Paul Crossley1

The Council is currently consulting on a large number of traffic orders to ease the journeys for buses round our streets. I have attached below the proposals for the orders in Southdown. If anyone has any comments they would like to make on them please contact us. At present a few key conjested points are slowing a lot of bus routes up. If we can ease these points in a way that works and is acceptable to residents it will provide a much better bus service on a number of routes from our area into the centre.

Whilst on the subject of buses I am raising the problems of the 20 and the difficulties facing children getting to Ralph ALlen with the bus company. This has already been raised by other councillors, the school and many families.

Planning_Application_and_NWAATs.doc

Haycombe_drive_NWAAT.pdf

Sladebrook_Road_NWAAT.pdf

Sladebrook_Road_2_NWAAT.pdf

Southdown had its first PACT (Police and Communites Together) meeting at Culveryhay school. We had about 50 residents present and respresentatives from Police, Council, Co-op and an observer from another PACT area. The police did all the set up work and organised the meeting. Our Chair will be Angela Godfrey - a former Mayor and Councillor in Southdown.

The meeting heard the police presentation and then we divided into 5 groups to each debate our top three priorities for sorting out. These priorities were then listed out and the whole room voted collectively on its top 3 priorities to be addressed by the next meeting in three months time. The number one issue in Southdown is anti social beviour however a meeting like this represents the views and opinions of those who turn up - so we have ended up with as our top priority - speeding on Whiteway Road then parking in Haycombe Drive then vandalism at the Co-op/Mount Road shops.

Speeding on Whiteway Road is an issue raised in this blog several times. We are currently putting together a Highways Team to look at the safety aspects of all of this road from the Globe to St Martins. Parking in  Haycombe Drive is certainly an issue as the estate was built before cars. Cllr Romero and I have adopted a policy of living with cars parking on the grass verge and putting in robust grass-crete solutions so that it doesnt end up looking a mess. This priority came from one resident in one of the groups. I think a police crack down on this parking offence will simply create a lot of bad feeling towards them and spoil the increasing levels of trust that Cllr Romero and I have built up with the support of the new beat team and PCSOs towards policing in the area. We have pursuaded the police to first put out a leaflet to the residents asking for views before enforcement. The third priority on vandalism is the nearest we got to an anti-social beviour priority!! Again making Mount Road shops a sustainable viable parade has been in this blog many times.

This was the first meeting and so we all have a lot to learn on how the process works and how the outcomes are to be judged. 

Other issues:

Double yellow Lines. We have sent out a list of proposals to put some double yellow lines around the place to enable our buses to travel more easily and thus increase their reliability. This is another issue of narrow roads and parked cars. This has been exacerbated over the years by the increase in car ownership. the increase in houses of multi occupancy and finally the trend amongst households to use the garage for storeage and to park the car outside. In Bath we have had growing bus ridership each year for over seven years now. This has accelerated with the free bus pass for the over 60s. Therefore we have more buses with more passengers - however we have not yet seen any signs of anyone getting rid of their cars. So people want more buses and they want them to keep more reliably to their timetables but they do not want to loose any parking spaces on the road. Another nice conundrum to solve!!! 

Southside Centre. After the failure of the BCP bid to turn this into an economic hub with a social function failed we are now investigating ways to simply restore it as a youth and social centre. This will be a far more achievable project to deliver and is needed in the Whiteway area. 

At our surgery the issues were anti social beaviour, a couple of neighbour disputes and the problems of loan sharks. I am an active member of our Credit Union and we are trying to build this up as a way of helping families that cannot access the banking system and enabling them to keep out of the clutches of the loan sharks - some of which are to all intents and purposes regulated proper finance companies. I am raising this issue with our MP as I feel that there are still too many irresponsible companies with unethical lending policies and then ruthless debt collection.  

Southdown had its first PACT - Police and Communities Together meeting tonight at the Culverhay School. We had a large turnout of about 50 residents and the evening went well with lots of concerns raised. I was a bit concerned that we were focussing too much on traffic and car issues and not enough on anti-social behaviour which is the main issue in the Whiteway are of the ward. Still a PACT meeting is set up to reflect the concerns and priorities of residents who turn up. Lesson make sure that more residents get to the next meeting.

We had several tables all discussing issues and the attached document lists the priorities discussed. Of these three were voted as the main ones and we will report back on progress in 4 months time. Present apart from residents = police, councillors, co-op, youth service and Somer Housing. The meeting was chaired by Angela Godfrey - our last CSAG chair.

Southdown___Whiteway_Pact_01.10.07.rtf