Works at the junction of Queens Drive and Hawthorn Grove will take place on Friday, when a diversion will need to be in place for just that day.  What that diversion is has not yet been decided, but keep an eye on this web site for latest information and look for a notice on bus stops.

I could not believe that the Council’s contractors could not work around the buses and this proved to be true.  I am very disappointed that buses were quite unnecessarily diverted over the weekend.

The eastern part of Hawthorn Grove, Down Avenue, Quantocks, Porlock Road, Sedgemoor Road, Exmoor Road, Oakhill Road and Drake Avenue if approved, will be completed by the end of March.  This will leave only Foxhill Road and Bradford Park without a 20 mph limit.

Justification (it’s what most people who use their common sense know) has recently been published in a North West Public Health Observatory report, which concluded that,  “140 killed or seriously injured child casualties could have been prevented each year between 2004-8 if 20mph traffic speed zones had been introduced in residential areas (other than main roads) across the North West.” Dominic Harrison  Director of Public Health Blackburn and Darwin Council said:

“Most children will live and recover if hit by a vehicle travelling at 20mph whereas most risk a lifetime of disability or death if hit at 30mph”.  

The Foxhill estate will be the largest local area, apart from the city centre, with 20 mph speed limit cover in B&NES.  This new report demonstrates the value of 20 mph speed limits and shows how they can save lives.  We are pleased with the progress made her in Combe Down, but we would like to see these speed limits in all residential streets across the Council area. We have long campaigned for 20 mph speed limits in Foxhill and we are almost there. 

Dealing with speeding traffic and making the roads safer was listed In our Six to Fix pledges made before the last local elections in 2007, after residents told us that these issues, were high on their list of priorities. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12481423  gives more details about how speed limits can save lives.

Part of the reason people like to live in Combe Down and relocate here is the Community feel, with a great selection of local businesses and shops. This provides a real hub, and social heart to the village, as well as excellent personal services for local people. However In these financial times, our local businesses are feeling the squeeze, and it is vital to keep these small areas alive and vibrant, by all of us being conscious of the benefits in shopping locally. It can often lift the spirits to get out and about, visit our shops and have a chat with people on the way.

We have been talking to the Combe Down shops about the challenges they have, and we have raised the issues in the Press. We have also met with Bath’s Small Business Focus Group, and hope to have a meeting to see how further support can be given. Perhaps we could have an open week whereby people can come to the shops and businesses and find out more about the range of services which are there, and take away a leaflet, and chat to the traders.

Jacs from the Avenue Newsagent ihas been very proactive, and is now doing new “Sweet Bouquets” for special occasions, gifts and parties, or however you want to use them. They look really great. As a result of our Press release to the Chronicle, Sainsburys at Odd Down have offered to put up signs about the local shops in their foyer, and appear to want to help reduce the adverse effects they have had on nearby small shopping areas. We will keep you posted on developments, and let us know what you think. We would love to hear from other businesses and Combe Down People who work from home.

There will be the Heritage Open Days happening next month, and I have always found getting along to them really worthwhile, and usually come away having discovered something new.

You can take a tunnel tour at the Roman Baths on Thursday 8^th or Friday 9^th September, visit the local history store at St John’s on the corner of Locksbrook Road and Upper Bristol Road, in Bath, on Thursday 8^th or Saturday 10^th September. There is a wide variety of sites across the area providing local residents with access to places which are not usually open to visitors.

 Other sites open as part of Heritage Open Days 2011 include:

•  Bath Masonic Hall
• Central United Reformed Church
• Cleveland Baths
• Museum of Bath at Work
• Nexus Methodist Church, Walcot
• No 4 The Circus
• Roman Baths – Exploring the Periphery talk and tour
• St Swithin’s Church, Walcot
• Southcot Burial Ground
• Claverton Pumping Station
• Cross Manufacturing Co Ltd, Midford Road, Bath
• Englishcombe Tithe Barn
• Eyre Chapel, Perrymead
• Prior Park Landscape Garden
• Saltford Brass Mill
• Somerset and Dorset Railway Heritage Trust, Midsomer Norton
• May Gurney Recycling Depot, Keynsham
• Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution
• Widcombe Open Chapel Trail

 For more details of Heritage Open Days 2011, including listings and the online leaflet, visit Bath & North East Somerset Council’s website www.bathnes.gov.uk/heritageevents.

A precision operation to replace Bath’s “Hetling Spring” Borehole begins next month as part of the Council’s efforts to protect the heritage of the city’s popular thermal water system. This project falls under one of the sections of Cherry’s Portfolio, being to do with Bath Heritage.

Engineers from Wessex Water, working on behalf of the Council, will create a new borehole for the spring to replace the old pipework which is suffering from corrosion. The replacement borehole will drill down from a vault under Hot Bath Street at an angle of 13 degrees in order to intercept the base of the Hetling Spring at 75 metres below street level.

This is a significant piece of precision engineering commissioned by Bath & North East Somerset Council, which means drilling through 80 metres of ground in order to reach the source. This is the first piece of intervention work to be carried out on the hot springs for over a decade but it is necessary for us to maintain the sustainability of the thermal springs system.

The current Hetling borehole casing is made of mild steel which is rotting. We don’t want an unstable source of the thermal waters as it would threaten the whole spring system by affecting the hydraulic pressure that brings the water to the surface. Therefore it’s vitally important that we carry out these works to preserve the springs as an attraction for residents and visitors.

We’re putting the head gear in one of the vaults under the road so we are presently working with a team of archaeologists to explore the foundations of the vaults under controlled conditions. This is part of our commitment to not only protect the source but also to respect the vaults and the overall heritage of the city. 

How the repairs will work:

• The drilling rig will be set up in Hot Bath Street – set back a reasonable distance from the Hetling Spring to avoid disturbed geological deposits in the spring pipe – and the borehole will be drilled through a pre-formed access hole in the road.
• Steel casings will be progressively installed and grouted to seal the upper layers.
• Once the carboniferous limestone aquifer rock is reached, at the base of the Hetling Spring, a plastic pipe will be installed to bring the thermal spring water to the surface.
• Upon completion of the drilling operation, the rig will be removed and a permanent access cover will be installed in the road above the vault.
• Following installation of the headplate, twin 100mm ducts will be laid to carry the piping to the existing Hetling borehole control chamber. The existing Hetling Spring Borehole will then be sealed off.

The first phase of the works to install the replacement borehole is expected to take place from 5 September to 15 November and will require the closure of the lower end of Hot Bath Street. Phase two – the installation of the new ducts and sealing the existing borehole – is anticipated to close the upper end of Hot Bath Street from 16 to 24 November.

Bath & North East Somerset Council is endeavouring to keep local businesses around the area in question informed about the traffic situation so that they can prepare alternative arrangements for deliveries from their suppliers.

David Lawrence, the Council’s Divisional Director for Tourism, Leisure & Culture, said: “We are liaising with local traders through the Business Improvement District to explain why we have to carry out the work at Hot Bath Street to ensure that the head gear for the borehole can be placed in solid ground rather than soft sediment, as it is at the moment.

“We are committed to continue consulting with local businesses as we endeavour to keep disruption to a minimum, which is why we have scheduled these essential works to take place after the summer holidays are over and before the Christmas lights are switched on.

“By carrying out the work, Bath & North East Somerset Council is meeting its obligations under the Avon Act 1982 to protect the important source of the water whilst also promoting the use of the spring system and preserving it for future generations.”

For a copy of the Traffic Regulation Order relating to the work needed and how it will affect traffic around the Hot Bath Street area, visit www.bathnes.gov.uk/temporarytrafficorders/hotbathstreet.

Cherry and Roger outside Foxhill MOD last week

Minister for Housing, Grant Shapps announced in early June that all three Bath MOD Sites would be disposed of for development over the next few years. This was despite the fact that MP Don Foster and North East Somerset MP Jacob Rees-Mogg secured a commitment from Defence minister Andrew Robathan that they, council leaders and union officials could have until the end of June to make the economic case for saving at least one of the Bath sites.

1,200 staff from Bath are already in the process of being transferred, but another 1,400 are scheduled to follow in the next two years. Campaigners have disputed the financial figures being used to justify the move, and also raised concerns over staff recruitment and retention.

They also argue that no serious study has been made into the impact of the move, both in terms of the added pressures on the already over-stretched transport links and the damage to the Bath economy.

The three political group leaders on Bath and North East Somerset Council have already written to the MoD to raise their concerns, urging the Government to “pause” and re-evaluate the case for shutting the site.

A statement earlier this month from the Department for Communities said: “The rationalisation of office accommodation owned by the Ministry of Defence will free up three sites at Foxhill, Warminster Road and Ensleigh, which will be brought forward for disposal over the next few years.

“Subject to planning, the 36-hectare sites have the potential for over 1,200 new homes. Bath and North East Somerset’s core strategy is going to enquiry in public in September and it is anticipated that the inspector’s report due in spring 2012 will confirm the allocations for development.”

The closure of all the sites would end the MoD’s 72-year association with Bath, having had offices in the city since the start of the Second World War when the old Admiralty was moved out of London.

Don Foster has argued that not all of the Ensleigh site can be disposed of because computer systems cannot be moved.

Roger and I will be closely monitoring the future for these sites, and especially for the substantial Foxhill Site, and plans there.

Roger and Cherry in Foxhill

With this next phase of 20 mph speed limits, which will soon go out for consultation, almost all of Foxhill will be covered by a 20 mph speed limit.

The eastern part of Hawthorn Grove, Down Avenue, Quantocks, Porlock Road, Sedgemoor Road, Exmoor Road, Oakhill Road and Drake Avenue should be completed by the end of March.  This will leave only Foxhill Road and Bradford Park without a 20 mph limit.  We have asked the Council to extend the 20 mph speed limit to these last two roads when there are funds available.

There has been evidence, and a high impact TV advertisement in recent years,  about how lower speed reduces the risk of death of children in collision with motor vehicles.  This has once again been been highlighted in a new report.

The North West Public Health Observatory concluded that “140 killed or seriously injured child casualties could have been prevented each year between 2004-8 if 20mph traffic speed zones had been introduced in residential areas (other than main roads) across the North West.”

Last Week saw the controversial debate in the Commons on the Government’s proposals to sell off or lease some of our Forests, as a way of “managing them”. People in this area, and widespread, have been alarmed by this, and have serious concerns about the need to keep our public access to our Forests, and to continue to be able to enjoy the various leisure pursuits in these environments with the current freedoms. This topic concerns me as the Bio-Diversity Champion for B&NES Council, and I have already made my position clear in opposing such a move without taking on board the results of a full public consultation.

This is not a new idea though, as the previous Labour Government sold off large numbers of acres of public forestry estate often without proper protection, but we do not want that to happen again.

Currently our Forests are mostly run by the Forestry Commission, and it is true there are anomalies and conflicts of interest in that the Forestry Commission whilst being the regulator of the timber trade, is also the largest operator in the timber market. It is not unreasonable to debate how best our Forests can be protected and managed, but it does seem as if the Government are wanting to push their ideas through, before a proper consultation has taken place. I was pleased to see that MP Don Foster did not vote for the motion, which he felt looked like the Government had determined its actions before the consultation.

The Woodland Trust has a Petition on Line expressing concerns about the habitats of Forests and ancient woodland, and the dangers in the Government’s proposals LINK HERE

Part of the permanent legacy from the Stone Mines Stabilisation Project is the building of an Interpretation Centre at Ralph Allen’s Yard.  In the next couple of months a Planning Application will be submitted for 9 homes and the Interpretation Centre.  The development of the homes will finance the Centre.

There have been a number of meetings to inform people about the development and to ask their views.  Most so far have been very positive.  Former councillor and Mayor of Bath, Jeff Manning has organised two public meetings to let people know where the Steering Group for this project has got to and to ask for volunteers to sit on a Trust to manage the Centre when it is built and for people to do the myriad of jobs needed to make this community asset a success.  It is still not too late to volunteer. Just contact us for more information.

The photo shows local residents with us looking at a display of photos taken during the Stone Mines Project – these could be on display in the new Interpretation Centre

Andrew Stunell MP, Coalition Communities Minister, writes re the Local Government Settlement

Final Local Government Settlement (England only)

It is disappointing that the final settlement out this week has made only minor changes to the draft. The statement by Eric Pickles to the Commons is here:http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110131/wmstext/110131m0001.htm#1101313000015  Key changes from the draft Settlement:

·                Extra £10m to compensate district councils for the transfer of funding for concessionary travel

·                Additional £11.6m has been put into the Transition Fund bringing the maximum ‘revenue spending power’ reduction from 8.9% to 8.8%

·                25% cut in Home Office Community Safety Fund grants (total falls from £77.2m this year to £56.8m next year)

·                Parish precepts now excluded from calculations of Spending Power·                Housing Market Renewal , LEGI and Eco Towns – spending has been corrected to take account of actual spend (which helps several councils in receipt of Transitional Grant)

Our Liberal Democrat Group Leader on the Local Government Association, Cllr Richard Kemp, has said,

 “Today’s announcement confirms what councils already knew. Local government will have to cover a funding shortfall of around £6.5bn in the next financial year, with some councils facing more than 16 per cent reductions in the amount of money they receive from the Government. It is the toughest settlement in living memory.

“We are disappointed that the Government has not listened to our request to take some of the sting out of the cuts by spreading them evenly over the next four years instead of heavily frontloading them. The speed and depth of the cuts mean that conventional efficiency drives, such as shared services, will fall well short of delivering the kind of savings needed to protect all the services councils provide.

Inevitably councils face extremely tough decisions on which services to save and which to cut. “The extra £10m to compensate district councils for the transfer of funding for concessionary travel to county councils will go a small way to addressing the shortfall they face. However, it doesn’t address the need for fundamental reform of the way free bus travel to the elderly and disabled is funded. County councils, who take over the responsibility for concessionary travel this year, will not receive enough money to pay for their new duty, with some facing shortfalls of millions of pounds.“Alongside today’s announcement on the main grant settlement, the belated announcement by the Home Office of a 25 per cent cut to Community Safety Partnerships funding endangers a vital service which combats crimes such as anti-social behaviour, domestic violence, graffiti, problem families and substance misuse. Councils have been waiting since December to hear about this part of the settlement, and the delay has made planning for the future extremely difficult.”