Every Little Helps for local causes

Bags of Help is Tesco’s community grant scheme  where the money raised from the 5p bag charge is being used to fund thousands of local projects.

This month the choices at our local Tesco include two very valuable projects in our area:

• The Armadillo Youth Venue and Cafe are aiming to create a green sporty space featuring fruit and veg growing boxes to promote healthy eating
• St Nicholas Under 15 Girls Football Team hope to buy winter kit and football equipment to keep their players warm and dry while training.

If you find you need to buy a 5p bag, please consider using your token to support one of these very valuable causes.

Community group looking for funding?

Tesco have announced some important changes to the Tesco Bags of Help funding scheme which may be of interest to any community groups seeking  project funding in the Yate area.

In order to give Tesco customers a more frequent say on where their money goes, as of today the Tesco Bags of Help grant scheme will now be permanently open for applications from community groups.

Bags of Help will now see the money raised by the 5p bag charge in Tesco stores in England, Wales and Scotland opened up to a greater range of projects that support community participation in the development and use of open spaces. Projects that will now get the green light as a result of the funding will include volunteer training, physical improvements of open spaces, equipment purchases, community events and sports and leisure activities.

Following a public vote, three projects in each of the 200 Tesco regions will receive a grant each month, with first place receiving up to £5K, second place up to £2K and third place up to £1K.

Groups can apply by following this link

Help Brimsham Park get a big Tesco grant!

The Friends of Brimsham Park are applying to Tesco for a grant towards a big project:

• To re-establish  a Wildlife Pool in the park, provide a pool liner, pollard the trees and clear the scrub to let in the light.
• Re-introduce frogs, toads, newts and small fish such as minnows and stickleback. 
• Provide a Dipping Platform for small children and put the pool at the disposal of local infant schools. 
• Plant the area with wildflowers to attract pollen gathering insects like bees and butterflies, along with waterborne insects that the pool will attract this should increase the wild bird population visiting the Park.

Yate Tesco customers will decide which of three local community projects in our area will receive the lion's share of the money donated through the Government's 5p plastic bag charge. 

Customers will receive a token at the till to vote for the local project they think most deserves the bumper £12,000 grant, and have until 6th March to make their vote count. You don't seem to get a token from the self-service tills - maybe you have to ask for it.

A total of £11.5 million raised from the sale of Tesco bags in the UK since October 2015 will be donated through the Bags of Help scheme.

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

Yate Tesco opens today

Yate's new Tesco Extra store has opened today after a remarkably short construction period that is a credit to the builders and the project manager.

Work on four more shop units will start after Christmas. It is anticipated that two of these will form a Marks & Spencer Simply Food store.

Yate Shopping Centre has also launched a new website http://www.yateshoppingcentre.co.uk which carries details of events and stores at the Shopping Centre.

Temporary Tesco buses Yate to Bradley Stoke

During the Tesco closure this week there is a free bus from Yate to Tesco Bradley Stoke. It leaves Yate on the hour from 9.00 am until 4.00 pm, and returns from Bradley Stoke on the half hour from 9.30 am until 4.30 pm.

Reminder - Yate Tesco now closed for a week

Just a reminder that the temporary Tesco store in Yate Shopping Centre has now closed so that the site can be cleared and car park restored before the new Tesco Extra store opens at 8am next Monday, 24th October.

Temporary Tesco to close a week early

It has been announced on the YatePeople website that the temporary Tesco store in Yate Shopping Centre will close at 4pm on Sunday, 16th October, a week earlier than planned so that the site can be cleared and car park restored before the new Tesco Extra store opens at 8am on Monday, 24th October.

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.”

Link Road - weather causes further delay

Link Road in Yate will remain only partially open for the time being. The unusually low temperatures are preventing the contractors from laying the final surface on the road. With temperatures due to remain low over the Christmas period it is unlikely the works will be finished in the next couple of weeks.

It's been evident that they contractors have been working long hours in cold, dark conditions to make progress - we've felt quite sorry for them when we've gone past recently. They're obviously doing the best they can in the circumstances.

The works on the new bus station will continue until the end of January when work starts on the new Tesco store.

Cold weather delays completion of Link Road works

The realignment works on Link Road, Yate have been delayed by one week due to the recent severe cold weather.

The road was due to reopen fully this coming Monday, 13th December. However, with the sub-zero temperatures it was impossible to lay the tarmac and set some of the kerb stones in concrete.

The aim now is for the road to be fully re-opened fully on Monday 20th December.

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.

Progress continues on Yate Town Centre works

The 70 new parking spaces on the site of the former Swan pub have now been opened, just in time for the very busy Christmas shopping period. Work is carrying on to realign Link Road, which has now been reopened to single file traffic in both directions.

The mains electricity works are taking a little longer than expected, but Link Road should reopen fully on December 13th. Work will start to install new traffic lights in Link Road on January 13th, and the new improved bus station will open on Monday, January 31st. (More in the Gazette)

Meanwhile the car park under the proposed Tesco Extra store is to be slightly redesigned to provide for an extra emergency exit.

The Gazette quotes Tesco  as saying they will erect the temporary store in East Walk after Christmas, and that demolition of the existing store will start in February.

Yate Tesco - movement at last!

Yate Shopping Centre management has issued a leaflet detailing the timescales for the initial steps in the Tesco development.

September:

• Creating works compound in car park
• Demolishing the Swan and creating extra parking spaces
• Closing underpass
• Creating temporary access to current bus station
• Relocating footpath/cycleway from Kennedy Way towards underpass

October:

• Start of work on new bus station (12 weeks)
• Widening Link Road carriageway from Kennedy Way towards Station road (4 weeks)

Work will start on the main Tesco Extra store in February next year.