Plans to demolish Railway Inn and barbers

An application has been submitted to South Glos Council to demolish the Railway Inn near Yate Station and the Barber's Shop next door, with a view to redeveloping on the land - but it doesn't say what the redevelopment might be.

This local landmark is almost 200 years old and "locally listed", but that doesn't seem to be adequate protection against redeveloping the site. There's no sign of any effort being made to reuse this historic building, which is part of the character of this old part of Yate.

Even if it's shown that it can no longer be used as a pub, couldn't at least the facade be saved? And of course another local business will go with it, the barbers.

Local Focus Team councillors are objecting to the application - if you want to make your opinion heard, please click on this link for the South Glos planning website and search for application PK17/0445/PND

This is urgent - you'll need to comment by Thursday next week, 23 February. 

There's more coverage from the Gazette here 

Rogue Traders in South Glos – Let Trading Standards Know

South Gloucestershire Trading Standards have repeated the warning given recently to residents to be extra vigilant when dealing with unexpected callers at the front door.

Officers are aware that rogue traders are currently operating in the area and are offering to buy gold or jewellery or carry out, amongst other things, paving, roofing and gardening work. Reports suggest they are currently operating in Yate and Frampton Cotterell areas.

South Gloucestershire Council Trading Standards advise residents:

• Do not to deal with unexpected visitors at your door you do not know who they are or what their history may be.
• Do not allow any unknown and unexpected visitor into your home. If possible, try to deal with them through a window or use a door chain.
• Ensure your front and back doors are closed and locked if your attention is elsewhere.
• If you are unhappy or feel intimidated by the visitor – shut the door and call the police.
• If you think you or someone you know may have been targeted by scammers or rogue traders, please contact senior Trading Standards enforcement officer Neil Derrick on 01454 864565 or 07801 200104 as soon as possible.

Remember: Not Sure, Don’t Open The Door

For advice on this and other consumer matters, please contact the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 03454 04 05 06, Monday to Friday between 9am-5pm.

Better news about Yate Fire Station

Some positive news on Yate Fire Station. At the end of last year, Avon Fire Authority was consulting on cutting Yate Fire Station from a full time service 24 hours a day to having a full time crew 8am to 5pm and just one crew on call at night. We were very concerned that this could put people in the Yate area at risk - you can see Claire Young's response to the consultation here.

Our Yate colleague Cllr Mike Drew has been working hard with the Deputy Chief Fire Officer to develop an alternative. Instead of taking us down to one on call crew, the Fire Authority has now agreed there will be two part time crews on call. While not the full time crew we wanted, it's a step in the right direction.

Having two crews, even coming from home, makes a big difference. Because there will be two crews there at about the same time, they are allowed to do things like doing rescues. If there was only one local crew they could assess the situation but then they would have to wait for a second crew e.g. from Kingswood before they could actually enter a burning building.

The agreed two-crew manning is supported by the Fire Brigades Union, so we think it's a reasonable answer to the problem. A big thank you goes to Mike and everyone who has campaigned for a better outcome.

Could YOU become a St John Ambulance First Aider?

St John Ambulance are looking for volunteers to join their team of First Aiders. You will be trained to a high standard to provide first aid treatment to patients at events covered by St John Ambulance in the community, at concerts, sports events etc. at local, regional and national level.

No previous training is required – it will all be provided – they just look for a desire to help people and the readiness to deal with situations that can be distressing. 

Click here for more details - the closing date is 28/02/2017 and interviews will be held on 08/03/2017.

Barn Dance for St Nicholas Family Centre

At 7.30pm on Saturday 4th March there will be a Barn Dance at St Nicholas Family Centre, Yate BS37 4LG. Tickets are £8 for adults and £5 for children under 12, with the money going towards making further improvements to the family centre. While you're there for the dance, you will have a chance to see the ambitious new kitchen plans for St Nix.

Phone 07788111626 or 07879680118 for tickets, or pay on the door.

Stephen Williams chosen as Lib Dem candidate for Metro Mayor

Congratulations to Stephen Williams on being chosen as the Liberal Democrat candidate to be the first Metro Mayor for the West of England, ina  campaign that will last for 90 days up to the election in May.

Across the West of England area, the campaign is between the Tories and Liberal Democrats. By electing Stephen, the region will benefit from someone with both experience of local government and Whitehall.

The new Metro Mayor will have a range of powers and over the coming days and weeks the Lib Dems will be fleshing out plans to improve the transport, housing and infrastructure of the region.
You can send a message to the Tory government that this region cannot be taken for granted.

82 bus campaign continues

Your Focus Team is continuing to fight for a better 82 bus service, after the last bus of the day was cut in January. On Monday, local councillor Claire Young spoke out again at the South Gloucestershire Council Public Transport Forum.

Losing the last bus of the day is a blow not just to those visiting relatives in hospital but also to workers at the Mall, Cribbs Causeway. They are having to catch buses into the centre of Bristol and back out to places like Yate and Coalpit Heath, getting home very late at night. Your Focus Team is pushing not only for the last service to be restored but also for a later service that would come back from Cribbs after the shops have closed at 9pm.

First Bus said that they had changed the timetable to improve reliability. By reducing the frequency and not having drivers changing mid-route, they said it gave more time to recoup delays, especially at peak times. They admitted that due to roadworks, including the temporary traffic lights in Winterbourne, there had been problems in the first couple of weeks of the new timetable, but they claimed that reliability had improved since, though there was still work to do.

The poor reliabilty is having a knock-on effect on our highly valued Community Transport services. Because people don't feel they can rely on the 82 bus to get them to their hospital appointments, they are turning to Community Transport, while others are being referred by their GPs because they don't meet the strict criteria for the Patient Transport Service. Claire met Green Community Travel representatives on Wednesday to discuss this and other issues.