can see the proposals and comment here. The closing date for comments has been put back to  31st July 2019.

Finch Road - consultation on waiting and stopping restrictions

In the light of the traffic problems around Raysfield School, which have not been helped by the proposal to redevelop the Tern Inn and the Heron Way Shops car park - now gated off by the owner - South Glos Council has launched two consultations:

FINCH ROAD and HERON WAY - Proposed No Waiting at any Time - Raysfield School Area - STATUTORY NOTICE

See https://consultations.southglos.gov.uk/consult.ti/PT.5732RaysfieldWaitingRest/consultationHome

CHIPPING SODBURY - FINCH ROAD - Protection of School Entrances - No Stopping Order - Raysfield School Area - STATUTORY NOTICE

See https://consultations.southglos.gov.uk/consult.ti/PT.5733RaysfieldNoStopping/consultationHome

The proposals are partly to make existing "no parking" lines legally enforceable.

The consultations run until 16 November.

Station Road Area, Yate - Waiting Restrictions Review - have your say before 15 September

South Glos Council is consulting on waiting restrictions around Station Road.

All day parking is taking place in roads off Station Road by people working in local offices and commuters using Yate Railway station who do not want to pay for car parking in the station car park.  South Glos say that the demand for on-street parking and associated obstructive parking is causing access and visibility difficulties for local residents.

The idea is to provide waiting restrictions to deter all day and often obstructive parking in Cranleigh Court Road (shops layby), Folly Bridge Close, Longs Drive, Moorland Road, and Station Road.

You can read more details and have your say here

Urgent consultation - Yate Town Centre Waiting Restrictions

South Glos Council is consulting on waiting restrictions in the streets around the Town Centre and about reducing the Leisure Centre and Kennedy Way car parks from 12 to 4 hours maximum stay.

You can find the full details and a plan of the proposals here - you need to give your views by THIS FRIDAY, 18 AUGUST.

The roads affected are: Broadway, Church Road, Cleeve Road, Elmgrove Crescent, Firgrove Crescent, Gleneagles, Highway, Home Orchard, Kennedy Way, Lawns Road, Link Road, Melrose Avenue, Orchard Close, Painswick Drive, Ridgeway, Stanshawe Crescent, Station Road, Sundridge Park, Swan Field, The Glen, Tree Leaze, Turnpike Close, Walnut Avenue, Westerleigh Road.


Whatever your views about this scheme, it's yet another example of inadequate consultation by South Glos:

• Virtually no publicity for a significant consultation
• Only 3 weeks to comment
• Over the summer holidays, so many people will only have a week to respond
• Only accepting comments online - what about people who don't have internet? 

What's the point of consultations if you don't do them properly?

Let's Get Yate Moving

What's more, Yate has now got to a size where it needs a decent size "two-way" Park and Ride site, with all-day parking for people travelling to Bristol and the North Fringe, plus parking for people working or spending long times in the Shopping Centre and the public buildings nearby.

The Liberal Democrat Focus Team has been running a 'Let's Get Yate Moving' campaign since 2014 to ensure that the Yate and Chipping Sodbury area gets the transport infrastructure it desperately needs. If you support us, please do sign our petition at www.southgloslibdems.org.uk/letsgetyatemoving and pass it on to friends and family members who you think will support us too.

Tern Inn planning application refused

The planning application to demolish the Tern Inn and build flats on the site and the adjacent car park has just been REFUSED. This very popular local pub and live music venue and the car park were recently classed as "Assets of Community Value" (ACVs). The pub was forced to close on 11 June because the owner refused to renew the lease, and the property has since been boarded up.

The key reasons for refusal were:

• Taking away the pub and the car park would have a very negative impact on the Heron Way Local Centre
• The proposal would remove the pub, listed as an ACV, without an alternative within 800 metres, which is against South Glos planning policy
• It would also mean the loss of the Local Centre Car Park, also an ACV, without any alternative
• The scheme would not have enough parking and delivery space, and it would push vehicles out onto the main road. The overall effect has been classed as "severe" and "detrimental to the travelling public"

The full decision notice can be seen here

So what might happen now? There are three possibilities:

• The landowner could appeal against the decision - this is the most likely. In that case the Government will appoint an independent inspector who would hold a hearing locally.
• The owner might submit a different scheme, and the planning process would start all over again
• The owner might concede defeat and consider negotiating with other interested parties

This is one small step towards getting the pub and the car park back, but nothing is guaranteed. Local people and Dodington Parish Council, who have supported the campaign all the way, will need to keep up the community pressure.

You can find the Birds Resident Group on Facebook.

Tern Inn - flats recommended for refusal

The Planning Officer has now compiled his very detailed report on the proposed flats development on the site of the Tern Inn and car park at Heron Way. In summary, the report recommends refusal because of:

• The effect on the Heron Way shops
• The loss of the Tern Inn, which is listed as an Asset of Community Value
• The loss of the car park, which is also listed as an Asset of Community Value
• The added on-street congestion and effect on visibility 

As well as the petitions against the development, there were 309 objections to the scheme but only 3 people who wrote in to support it. There were strong objections from Dodington Parish Council, Yate Town Council, Cllr Claire Young and Luke Hall MP, plus of course the Birds Resident Group.

The report will now go to South Gloucestershire Council to decide whether to allow or refuse the planning application.

If the application is refused, the developer can appeal to a government inspector. Alternatively they might put in a different planning application for the same site.

We'll keep you posted with any news.

Update - South Glos Council refused the planning application but the owner is likely to appeal.

Tern Inn - have your say again

It's time to have your say - again - on the latest ideas for the Tern Inn and car park. The developers still want to build flats on the whole site, but now they are offering a community cafe as an alternative to the pub.

The cafe idea is sketchy, to say the least. It would not provide the community functions that the Tern Inn currently hosts. No evidence is provided that such a cafe would be viable, and there is no analysis of how the various activities currently hosted by the pub could realistically be run in a cafe setting.

We suspect that the cafe proposal is set up to fail, and if it is allowed we speculate that there would be a later proposal to turn the cafe back into residential dwellings.

We still think that the entire proposal should be rejected, and that the site should be maintained as it is currently used - the pub and the associated car park.

Over to you now - what do YOU think? Please submit your comments, even if you've already commented on the origina; plans. You can do this online here - search for Heron Way. Click on the top result - the one that says 28 flats - then click on the "Make a Comment" button. You can read what other people have said by clicking on the Documents tab.

Tern Inn car park gated off

Contractors moved in today to erect gates across the Tern Inn car park. The landowners, who have applied to build flats there, appear determined to prevent public parking, even for customers of the pub and the Heron Way shops. The businesses will have access for delivery etc, but that's all.

Dodington Parish Council contacted the schools to warn the parents, as the traffic on Heron Way is likely to get significantly worse, with consequent danger to children. They have also asked South Glos to investigate the gates as a possible planning enforcement issue.

The developers' is possibly a response to the recent successful application for listing as a Asset of Community Value.

Tern Inn now officially an "Asset of Community Value"

 The Tern Inn on Heron Way and the associated car park, the subject of a planning application to demolish the pub and build 28 flats on the site, has now been declared an "Asset of Community Value".

Dodington Parish Council and the Birds Residents Group applied for the ACV status so that if the landowner decides to sell, the community will have six months to put a bid together.

The ACV will be recorded at the Land Registry, but the landowner can appeal against the ACV decision.

Tern Inn and car park under threat from development

Around 100 local residents came to Dodington
Parish Council's meeting on 2 November
to protest against the development

A developer has put in a planning application to demolish the Tern Inn at Heron Way and build 28 flats on the site, including the car park which is heavily used by parents at Raysfield School and customers of the Heron Way shops.

Local residents have organised a petition against the proposal and will be meeting at 7pm next Wednesday (9 November) to discuss their next steps. They have also set up a Save the Tern Inn Facebook Page. There is also a Facebook group "The Birds Residents Group" that you have to request to join.

Dodington Parish Council is researching the proposal and the background and looking at how best to represent residents' views, but it is South Glos Council that will approve or refuse the plans.

If you have views on the development, please please make comments on the South Glos Council planning application page. You can read the proposal and see other people's comments here (the plans are towards the bottom of the list) and then press the Make a Comment button on the same page to make your own views know. You have until 15 November to do this (NOT 18 Nov as we said earlier), but we suggest that you do it soon in case you forget! If you think of something extra later, you can always make another comment before the 15th.

Different people will have different priorities - maybe you're a local resident, a user of the pub, a school parent or staff member, a customer of the shops, or several of these. Here are a few things you might like to consider. Please feel free to use these ideas, but it's best if you put your views in your own words rather than copying and pasting - South Glos councillors and officers will take more notice of them.

TRAFFIC AND PARKING

• The private car park has for many years been used by parents at school drop-off and pick-up times to avoid parking on the very congested Heron Way.
• This development would displace many more cars onto Heron Way, which is already curved and narrow.
• The result would be increased dangers on this popular Route To School.
• The planning application should not be determined solely on the extra parking required by the proposed flats, but should take into account the traffic and parking displaced by the proposal.
• A detailed traffic survey needs to be undertaken at 0830-0930 and 1500-1545 on school days (these extended periods cover the Pre-School as well as the Primary School)The parking shown allocates 8 visitor spaces for the new flats, but no spaces for the existing shop units and maisonettes
• (edited 04/11/2016) The parking shown allocates 8 visitor spaces for the new flats, but no spaces at all for the existing shop units and maisonettes.
• (added 04/11/2016) The Design and Access Statement says “if at all possible, the Local Authority suggested a potential planning benefit to serve the existing shops and assist with community concerns to demonstrate 6 parking spaces allocated for community use” – Does this mean they would want to put another road access onto the space in front of the shops, which they also own? 

DESIGN

• The high density and low parking provision is very reminiscent of the nearby Normandy Drive development that has caused so many problems with vehicular access.
• When Normandy Drive was constructed it was based on ill-founded Government parking limits that have since been withdrawn. What are the current South Gloucestershire requirements?
• Even considering the meagre parking proposed for the new flats, many of their occupants will park out on Heron Way, causing traffic holdups and increased danger.

JUSTIFICATION

• The Design and Access Statement refers to the Draft DPD's Chipping Sodbury Town Centre Summary, which is not relevant. This site is not part of the Chipping Sodbury Town Centre area, as would have been obvious if the designers had consulted the map on page 17 of the document they are quoting (http://www.southglos.gov.uk//documents/3-Chipping-Sodbury-@-May-2015.pdf)
• Moreover the 1-2 bedroom homes in that Town Centre were an aspiration of Chipping Sodbury Town Council, but this site is part of Dodington Parish not Sodbury.

EFFECT ON EXISTING BUSINESSES AND DWELLINGS

• Pub: As many of the comments on the Planning Application say, this is not a “former pub” (as the developers originally claimed) but an active business and community hub, even though the site owners would like to see it run down. The community would rather see investment in the pub to make it more viable.
• Shops: The shop units have recently been considerably improved and are developing into thriving businesses. The proposals would take away the parking that they need to survive, and the rank of shops would soon deteriorate again. In addition there seems to be no provision for waste storage or collection from the shops.
• Maisonettes: Existing residents would lose their parking and again be displaced onto Heron Way.

PLANNING HISTORY

• The proposals would not only remove the main car park, they also use the service yard at the back of the shops and maisonettes.
• What were the requirements of the original planning permission for the shops and maisonettes? Do the present proposals infringe parking that was required at the time?

Nibley council offices - car park extension

Claire Young and Ruth Davis at
the potential Park and Ride site

Earlier this year, we reported that the Conservatives were considering closing the Kingswood Civic Centre and extending their Badminton Road office to accommodate a council chamber and extra staff.

They are now proposing to keep the council chamber at Kingswood but move the staff to Nibley, which still requires the car park to be extended.

Your Focus Team requested and received plans that demonstrate this will still leave room for the planned Park and Ride. This now needs to be bigger than originally planned due to all the new homes being built in Yate.