Lib Dem Louise Harris WINS South Glos Dodington ward by-election

Congratulations to Louise Harris, who has won the South Glos by-election for the Dodington ward by a very convincing margin, after a very hard-fought campaign.

The full results are as follows:

• HARRIS Louise - Liberal Democrat Focus Team    693 votes (49.3%)
• LIVERMORE Ian - Conservative    554 votes (39.4%)
• MALONE John - Labour    158 votes (11.2%)

New Tory election tactic - distracting drivers near accident sites

Local residents have complained to the police about Conservative volunteers in the Dodington by-election distracting traffic near the sites of road traffic fatalities during this morning's rush hour.

One resident said "There was a group of people waving Conservative banners at passing cars, right on the busy junction opposite the entrance to the Centre (one of the polling stations). They're being a real nuisance distraction to drivers"

This was along the road from a recent road traffic fatality, and not far from where the Tory candidate and the Tory MP stood for a road safety publicity photo the other day:

What's more, they were also waving banners in the middle of the dual carriageway near the other polling station - not very far from where another person was killed in a road accident a couple of years ago.

Is it a case of "Do what I say, not what I do?"

South Glos by-election radio interview - Tory fails to show up

Radio Bristol did a live broadcast from Abbotswood this morning about the by-election for the South Glos by-election for the Dodington seat (Shire Way and Abbotswood areas). 

The Tory candidate was invited but didn't turn up - the interviewer speculated that possibly the Conservative didn't want to answer searching questions.

Liberal Democrat Focus Team candidate Louise Harris came over very well. The Labour candidate took part too. There was a good discussion about what opposition councillors can achieve, and Louise made some very good points.

You can hear these two candidates on BBC Radio Bristol's website - the interview was on the Emma Britton show (31/10/2018) starting at about 2 hours 7 minutes in.

South Glos By-Election - Shire Way, Rodford Way and Abbotswood areas

Louise Harris with Lib Dem Focus Team colleagues

If you live in the Shire Way, Rodford Way or Abbotswood areas, it won't have escaped your notice that there is a by-election for the South Glos Dodington Ward seat following the sad death of Cllr Gloria Stephen. The election will be held on Thursday 1st November, but postal vote forms have already been sent out.

The Lib Dem Focus Team candidate is Louise Harris, who grew up locally after being born in an RAF hospital where her father was serving. She shares our problems, like finding an affordable home, travelling to work and making sure our families get a fair deal.

Louise brings with her a wealth of experience. Professionally she is a front line worker in disability charities, and she is involved in lots of voluntary groups such as Fair Trade and Abbotswood Action Group. She is an unpaid councillor on Dodington Parish Council.

So what are the election issues? The main points seem to be:

• The BIG problems with the bus services, due to the new timetables and lack of drivers, compounded by the rail closures needing replacement buses
• Conservative cuts - both by South Glos and the Government - affecting local services such as police, schools, youth work and sports facilities
• The effect of Conservative austerity on our local community, for example the number of families who have to use the Food Bank and the growing potholes on our roads
• Speeding on many of our local roads
• Conservative-controlled South Glos Council refusing to let developers' money due to the Abbotswood area to be spent on what local residents really need

There are three candidates. Labour have never won a South Glos seat ANYWHERE near here. The realistic choice is between hard-working Lib Dem Louise Harris - backed up by the Focus Team, with a proven track record of getting things done for local people, and a Conservative that almost nobody locally has ever heard of, who would just vote the way he's told, rather than sticking up for what local people want and need.

South Glos budget passed with £36m in cuts and 5.99% council tax increase

On Wednesday the Conservatives on South Gloucestershire set a budget containing £36 million in cuts in 2019-2022, including over £16 million from adult and children's social services. This was despite a 5.99% council tax rise, including 3% for social care services.

Last week Claire Young chaired a detailed scrutiny of the budget where the Conservatives admitted they don't yet know how many of these cuts will be made. While the Liberal Democrats support some elements, such as the ongoing commitment to keeping free parking to support our town centres and  money for school improvement, we could not support a budget with so many holes and no proposals of how to fill them.

Councils across the country are being squeezed by the Conservative Government. An amendment, seconded by Claire, was passed noting with dismay the ongoing reduction in central government Settlement Funding for South Gloucestershire Council and its impact on the council's core spending power.

New South Glos wards confirmed

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England has published its final recommendations for the new wards for South Gloucestershire Council, to take effect from the elections in May next year. In the area covered by this blog:

• There will be two wards covering most of Yate - Yate North (3 councillors) and Yate Central (2 councillors)
• The Dodington ward (2 councillors) will cover Shire Way/Rodford Way, the Birds and the yate area around Abbotswood.
• Chipping Sodbury, Cotswold Edge and Wickwar Parish will be combined as a 2 councillor ward.
• Westerleigh and Ladden Brook wards will disappear. 
•  The Westerleigh ward of Westerleigh Parish and Dodington South ward of Dodington Parish, which are both currently in Westerleigh ward, will move into an enlarged Boyd Valley ward (2 councillors)
• Frampton Cotterell ward will be enlarged to become a 3 councillor ward, covering the parishes of Frampton Cotterell, Iron Acton, Rangeworthy and Tytherington and the Coalpit Heath ward of Westerleigh Parish. 

The external boundaries of the Parish Councils are unchanged. For example Westerleigh Parish will still cover Westerleigh village, most of Coalpit Heath, Henfield, Ram Hill, Kendleshire, Mayshill, Nibley (south of the River Frome) and the Stover Road area of Yate. However, instead of being in the one member Westerleigh ward, the Parish will now be covered partly by the 3 member Frampton Cotterell ward and partly by the 2 member Boyd Valley ward.

No online access to South Glos Council this weekend - Library Open Access also affected

Due to essential electrical work all of South Glos Council's online forms will be unavailable this weekend from 6pm on Friday 17 November until 4pm on Sunday 19 November 2017.

What's more, Open Access will not be available in libraries from Friday evening until Monday morning. IT services will also not be available in libraries in staffed opening hours. South Glos apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Low cost computer scheme for people on benefits and charities

South Glos Council has teamed up with an IT provider to offer a range of low cost professionally refurbished computers to eligible residents and registered UK charities in South Gloucestershire. Both desktop and laptop computers are available under the scheme in a range of performance/price combinations, costing between £99 and £149. All have Windows 10 fitted.


To apply for a low cost computer you must meet at least one of the following criteria:

    Housing Benefit
    Income Support
    Jobseeker’s allowance
    Pension credit
    Disability Living Allowance
    Attendance Allowance / Constant Attendance Allowance
    Carer’s Allowance
    Incapacity Benefit / Employment and Support Allowance
    Disability element of Working Tax Credit
    Universal Credit

Registered UK charities are also eligible for this scheme.



More details are available here, and you can apply at any South Glos library.

Advice sessions on South Glos Member Awarded Funding

Last year South Glos launched the Member Awarded Funding (MAF) scheme that gives Councillors the opportunity to make awards to projects and services that benefit residents in their ward. From 1 April 2017 each councillor has an allocation of £3,000 to award to local projects and services before 31 March 2018.

South Glos is offering voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations and Town or Parish Councils the opportunity to drop-in at one of their advice sessions to meet with a Grant Officer for help and support with the MAF process, such as:

• How to register your organisation on the grants on-line system
• How to create or revise policies
• How to apply to your Councillor(s)
• How to complete an application form
• How to apply if your project crosses ward boundaries

The sessions are being held in Room 0013 at the Council Offices, Badminton Road, Yate, BS37 5AF:

• Wednesday 21 June 09:00-13:30
• Monday 24 July 09:00-13:30
• Monday 14 August 12:30-15.30

For more information please contact the Grants Helpline, Mon-Fri, 9am to 4pm, on 01454 865865 or grants@southglos.gov.uk.  The sessions are open and so please do just drop-in. However, if you would prefer to book a place, please contact the team to arrange.

Council tax to increase for social care?

Have you had your say on the South Glos budget yet?

An extra question has now been added to the consultation. Last year South Glos took up the option to charge an extra 2% of council tax as an "adult social care precept" to go towards the spiralling costs of providing care to the vulnerable. It had been expected that this would continue at 2% for the following years but in December the Government announced a proposal that councils could introduce the rise sooner  – so they could increase council tax by up to 3% in 2017/18 or 2018/19 but still could not exceed 6% in total over the three year period 2017-2020. South Glos want to know your views on this. You can have your say online until 23rd January.

It is hard to see how South Glos can plug the funding gap without taking up this proposal but the Liberal Democrats nationally do not think this is the answer to the crisis in social care. Using council tax to raise the money will disproportionately burden the less well off in our communities and poorer parts of the country will be less able to raise money in this way than wealthier ones. Led by our health spokesperson and former Health Minister Norman Lamb we are pushing for a cross-party agreement on funding for health and social care. Is it time to put a penny on income tax to secure the future of the NHS and social care?

Useful information this Christmas

With the festive season getting underway, here is some information you might find useful over the Christmas and New Year period.

Christmas Last Posting Dates

Tuesday 20 December - 2nd Class and Royal Mail Signed For®
Wednesday 21 December - 1st Class and Royal Mail Signed For®
Thursday 22 December - Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed®
Friday 23 December - Special Delivery Saturday Guaranteed

Waste and Recycling

There are some changes to waste and recycling collection over the Christmas period.

If your collection should be on:	It will instead take place on:
Monday 26 December	Tuesday 27 December
Tuesday 27 December	Wednesday 28 December
Wednesday 28 December	Thursday 29 December
Thursday 29 December	Friday 30 December
Friday 30 December	Saturday 31 December

You can check your precise date and what will be collected on the South Glos website.

Your tree might not even be up yet, but once the festivities are over you can recycle real trees in a number of ways:

• If you have subscribed to the garden waste service, you can put your tree into or next to your green bin.
• You can buy a single use garden waste sack for £2 from your nearest library and attach it to the tree.
• You can take it to one of the Sort It recycling centres and put it in the garden waste (not wood waste) skip.

Whichever you do, don't forget to remove all the decorations, pots and stands first and if it's over 6ft tall you must cut it up into smaller sections if you're having it collected. 

Out of Hours Pharmacies Times

Over the Christmas and New Year period, many pharmacies are closed. You can find out which ones are open here.

Trains
As we posted earlier this month, from Saturday 24th December until Thursday 29th December London Paddington will be closed to all rail services.

This will mean that GWR rail services will start and finish at Ealing Broadway, from where you can take the underground or a bus. However, the station does not have step-free access. So if you are travelling with heavy luggage or find steps difficult for any reason you will need to change at Reading and use services from there to London Waterloo. Unfortunately that will mean a longer journey.

You can find out more on the GWR website.

Bus services
Over Christmas and the New Year some buses will be running to different timetables from normal. You can find out more on the TravelWest site.

Major resurfacing works on Ring Road

UPDATE 19/08/2016: The Gazette reports that the Ring Road closures this weekend are being postponed due to bad weather

The council will be carrying out essential maintenance on the A4174 Ring Road at Hambrook traffic lights / Bristol Road junction and between the Wick Wick and Lyde Green roundabouts from Friday 19 August to Friday 9 September as part of the Challenge Fund road improvement project.

These roadworks will require the following closures:

1. Full closure of the westbound carriageway at the Hambrook traffic lights from 8pm on Friday 19 August to 6am on Monday 22 August and from Friday 2 September to 6am on Monday 5 September.
2. Full overnight closure of the eastbound carriageway between Wick Wick and Lyde Green roundabouts between 8pm - 6am from 22 August to 1 September and from 7 to 9 September. This road will be fully open during the day and at weekends.
3. Full overnight closure of the westbound carriageway at the Hambrook traffic lights from 8pm to 6am on Monday 5 and Tuesday 6 September. This road will be fully open during the day.

The work has been scheduled to take place when traffic flow is low, before the school and university terms start and avoiding the Bank Holiday. For further information on the project and diversion routes please visit www.southglos.gov.uk/challengefund If you have any queries email challengefund@southglos.gov.uk or call 01454 868000.

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.

Council now seeking your views on devolution

South Glos Council's ruling Conservative Group at first said that there would be no public consultation on the West of England devolution deal until after the four councils have decided whether to accept the deal. The Liberal Democrat Leader on South Glos, Cllr Ruth Davis, put an urgent question to the Conservative Leader of the Council ahead of Wednesday night's council meeting asking why this was. This is what the devolution page looked like originally:

After Ruth submitted her written question, this was changed to say:

During May and June 2016
It is your local councillors that will be making the decision on the proposed deal in June and you can give them your views here:

The council also put out a press release.

This is a step in the right direction, although as Ruth raised in her follow-up question at the meeting, it was still not on the consultation page, where local people would expect to find all council consultations. The Leader of Council promised to look into this.

The leaders of all three main parties wrote to Oliver Letwin  several weeks ago seeking permission to hold an indicative referendum on the devolution deal on the same day as the Europe referendum. He hasn't even had the courtesy to reply. A motion was proposed at the council meeting calling for a more formal Council approach to the Minister. However, despite having written to him previously, the Conservatives amended the motion to argue why a referendum is not necessary. During the debate, your Focus Team expressed concern about the limited information that is being given to the public.

We urge everyone to read the information that has been made available and to give the council your views.

Have your say on extending Badminton Road South Glos Council offices

Cllrs Claire Young and Ruth Davis at Badminton Road.
The site reserved for the Park and Ride is on the left.

South Gloucestershire Council is looking to make more savings on office space. The Conservative administration's preferred option is to extend the offices (and parking) at Badminton Road, Nibley and move staff there, so they can close Kingswood Civic Centre.

Councillor Claire Young has raised concerns about the impact extending the offices could have on traffic and parking in the local area. She also sought, and was given, reassurance that any plans would not affect the ability to deliver the Nibley Park and Ride in the future. Last year we made sure plans for the solar farm would not restrict a future Park and Ride, we need to make sure the same is true of any office extension. We were told they were also looking at whether solar panels could be put over any new parking area.

Now it's your chance to have your say on the proposals. At this stage, it is still on the principles of the different options, not on any detailed plans for an extension. You can find out more and have your say here until 13th May.

If you're including the protected Park and Ride site in your comments, please mention that it needs to be big enough for the expanded town - not just the original area. We suspect that South Glos might think they can use the extra area for staff parking.

South Glos funding cut more than expected

We were already expecting that South Glos Council would have to make significant cuts in the coming year but the news from the Conservative government was even worse than had been planned for. The council will be getting less money than expected from the Government to provide services.

The council can now charge a levy of up to 2% towards rising social care costs, on top of the up to 1.99% council tax rise allowed without a referendum. Even if council tax did go up by 3.99% including the social care levy, there is likely to be a shortfall in 2018/19 of around £6m and in 2019/20 of £8m - which would require even more cuts on top of the £34m already planned for.

Due to these and other changes since the council's budget consultation was launched, the deadline for comments has been extended until 31st January. You can find out more and have your say here.

Useful information this Christmas

Here's a round-up of links to Christmas opening times and other information you might find helpful during the holiday period.

Contacting the council

• The South Glos customer services contact centre will be closed from Christmas Eve afternoon (from 1pm) until 8:45 am on Wednesday 30 December 2015. The offices will also be closed on 1 January 2016. Please note that the adult care contact centre will be open until 5pm on Christmas Eve. When the offices are closed calls will be diverted to a service which deals only with emergencies.
• One Stop Shops will be closed from Christmas Eve afternoon (from 1pm) until Wednesday 30 December 2015. They will also be closed on 1 January 2016.
• You can continue to report issues or apply for services using the council's online forms which will be dealt with after the offices reopen.

More information on council services over Christmas and the New Year period is available here.

Recycling and waste

• Check when your waste will be collected here.
• Information on how to recycle your Christmas tree.
• The Sort It centres are open 8:30am to 4:30pm every day, apart from 25, 26 December 2015 and 1 January 2016.

Libraries
You can find the Christmas and New Year opening times for the local libraries here.

Bus times
Bus timetable information is available from Travelwest.

Train times
The Network Rail website provides information on travel during the holiday period.

Health services and pharmacies
South Gloucestershire CCG provides this advice on what to do if you are injured or feel unwell. They also have details of pharmacy opening times for Christmas and New Year. They advise anyone with long term health conditions to get their medication before Christmas Eve.

Safety check on bad decisions removed

At the last South Gloucestershire Council meeting the Conservatives used their majority to remove the rights of opposition councillors to force a rethink on bad decisions.

Previously the lead member for any of the political groups on a committee could “refer up” a decision to full council for further debate, if they felt a mistake had been made or more information was needed to make a properly informed decision. Only a few months ago this safety check was used when the planning committee initially decided to approve the planning application for Top Yard in Westerleigh. Given the chance to review their report and consider case law, officers changed their recommendation from approval to refusal and the application was eventually refused. If our former colleague Alan Lawrance had not had the opportunity to refer up the original decision the application would have been approved and there would have been no way to overturn that.

By referring a decision up to council it also gave a chance for concerned members of the public to go along and have their say. Almost every council in the country has some ability for minority political groups to force administrations to think again. Obviously ultimately the majority view will prevail, as you would expect in a democracy. Sometimes though, having heard differing views or got more information, they make a different decision from their original one. Isn’t that also something you would expect in a democracy? As we saw with Top Yard, referring up was one way to help the council make better decisions. Why is the new administration afraid of that scrutiny?

South Gloucestershire Council election results May 2015

CHIPPING SODBURY (2 seats)

• BOON Linda Ann - Liberal Democrat Focus Team     1862 ELECTED
• CHANNON David Michael - Labour     429
• CREER Rob - Conservative     1736 ELECTED
• LANGLEY Kathleen - Labour     448
• RUSH Adrian Samuel - Liberal Democrat Focus Team     1614
• WARREN Callum Jake - Conservative     1630

This represents a loss of one seat from Lib Dem Focus Team to Conservative. Thank you Adrian Rush for your valued service on South Glos Council.


DODINGTON (2 seats)

• DAVIS Tony - Liberal Democrat Focus Team     1592 ELECTED
• FLETCHER Ann - Labour     498
• JONES Phil - Conservative     879
• MARTIN Russ - UKIP     920
• SHAW Jon - Conservative     734
• STEPHEN Gloria Elsie - Liberal Democrat Focus Team     1375 ELECTED
• WARD David - Labour     371

Lib Dem Focus Team held both seats, and experienced Dodington Parish Councillor Gloria Stephen now joins South Glos Council.


YATE CENTRAL (2 seats)

• ABRAHAM Peter David - Labour     481
• DAVIS Ruth Brenda - Liberal Democrat Focus Team     1798 ELECTED
• GARNER Roy - Conservative     982
• MCGRATH Michael Paul - Labour Party Candidate     532
• SUTTON Adrian - UKIP     831
• WALKER Sue - Liberal Democrat Focus Team     1962 ELECTED
• WATTS Fred - Conservative     884

Lib Dem Focus Team held both seats with existing councillors Ruth Davis and Sue Walker.

YATE NORTH (3 seats)

• BLAIR Ian William Johnston - Liberal Democrat Focus Team     2466 ELECTED
• DAVIS John Anthony - Liberal Democrat Focus Team     2330 ELECTED
• DOLLIN Mike - Independent     418
• DREW Mike - Liberal Democrat Focus Team     2653 ELECTED
• FLETCHER Brian - Labour     676
• MAGGS Alan William - Labour     534
• NORTHAM Kion Kevan - Conservative     1566
• RING Steven - UKIP     1048
• SIMPSON Fred - Labour     552
• WILLIAMS David Penry- Conservative     1840
• WILLIAMS Sonia - Conservative     1725

Lib Dem Focus team held all three seats, with Yate Town Councillor John Davis now joining South Glos Council.

In nearby wards, the Lib Dems held the South Glos seats in Westerleigh,  Cotswold Edge, Frampton Cotterell and Charfield but lost Ladden Brook to the Conservatives.

The makeup of councillors on the new South Glos Council is:

• Conservatives 40
• Liberal Democrats 16
• Labour 14

This gives the Conservatives a majority on South Glos.

Details of the results in other South Gloucestershire Council wards can be found on the South Glos website elections pages

The local dimension - A stronger local economy that will benefit everyone

South Gloucestershire is the economic powerhouse of the West of England and this has helped to keep unemployment well below the national average. But more needs to be done to ensure that our local economy benefits everyone.

We will:

1. Expand and promote apprenticeship schemes that provide real experience and prospects for our young people.
2. Work with businesses, schools and colleges to make sure people have the skills they need to help our local economy to thrive and create jobs.
3. Continue to improve broadband connectivity throughout rural and urban areas and to give residents more choice over their broadband provider.
4. Ensure even better support for new and existing businesses.
5. Keep local high streets the centres of our communities.

 Our record of action...

By working constructively with central government and the Local Economic Partnership we’ve helped to foster strong employment growth across South Gloucestershire.

This is an extract from the Liberal Democrat Vision for South Gloucestershire, our manifesto for the 2015 Local Elections.