flooded MIU car park

Everywhere locally is waterlogged, drains and ground drainage is not coping.  But when four bays at the MIU are effectively out of action because the surface water sitting there is too deep to get from the car to the MIU without getting very wet feet over you shoes, something needs to be done. By definition those using the car park are NHS patients and the last thing they need on top of the thing they've gone to the MIU or doctor with is soaking feet or trying to get through water when you have a mobility problem. We have asked the authorities to identify the underlying problem and solve it as soon as possible.  (Of course it is nothing compared to the terribly flooding people in so many places are enduring, but it still needs tackling.

We are lucky that so far the flood detention measures on the Frome through Sodbury and Yate have done just enough to keep it out of homes here. Back in November the Environment Agency was planning to demonstrate their plans for holding back the flood water to the East of St John's way to give our town more protection. They had to cancel it on the day as staff had travelled north to help with the November floods. And since then it has been non stop for them tackling problems. They will demonstrate their plans for our area as soon as they get a moment. Meanwhile, thanks to all of them for all their work.

Yate Shopping Centre Christmas closing times

There's a useful summary on the Gazette website

Yate Shopping Centre will close for the Christmas break at 4pm on Sunday, December 24. Remember that Christmas Eve is a Sunday, so even Tesco closes at 4pm. The Centre will re-open at 8am on Boxing Day, December 26.

Tesco will open at 9am Boxing Day and close at 6pm. It then goes back to normal trading hours closing again for New Year’s Eve at 4pm and will be open New Year’s Day from 9am until 6pm.

Cineworld cinema will be open as usual up to Sunday, December 24, and re-open again on Boxing Day. Full details on all screenings are available at www.cineworld.co.uk

Happy 50th Birthday Yate Shopping Centre!

Well done to the Management Team of Yate Shopping Centre for puting on such a range of events for this weekend's 50th Anniversary celebrations!

Cllr Tony Davis, Mayor of Yate, cut the birthday cake watched by Andy Lowrey, Manager of Yate Shopping Centre

Cllr Tony Davis and Sue Bruten unveiled the mural that commemorates the history of the Shopping Centre. Sue designed the mural based on ideas from local schoolchildren and members of the community - the youngest contributor was 5 years old, and the oldest was 95.

Lots of events this weekend to celebrate Yate Shopping Centre's 50th anniversary

Charity art exhibition in Yate Shopping Centre this week

Juan Nuevo of Chipping Sodbury Lions Club,
the organiser of the exhibition

There's an interesting art exhibition this week in the shop next to Halifax Bank on West Walk. It's called "Art By Yate, 8 by 8" and local artists and photographers are presenting their views of the area in an 8 inch by 8 inch format. There's a wide range of ideas and techniques.

Entry is free and all the work is available for sale, with the proceeds going to Lions Club charities. The exhibition is open all this week - it's well worth a visit.

Lloyds Bank, Yate - temporary arrangements

Lloyds Bank in the middle of Yate Shopping Centre is closing from 1 pm tomorrow (Saturday 15 September) until 9 am on Tuesday 30 October while it undergoes a major refurbishment.

While they are closed, the Lloyds branch at 1 North Parade will maintain normal services.

Yate loos on the move

As part of the East Walk shops development, the existing public conveniences in Yate Shopping Centre will close on 7th October for demolition. Good quality temporary toilets will be open on West Walk from 8th October while permanent toilets are built near the Westgate Centre.

Work to start on new shops opposite Tesco

Construction will start next month on the new units on East Walk opposite Tesco at Yate.

The largest unit will be M&S Simply Food. Sports Direct's unit will be spread across two floors, and Costa Coffee is taking a smaller unit. There is also another small unit which has not yet been let.

Work is expected to be complete by March 2013.

Tesco Yate bank holiday opening hours

Tesco's main store at Yate will be open as follows during the Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend:

• Friday 1 June - 24 hour opening
• Saturday 2 June - open until midnight
• Sunday 3 June - open 10.00 am to 4.00 pm
• Monday 4 June - open 9.00 am to 6.00 pm
• Tuesday 5 June - open from 6.00 am, then 24 hour opening

You know why it's raining...

... They've started work at long last on the proper bus shelter at Yate Bus Station!

More information and photos will follow...

Marks and Spencer want to come to Yate

The owners of Yate Shopping Centre have submitted a planning application for a Marks & Spencer Simply Food store in East Walk at the Yate Shopping Centre. They would occupy two of the four new units proposed for the extension to the rank where Superdrug is. The new shop would also sell some non-food goods. It is hoped that the new store will be open by late 2012.

The Shopping Centre has ambitions to attract other major brands now, perhaps to the other two nw units.

New Tesco halfway there...

Tesco's development seems to be going on rapidly.

Almost everything is on programme and the new store is scheduled to open on 24th October 2011.

Yate Bus Station - not only wet, but also too small!!

A quick follow-up from the emergency meeting Lib Dem councillors called last Tuesday.

There is yet another major flaw in the bus station design. Yate Town Councillor Chris Willmore commented "It is bad enough that the technical design teams involved have designed something that is useless as a bus shelter, but now we are being told the bus station is too small. It has no scope to take extra buses!"

"As residents and local councillors we demanded a meeting with reps from First Bus, South Glos, Dominion and Tesco. Rather than focus on which of them was responsible for this mess, we urged them to focus on finding a solution"

"Tesco and Dominion were committed to getting a solution quickly. South Glos unfortunately started talking about the fact a change would need planning consent, which would take 6 to 8 weeks. We sent them off to find a solution to cut through that bureaucracy. I have since spoken with the Director of Planning and Transportation to urge him to get the bureacracy sorted. We simply want Tesco/Dominion and South Glos Council experts to sit round a table and agree a solution. Tesco and Dominion were up for that, but it has been proving tricky to get SGC officials round a table"

"What we have demanded is a temporary solution whilst the bureacracy goes through - something that gives us protection from the wind and rain, lights that work, connection to cctv coverage - and bus times"

"The interactive bus signs should be here in April. We have warned SGC that if they end up putting in that expensive technology befgore they have got the basics right, like shelter from the rain THEY will have to account to the public. The public quite rightly want to be DRY as their first step"

"We have been getting terrible complaints from elderly folk drenched to the skin waiting for the bus"

"At the meeting we also persuaded South Glos to consult local coach firms about the traffic order that will ban them from the bus station - to find out the level of need, and find a slot on the town centre for them e.g. by the leisure centre. We asked why they could not use the bus station - and were told it is because all 5 bays are needed for buses, and that the bays are only just enough for CURRENT bus services. If we get any more buses (and we are trying to get a round Yate bus) there will be no room. So space cannot be given to the coach companies"

"Can you believe a council and developer designing a bus station barely big enough for current traffic, with no room for expansion? It is just incredible. How much are the highway experts paid to plan this?"

Yate bus station - signs of progress

Some progress was made at last week's emergency meeting about the woeful new Yate bus station. We hope that Tesco are going to put in a temporary solution, and South Glos are trying to cut through the red tape associated with a planning application for a permanent solution.

Meanwhile, looking at the current design, and remembering that a camel is a horse designed by a committee...

• If it's got one hump it's a dromedary
• If it's got two humps it's a camel
• As it's got three humps, we'll call the bus station Humphrey!

Summit meeting to be held on "complete mess" new Yate bus station

If you've travelled into Yate on the bus recently, you will know what a mess the new bus station is. Your Focus Team is fighting to get it sorted. Lib Dem Councillors have called a meeting tonight of everyone involved in the fiasco.

Yate Town Councillor Chris Willmore explained the aim was to get a commitment from all the key parties to put a solution in place as soon as possible. "As residents, as soon as we saw it, we knew someone had dropped a serious clanger. It is completely useless, it will not shelter anyone, is not lit, has no seats elderly or disabled people could use, only a few benches, has no timetables, has no sides and no shelter, the bus station layout is awful  - need I go on? They have banned coaches and community transport from using it as well, and finally it is too small so buses sometimes cannot even get into a bay."

She added, " At this stage, I want to get everyone together and find a conclusion. The time for working out who is to blame comes later, right now, passengers need solutions not inquests."

At a Transport Forum in Thornbury last night Chris and the Yate campaigners won the first step in trying to get a solution when South Gloucestershire Council accepted the new bus station in Yate is a complete mess and promised to send senior officers to the summit. Tesco, who funded all the works have agreed to come.

Even First Bus has offered to attend. "First Bus has offered to come to the meeting - things are that bad. They have assessed the bus station too and have identified issues."

The campaign to get a solution has now received support from as far away as the Regional Passenger Focus HQ in Plymouth: who offered to get involved. But Chris commented, "I hope common sense prevails this week. The current bus station  is so obviously useless."

Work on temporary Tesco going well

If you've been  to Yate Shopping Centre recently you will have noticed the rapid progress on the temporary Tesco store next to the toilets on East Walk. It should be finished in time for the main store to close on Sunday February 27, with the temporary store opening on Monday February 28.

The old store, which dates from 1975, will then be demolished and the new Tesco Extra superstore will be built on the same site, opening by Christmas.

The Gazette has more details of the Tesco rebuild here.

What's a bus station for?

Fundamentally, a bus station should let people catch public transport and stay reasonably dry while they're waiting for it.

The new Yate Bus Station fails on both counts.

It's just been revealed that independent coach operators - who always used the old bus station - have been banned from the new one. They've been told to use the car park at the back of the Leisure Centre - no raised kerbs, so harder for older people to board the coach - or block roads while they load up at ordinary bus stops.

South Glos Council said "The new Yate Bus Station is intended to be an important public transport hub for the area and high volumes of buses will use its bays. Therefore, the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) proposes to restrict use of the new station to buses only. We are still within the consultation process prior to applying for the TRO and to date the council has received just one objection"

"Private coach companies are able to pick up and drop off at various suitable locations across Yate and Chipping Sodbury, including the overflow car park the other side of Link Road."

It is expected that local councils will object to the Traffic Regulation Order when it comes out for consultation in February. And why has South Glos only received one objection? Because they didn't tell anybody about the "consultation".
 
And there's more - the fancy but silly awning that is the only protection from the elements. As the old village fete saying goes "If wet, in the marquee". Nobody likes the cover, it looks lovely in design, but it provides no protection from the weather and very little space for people to sit and wait.

Let us know if you want to get involved in the campaign we are developing to get it improved. South Glos, who are in charge of transport, should never have agreed this.

On a more positive note, the traffic lights at the exit from the car park onto Link Road, plus the "no right turn" into the car park, seem to be working well and should avoid the accidents and near misses that we've previously seen on that stretch of road.

Instant supermarket, just add Tesco! But parking problems ahead...

Work on building the new Tesco temporary store at the Yate Shopping Centre will start on Monday, 24th January with the store scheduled to open on Monday, 28th February. First they will lay the foundations for the temporary store next to the existing toilet block in East Walk., then they will start assembling it on Saturday 29th January. Putting it together will take just two days as the store will be delivered pre-fabricated on a fleet of over 20 lorries.

It's bound to cause parking confusion because the north car park adjacent to Link Road and Station Road will be out of use. The new car parking spaces on the site of the former Swan public house will still be available, as will all the other spaces in the Shopping Centre including the overflow car park in Link Road.

The toilets in East Walk will be open for customer use throughout the construction programme.

Meanwhile surfacing work for the new bus station and on the Link Road is going on, and Link Road will re-open fully on Monday 17th January. The new bus station is scheduled to open on 31st January.

Commenting on the works, Yate Shopping Centre Manager, Andrew Lowrey, said: “We are entering the most critical phase of the works as we head towards the demolition of the existing Tesco store. However they will continue to trade throughout the construction period from the temporary store.

“By Christmas 2011, the Shopping Centre will have a new Tesco Extra store and more additional retail units coming on stream shortly after. The works will cause some disruption but it’s for the long-term benefit of the traders and the town’s residents.

“We are encouraging traders and their staff to use public transport to get to work and shoppers to use the overflow car park in Link Road. It is imperative that we all work together to get through what is going to be very challenging times and we hope that everybody will look at alternative means of getting to the centre other than by car.”

Yate Sports Centre - how about clearing some snow?

It was quite noticeable today that Yate Shopping Centre had cleared paths, and South Glos had cleared footways to the Library and the One Stop Shop building.

But there was no route cleared to the Sports Centre from the shops. Obviously it takes manpower, but you would think they could come to an arrangement with somebody to clear a safe route to their entrance.

Update 20th Dec - Pathways have now been cleared to the Sports Centre. Well done!

Link Road, Yate - parking and turning restrictions

South Glos Council is consulting about the revised parking and turning restrictions on Link Road, Yate. The planning permission for the Tesco redevelopment required improvements such as better access to Yate bus station, and safer pedestrian links and routes for cyclists on the B4059 Link Road.

If you haven't seen the plans for this area before, these are worth a quick look - for example, you can see the new bus station layout, and what the road layout will look like when the current works have been finished.

Drivers coming out of the Shopping Centre car park at the exit between the petrol station and the new bus station will still be able to turn either way. Right turners will now have a refuge in the middle of the road so that they don't have to cross both lines of traffic at once, which should make that manoeuvre a lot safer.

The consultation is open until 22 December.