City MP, Don Foster is reaching out to voters across Bath with the publication of his new website.

Don said: “The re-vamp of the site will make it much easier for residents to contact me and be updated on the work that I’m doing ” The site will contain several easy ways to keep in touch with Don and also the ability to subscribe to Don’s email newsletter.

Don added: “More and more these days, people are losing trust in elected officials and I want to make it easy for people to judge for themselves whether or not I’m doing good job for them and their families.

“There has also been a lot said in recent months about the amount of expenses claimed by MPs and what they are spent on. That’s why I’ve decided that from this financial year I will make a commitment to publish my expenses every quarter on my website and in my e-news letter. My annual ‘Report Back’ leaflet, which is sent to every household in Bath, will also provide details of the full year expenses.

“Parliament is currently debating the level of detail that it will publish of MPs expenses however I am committed to going beyond what we are merely required to publish and I will ensure that I provide as much detail as I am able.”I will also ensure that contentious items such as the Additional Cost Allowance are listed in the greatest detail.

“As public servants, Members of Parliament have a duty to be honest and transparent and I hope that my actions will enable the people of Bath to put their faith in me as their representative in Parliament.” Don Foster’s re-launched website is at www.donfoster.co.uk

The loading bay for Tesco has been put to public consultation. You are welcome to write to the Highways team with your views (click on the picture to read the notice and address).

This needs to have public consultation because it changes the legal parking status of that patch of road on Bathwick Hill. The pedestrian refuge and other pavement works did not need public consultation as they were modifications to council/public property.

A loading bay is needed here (just below the canal bridge) to allow delivery lorries to unload safely to the Tesco Express which was given planning permission by an appeal inspector last year. Effectively the government inspector instructed the BathNES highway department to install the loading bay and upgrade the pedestrian crossing, regardless of their own professional views. I have spoken to a member of the highways team about this apparent contradiction and he told me about another authority he has worked for. Following a similar appeal the highway department was ordered to make safe a junction which they claimed couldn’t be done. The legal battle went to the House of Lords and cost the council millions in fees when Tesco finally won.

I am of the opinion that our highway safety department have done a good job in difficult circumstances with the pedestrian refuge, road markings and loading bay. Their solution isn’t perfect, but this is hardly surprising given their professional judgement against Tesco’s planning permission.

Representations must be made in writing to the council by 5th June. If there are objections, which we expect there will be, a report must be written for the cabinet member to decide. Cllr Gerrish (Con, Keynsham North) shall make the final decision mid-June, for the loading bay to be rejected or painted on soon after. There is no truth in the rumour that Tesco have successfully sued for damages against the council. The process has indeed taken a long time but no legal action has yet been taken by Tesco.

Unfortunately the zebra crossing we all want may take even longer. As Tesco did not provide enough money for providing a zebra crossing, the central refuge has been widened and given tactile paving, while the pavement has also been widened. As well as giving more room to wheelchair users and those pushing bikes or buggies, this pavement widening improves the view down Bathwick Hill from those waiting to cross. This is a vital requirement for a zebra crossing, that visibility is good. With these improvements, it will be possible to paint on the zebra stripes later, from council tax money. However, I was angry to discover that this scheme has not been listed for funding in the next financial year and have chased this up with the Conservative cabinet member responsible.

Bathwick councillors Nicholas Coombes and Armand Edwards have launched a petition for the speedy installation of a zebra crossing on Bathwick Hill.

Planners recently backed local residents and councillors to prevent Tesco from opening before minimal work has been undertaken to make the surrounding roads safer. However, this will not include a zebra crossing which is what most locals want. 

Tesco were ordered to pay BathNES council £20,000 towards the work, but this will only cover the first phase which is due to start within weeks. Throughout the design process Cllr Coombes has been working with the Highways department to ensure that a zebra crossing can be installed later.

This next phase must be funded by the council, but already the Conservatives have scrapped or delayed road projects across the city. The Liberal Democrat petition will show the strong level of demand locally, increasing the chances of a swift resolution.

Already one pedestrian has been killed at this location and Armand and Nicholas know that it is the main concern of most nearby residents. However, in a time of budget cuts they need this petition to put a strong argument when they lobby for funding.

For a zebra crossing on Bathwick Hill please visit www.ourcampaign.org.uk/bathwickcrossing to register your support.

BathNES council planning department have rejected Tesco’s application to open their shop before the surrounding roads are made safe.

They had applied in January to have the planning conditions lifted to open earlier - see http://nicholascoombes.mycouncillor.org.uk/2008/01/21/tesco-try-to-lift-planning-restrictions/. When Tesco won their planning appeal one of the inspectors conditions was that Tesco would need to fund improvements to the pedestrian crossing and create a loading bay for their deliveries. Despite allowing the shop to open, the planning inspector did recognise that it would have an adverse impact on road safety and that these improvement works would be necessary.

 The council have been paid by Tesco to do the works, but the sum does not cover the zebra crossing requested by locals and Bathwick councillors Nicholas Coombes and Armand Edwards. BathNES have now published plans to mark out a loading bay and the first phase of the zebra crossing has also been drawn up although the site is very complicated.

Nicholas Coombes welcomed the news from the planning department: “I am glad that our council has been able to resist Tesco, despite their thinly veiled legal threats. The highways department is working on plans for a zebra crossing on Bathwick Hill which will make this crossing safer for everyone. Tesco should not be allowed to open before this is ready as it would residents at unnecessary risk.”

Leaked reports of the government’s Post Office closure plan reveal closures planned for Bathford, Lower Weston, Bear Flat and Claremont (Walcot). These closures add to the thousands which have been closed nationwide already and thousands planned in this round.

Bath MP Don Foster says, “The Government has withdrawn services from the Post Office left, right and centre over the years, and before them the Conservatives closed 3,000.  The two major parties look at the Post Office on purely economic grounds, and not as the vital service it provides to the community.

“Once again, it is the elderly and vulnerable that are the worst hit by these closures.  The knock-on effect on other local shops can be catastrophic.  In Mount Rd, where they lost their Post Office in the last round of cuts, one local trader told me his takings had dropped by 15%.

“I will be working hard and campaigning against these closures across Bath where local communities will be losing an important asset.  It is time that Labour and the Conservatives stood up and realised that the Post Office is of huge social benefit, and is not just a business.”

A Liberal Democrat motion at the Full Council meeting last week was approved opposing the closure programme in BathNES. An Overview and Scrutiny Panel will dicuss the closures on 18th March, please phone 01225 394458 if you wish to contribute to this discussion. An on-line petition is available at www.ourcampaign.org.uk/savebathspostoffices.

Full Council passed the first Conservative budget of service cuts and price increases with a narrow majority. The minority administration, supported by the Independants, rejected the Liberal Democrat ammendment and forced through the Conservatve Cabinet’s proposals.

The headline Council tax rise of 3.95% disguises the above inflation charge increases which make the real increase above 7.5%. The service cuts and price rises are most damaging to the elderly and vulnerable, including cuts to the Youth Service budget and a 70% increase in home care charges. The elderly are also hit by a £1.20 rise to the cost of every Meal of Wheels, while the state pension only rises by £1 per week. A number of community groups, including the Bathwick History Society have their funding cut, while council projects, including the Lib Dem planned kitchen waste collections are delayed.

Later in the evening other Liberal Democrat proposals were successful. The council should not only use tap water rather than bottled water for refreshments, saving the environmental costs of transporting water and the energy costs of the plastic bottles. Tap water is also 500 times cheaper than bottled water. The Conservatives voted against this motion, but for the first time Labour and the Independants supported Lib Dem proposals to defeat the administration.

Our motion on Post Office Closures was also successful, opposing the closure of any more post offices in BathNES. The Post Office on Bathwick Hill closed several years ago, but the latest round proposes to close four more in Bath. Nationally the Lib Dems have been fighting post office closures as the offer a community resource which often exceeds the commercial return. Please sign the petition at www.ourcampaign.org.uk/savebathspostoffices

Avon & Somerset Police held the second PaCT meeting in Bathwick this evening at St Mary’s Primary School. Our beat manager, PC Parker, and I gave an update on the previous priorities. Anti-social behaviour in Sydney Gardens is the top priority, which our PC and PCSO are regularly patroling. I hope to join them for an evening beat soon to see exactly what they tackle and how they deal with it.

Traffic work, promised some years ago by Elgar Jenkins, formed the other priorities; traffic calming on Sydney Road and a new pedestrian crossing between the school and the park. Unfortunately our investigations show that there is no money in the budget set aside for this work and that none is likely in the near future. Last year the Conservatives actually cut a number of road schemes; I signed a Liberal Democrat call-in to ask the cabinet member to reconsider, but the cuts continue regardless. This means that existing funded schemes are being delayed and new schemes like this and the Bathwick Hill crossing are even more difficult.

With a mainly different audience in attendence a new set of similar issues were raised, including parking problems on Darlington Road and Cleveland Walk relating to the schools; and the issue of HGVs through the city. Unfortunately the Conservatives have already dropped their election promise of an HGV ban saying that it now unworkable. However, before the election they ran Transport, so must have had some idea of feasibility. I found this out only by asking the Conservative cabinet member responsible at a meeting last month, whether any progress had been made on the issue.

The new top three priorities though, voted by the public, are thus:

1. Speeding, specifically on Bathwick Hill and Sydney Road but a concern throughout the area. The police are the main agency for this, who have recently launched a ’speedwatch’ campiagn further up the A36.

2. The provision of a safe crossing on Bathwick Hill. This is my main area to tackle, which I am currently doing (see other posts!)

3. Anti-social behaviour in Sydney Gardens and environs. Another policing issue, although I will try to ensure that the new park scheme is safer by design.

Finally, just to note that a representative from Tesco did not turn up despite their promises and that I got the only clap of the evening; something about community empowerment at Sham Castle…

Without prior consultation, Tesco are seeking to avoid one of the restrictions placed on their store by the planning inspector and open their store before vital safety work has even been started. Stating that the council have been too slow providing the pedestrian crossing and loading bay, Tesco have asked for the condition to be changed so that they can open next month.

Local councillor Armand Edwards responds: “It is outrageous that Tesco want to subvert the planning system like this. For highway and pedestrian safety we need the crossing and loading bay before the store opens; Tesco shouldn’t put their own commercial gain before public safety.”

The store was granted planning consent by a government inspector in July last year, with two principal conditions; that the store only open between 8am and 9pm and that the pedestrian crossing is upgraded and a loading bay created. There was local controversy when the company sought an alcohol license until 11pm, then retracted at the last minute claiming an administrative error. Now Tesco have formally applied for the second condition to be altered to allow trading to start without the safety works.

In her judgement, the inspector recognised that “there would be an increase in the number of pedestrians crossing the highway as a result of the proposal” and that it would be necessary “in the interests of highway safety” to improve the crossing before the store opened. She also said that the loading bay offered by Tesco would be needed to prevent deliveries blocking the highway and that the development could not proceed without it.

Tesco’s application to the Council says that having paid the money to BathNES, they should be allowed to open the store when they like. However, the £20,000 paid is far less than that needed for a zebra crossing which locals want to see at the site. The council highways department has been carrying out a feasibility study into the works, but are having difficulty working to the small budget. In their letter to the council Tesco also made the threat of further legal action if they were refused, writing “avoiding an appeal, and the associated costs, is in the best interests of both parties.”

Councillor Nicholas Coombes says: “Only last week, Tesco were promising to work with the local community, but now they are trying to dodge their obligations without any prior warning. I shall be strongly objecting to their latest application and urging the planning department to throw it out for the safety of Bathwick’s residents.”

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The application to vary the judgement conditions is 08/00169/VAR available to read and comment at http://planning.bathnes.gov.uk/publicaccess/tdc/DcApplication/application_detailview.aspx?caseno=JUOX22CTKK000

The second Police and Communities Together meeting will take place in Bathwick St Mary’s Primary School on Wednesday 30th February from 7pm. Like the first public meeting, residents are invited to voice their concerns (or celebrations) about local matters related to the Police or BathNES Council. Cllr Nicholas Coombes and representative from the Police and council will attempt to find solutions or explanations.

In October the PaCT meeting agreed that their top priorities were the incomplete Sydney Road traffic scheme and anti-social behaviour in Sydney Gardens. This is your chance to vote for another set to be tackled.

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I met with our local policeman, PC Parker, to run through expected issues today. It’s rather odd reporting to a police station for a meeting; although I did once attend the Corporate Audit Committee (more exciting than you think) in a church crypt. Like me, he hopes that a representative from our new Tesco can explain their public safety plans to the audience.