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.”

A community project to clear the view at the Sham Castle has been finalised for Thursday 13th March. Cllrs Nicholas Coombes and Armand Edwards have received great support since announcing the project last month.

 Sham Castle is a folly built in 1762 by Ralph Allen, Bath stone magnate, to improve the view of the hill. Over the last years however, scrub and young trees have grown up between the castle and city. This spoils the view out from the National Trust skyline walk by the castle and also obscures the floodlit folly from the city.

As no council funding was available, Nicholas Coombes has negotiated a community project grant funded by the Cotswolds Conservation Board Sustainable Development Fund. Professionals will use their machinery to cut and clear the larger trees and vegetation, preparing the site for the volunteers. Bath University students and members of the local community are invited to help tidy the site and create new wildlife habitats in the clearing with the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers. The National Trust will also be supervising the works.

 Already many Bathwick locals have volunteered their time but everyone is welcome. The day will run from 10am until 4pm with volunteers invited to stay for the whole day, but able to drop in and leave when they chose. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided with a sandwich lunch paid for by a generous member of the public. All equipment will also be provided by BTCV. The castle is on the skyline walk and best accessible by foot; it is near the Bath Golf Course club house on Golf Course Road up North Road but please do not bring a car.

Armand and Nicholas look forward to seeing as many people as possible on the day. Please visit for as long as you can, whether the whole day or just an hour. If you don’t feel up to heavy work we’ll be pleased to see you regardless.

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Although Cllr Coombes has organised this project, many thanks are due to BathNES landscapes department, the Cotswold Conservation Board SDF, BTC, the National Trust, the One World Society and the University of Bath Students’ Union.

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

Bath University launched its Diversity & Equality month yesterday with guest speakers and I on a panel debate.

Following a presentation by Tim Lezzard of the National Union of Journalists on free speech, groups discussed the rights and responsibilities that it confers. Their findings were presented to a panel of lecturers, a Student Union rep and a politician - me. Fortunately we were all fairly liberal in our approach to human rights and individual freedoms, so there were no major arguements.

Diversity & Equality Month (www.bath.ac.uk/diversitymonth) celebrates the wide variety of communities who study and work at Bath university. A number of events have been organised including lectures, comedy, films and music challenging attitudes to disability, sexuality, race, religion and more.

In some part, the series was organised as a reaction to the threat of the BNP, who attempted to give a speech on campus last academic year. The protests against brought many people together, who have worked to promote that which extremists decry. The Student’s Union is due to hold a referendum on implementing a ‘No Platform’ policy to prevent extremisit groups from using Union resources.

Congratulations to the new member of the Youth Parliament for BathNES, elected last night; also to her deputy and the other candidates.

Ten candidates stood to represent BathNES in an election open to pupils in BathNES school aged 12-18. Thousands of votes were cast giving a higher turnout than for most local elections. The poll was organised and counted by members of DAFBY, Democratic Action for BathNES Youth. I joined them for the count in the Guildhall and helped opening ballot boxes.

I became involved with the youth parliament elections when I visited a training day for the candidates in the Guildhall last year. I was asked to chair their afternoon session in the Council Chamber, including the reading of the manifestos and a debate. With this good work going on I wonder if the Conservatives will realise the impact of their plans to cut the youth work budget and close youth centres; the Tory cabinet member for childrens’ services did not attend the count yesterday.

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…

I’ve been contacted a few times about the terrible state of Bath’s school bus system, which leaves children waiting on the road as overcrowded buses drive past. I signed the ‘better buses’ petition several months ago and on Monday I joined their protest outside the Guildhall.

First buses, who could easily be portrayed as the villain, supplied their promotional Yellow Bus for the protest, although they continue to charge children the adult price for a season ticket. Up to 100 people, mainly parents, children and Lib Dem councillors, joined the protest on the steps of the Guildhall.

 It was timed to precede the Children’s Services Overview & Scrutiny Panel, whose meeting included an item on home to school transport. Their conclusion was to launch a review, which is probably the best that could be reasonably expected.

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I’ve just discovered that Bath fm have been playing an interview with me today. The interviewer and I were a little bored before the protest started, so I just chatted to kill time. I’m told it sounded very good though, but sadly I wasn’t listening.

After their exams at the beginning of term, Bath Uni students are back to lectures and the normal routine. This means that all of the clubs and societies are running again too. As chair of the Bath Uni Lib Dem Soc (I’ve been involved with them for four years) I’ve been organising the next term’s events.

The Bath uni student society is the largest political group on campus and has been to Westminster and the European Parliament while I’ve been with them. Hopefully they shall be helping out with the Sham Castle scrub clearance next month too.

Although society membership is only open to students, anyone can join the Liberal Democrat Party. go to www.libdems.org.uk or email me for more details.

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

Liberal Democrat councillors Armand Edwards and Nicholas Coombes are leading a volunteer community project to clear the scrub at Sham Castle. Trees and vegetation have grown up obscuring the historic view between the city and the folly.

No money was available from BathNES council for this work so Nicholas and Armand have coordinated a funding application to the Cotswold AoNB Sustainable Development Fund with promises of help from Bath University’s One World environmental society. The Bathwick Hill, Copseland and Beech Avenue Residents’ Associations have all offered their support as have the City of Bath Mayor’s Guides.

An action day is planned for volunteers to cut back the scrub and clear up after the young trees have been felled in March. If you are interested in helping please post back the form overleaf, call 01225 426577 or email nicholas_coombes@bathnes.gov.uk to be kept updated; your support will be welcomed.

“The Liberal Democrats believe in empowering people and communities to help themselves,” says Cllr Edwards, “this is a brilliant example of our policies in practice and we hope you can support us.”

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Since writing this article I have discovered that the council worker who helped us organise this project has been made redundant by the Conservative spending cuts. I have sent a card and pot plant, but it doesn’t quite make it right.