SouthdownBath

Attended an excellent evening with local football referees - including several from Southdown - at the Guildhall. The event was to celebrate 100 years of referreing in Somerset and the guest speaker was Jack Taylor - our most famous world cup referee.

Our local paper is now only a weekly and it did not make the press until the 17 April. Story and picture Link.

In Bath each Easter we have two Cross Walks where Christians come together to show their faith. Each walk has three routes - each following a cross. One set of walk ends up at the Abbey and the other set ends up on the top of the Roundhill in Southdown. The three walks set of from St Lukes, St Micheals and Englishcombe Parish. This year I joined the walk from St Micheals in Twerton. We walked along Twerton High Street, up The Hollow, visit to the City Farm and then along Mount Road to The Roundhill.

It was a very windy day but a beautiful view and it was very special to be on top of a hill with three Crosses sharing faith with so many people.

One of the pleasant responsibilities of being a Councillor in Bath is the fact that you are also a Charter Trustee and therefore support the Mayor from time to time. Today we had a visit from a school in Aix-en-Provence - one of our twin towns. They all spoke better English than I spoke French but they enjoyed the visit to the Mayors Parlour. Our Mayor is an ambassador for Bath. Their Mayor is an elected Mayor with power like London.

Link to the notes of the latest Interagency meeting held at the Methodist Church in The Hollow

Inter_Agency_Meeting_held_March_2008.doc

Sat 15 March

Had a long walkaround Rosewarn this morning before heading off back to the TV and the final day of 6 Nations Rugby. Cipriani was great news for England. It was nice to see the Italians win and Wales are worthy winners of the grandslam this year. However back to the morning. Rosewarn Close has suffered a lot from litter from a number of sources and anti social bevaiour from a a group of young boys.  The Close and the surrounding green were remarkably clean but when I got round to one section some residents were sweeping up broken glass and litter. The group of boys had apparently turned up at midnight and stayed on the street drinking till 4am.

I asked the residents why they had not reported it to the police and they said it wasn't worth it. They doubted that anyone would turn up and they were concerned about being fingered. We spent some time discussing the issue and the importance of reporting incidents even when there was not an immediate response. I will get the PCSO team to call round and have a chat and re-inforce the message.

Wed 12 March

Along with Cotswold wardens, Council staff teachers and lots of excited children from Southdown Infants we all left school at 9am and set off to pass through the Sirrus Wood and on to the hillside to plant some trees and hedging plants. It was a wet and windy day and the grass was slippy and wet. It was great fun and everyone enjoyed themselves. The aim was to get youngsters excited about the countryside on their doorstep. It certainly did that with no shortage of help to dig the holes and plant the saplings.

This area is an important hillside to the SW of Bath and contains several areas favoured by dormice amongst other wildlife. 

I am on the fundraising committee of our Bath and NE Somerset Credit Union. In Southdown - particularly on the Whiteway state - we have a problem with families getting into debt by borrowing money at exhorbitant interest from loan sharks and quasi respectible financial organisations. Interest rates approaching 160% are not acceptable and should not be legal. The Credit Union is growing in our area and one of our successful initiatives for school children is Money Munchers awhich encourages primary school children to start saving.

At present we are not big enough or yet have enough borrowers or savers and so are submitting a bid to the lottery fund that will enable us to help many more families. Debt Councilling is racing up the Bath CAB agenda at present. We have already put a leaflet into Rosewarn Close advertising our service and more will be going out. Filling out the applications take a lot of work though and in this instance the application is a two phase one. You apply in round one for the right to see if you can submit a full application in round two.

In the evening I went over to the first annual Police Community Awards for Avon and Somerset Police. The event was held at Congresbury. Our beat team have really been good over the last two years and Dine and I nominated the team and they won the Bath and NE Somerset section. Well done Alastair, Julie and Emma.

PICTURE TO FOLLOW

As Deputy Mayor attended three functions over the last few days - a military talk for the new Rifles, a civic service inBristol with the Lord Mayor of Bristol and a function for the Royal Commonwealth Society.

In the ward we held our monthly surgery - a long chat with a resident who is setting up a Whiteway Association, problems in Oriole Grove, Litter and parking issues. After the surgery went on a walkaround Rosewarn Close where we continue to have burglary problems and anti social behaviou issues.

Any comments on this one?

Ward: Southdown App Ref: 08/00887/CLPU

Registered: 6th March 2008 Expiry Date: 1st May 2008

Location: 41 Elliston Drive Southdown Bath BA2 1LU

Grid Ref: (E)372684 - (N)163943 LB Grade: N/A

Proposal: Provision of loft with rear dormer

OR this one

Ward: Southdown App Ref: 08/00614/FUL

Registered: 28th February 2008 Expiry Date: 24th April 2008

Location: 84 Mount Road Southdown Bath BA2 1LH

Grid Ref: (E)372561 - (N)163626

Proposal: Erection of a 2 bed detached bungalow to the rear of 84/86 Mount Road (Resubmission)

OR this one

Ward: Southdown App Ref: 08/00616/FUL

Registered: 15th February 2008 Expiry Date: 11th April 2008

Location: 22 Southdown Road Southdown Bath BA2 1JG

Grid Ref: (E)372891 - (N)163295

Proposal: Erection of new 2 bedroom dwelling to land adjoining rear and side of no. 22 (Resubmission)