Local councillors have always been able to ask officers to send planning applications to committee, in response to residents requests or if they had concerns about an application, but that right has now been removed.
Any request has now to go through the Conservative Chair of Planning, Councillor Les Kew, who is based in High Littleton and last week he refused my request for a local application to go to committee.
With respect to Cllr Kew, he knows little about Combe Down (why should he), but he made this refusal without any reference to myself or Cherry. Officers and councillors all work to the Council’s Local Plan, but local councillors often have that extra bit of local knowledge about what is good for their communities, that officers and councillors from other areas do not have. It can make all the difference to a decision on a Planning Application.
Our view is that by removing this right of referral, democracy has suffered and this is just one more example of how power is being taken centrally back into the Guildhall, where more and more decisions are being made behind closed doors.

On Wednesday 26th March, I was delighted to be invited to talk about my role as a local Councillor to the Mothers Union at Holy Trinity Church, Combe Down. There were between twenty and thirty women who attended, and I did my best to cover aspects of the role of a Councillor, what we do, the kind of diverse issues we are involved in, locally and BANES wide, the Committees I sit on, whether we are paid, how The Council Administration works, and other Bath and NE Somerset wide involvements. I explained that both Roger and I are also Charter Trustees of The City, supporting The office of the Mayor, because Combe Down is one of  a number of Wards within the Bath City boundary.

There were a good number of questions, and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting this Group, and hearing about the many projects they support both here and worldwide.

It strikes me that the role of the local Councillor, and what they do, might not be that well known to everybody, certainly I did not know a great deal before embarking on the process a couple of years ago, and If you would like us to come and speak to your Combe Down Group or Society, do get in touch, by email, telephone, or leave a comment on this site.

We have started a Community Enews letter, please get in touch and let us know your email if you would like to be on the mailing list.

We have just sent out our community news letter to local residents whose email addresses we have. As well as local and city wide news there is list of upcoming meeting dates for organisations on Combe Down. If you wish us to advertise your meeting or be added to the elist for eNews, just email us or use the ‘report a problem’ facility on this web site.
The response to eNews and our reporting of progress on the mines and on other local issues has been very positive. We intend to continue with an eNews on a monthly basis. Thank you to all those who have responded.

We are at present updating and improving the website. We are trying to build up a section with details of local services. This obviously takes time, so if you are not included yet, but would like your details to go into this section of the website, please email us.

Unlike our previous blog both of us will be able to write on the blog. The site will contain news of what is happening in Combe Down and about some of the issues affecting local residents that we are working on. We are also building a directory of local services/businesses, so that anyone new to Combe Down can at a glance see what is available in the community.

There is always something going on in Combe Down, especially with the mines work continuing in the village. However, the project is now more than halfway through and is on course to end in 2009. There is a consultation doing the rounds at present on whether local residents want any changes to the Firs Field when it is returned to the local community when the stabilisation project comes to an end.

The possibility of a Stone Mines Interpretation Centre at Ralph Allen’s Yard in Rockhall Lane is becoming more likely with every day that passes and a public art project, entirely funded by English Partnerships is progressing. And the Mine workers with their drills have just left my back garden. Combe Road is set to reopen at the end of April, when the buses will return, going one way through the village and returning to the city along North Road.

On the down side though, the houses that have been damaged by the stabilisation process will need to be repaired, and although the time fro these repairs is coming closer, more cracks have recently appeared in more houses and a fall of rock has occurred in the old Quarry at the back of the Firs.

In Foxhill the exciting development by the church on the St Andrews site is making progress with the planning application just submitted, and although the latest news is that the Planners feel that the proposed building is too big for the site, we look forward to a new Community Centre on the St Andrews site. The results of our survey of what local people wish to see in any new community facilities has been passed to the Church.

Cherry has been pressing the council for their promised ‘outreach’ youth worker for Foxhill, but despite getting the Children’s Portfolio holder, Cllr Chris Watt (Con) up to Foxhill there is as yet no news.