SouthdownBath

Finally after so long in getting the terms of use between the Council and the YMCA agreed we now have an application to modernise and upgrade this facility. Please let us know your views.

Ward: Southdown App Ref: 09/01667/FUL Registered: 15th May 2009 Expiry Date: 10th July 2009

Location: Southdown Project Centre Mount Road Southdown Bath BA2 1LG

Proposal: Erection of single storey front extension to existing community centre following demolition of disused public lavatory block.

We were accompanied by our MP Don Foster and a number of helpers as we spent Friday morning calling on residents in Haycombe Drive.

A number of issues were raised - litter, the Rosewarn Park, bus fares, MP expenses, HD TV signals, toddler groups, sweeping schedules, traffic volumes, need for more BMX facilities. Between the three of us we will be taking up these matters and getting back to people.

I had an interesting chat with two of the young lads (Declan and Nick) who had been so helpful in the deep clean exercise. They were disappointed that the newspaper article had concentrated on the efforts of the Council and had not paid enough attention to the fantastic effort of young and old in a massive exercise to clean up Whiteway. The photo was good though. I will raise the matter with the local journalist and see if we can get a feature on the work that has gone on over the last three weeks.

It was great to see so many residents involved in the clean up and well done to everyone involved. Now perhaps we can move forward together to a period with less litter and flytipping which has been such a problem over the years in Whiteway. There will be a debreif session with Council and residents to discuss what worked and what needs improving for the next time.

Community Clear up

Our efforts in Southdown and Whiteway last week have been reported in this weeks Chronicle. See HERE. Again well done to all those involved. There are still a few issues to follow up - mossy paths that did not get cleaned and a couple of grafitti tags. We are chasing those up. Whilst it is great to see good news about Whiteway it would have been even better if the article had been much more positive about the fantanstic input and work from residents over the three days.

Letters - Rec and Rugby

One of Southdown's regular letter writers is in again this week with an interesting contribution to the Rec debate.

"I feel that the possible deal being struck with Bath Rugby over Firs Field is not fair for the citizens of Bath - it is a sop, a pacifier.

In the past The Rec was the centre for a military tattoo and lots of other events involving schools as it was seen as the central point for all things for the citizens of Bath.

The University of Bath, in collaboration with the council, has already taken much loved recreational ground used by the sporting public at Claverton Down (Norwood Playing Fields) and it seems as if the culture of profiteering is continuing to overtake the benefits that should be the right of the people of Bath.

As citizens, we have unwillingly sacrificed so much to commerce, profit etc., and seen the character of Bath change - losing many interesting historic developments along the riverside and seeing the destruction of stylish independent buildings in Southgate Street.

The current swap alternative - giving the trust the field at The Firs, Combe Down - is a pathetic option and once again the citizens of Bath are being short-changed into accepting a piece of land which is remotely accessible to most of the citizens of Bath and which in time will become redundant for this reason. And were The Firs to be made more attractive to the citizens of Bath, (and I cannot think for the life of me how!), it would create a need for car parking where none exists at the moment.

If The Rec legally belongs to the people of Bath, then so be it - there is nothing to debate. Let's develop its use for the people.

If it's of any value and as a starter for possible uses of The Rec we could have a concert hall, an ice skating rink, a bowling alley or affordable activities for babies, children and teenagers.

The citizens of Bath have a shopping list for The Rec - who's reading it?

ELEANOR J SWIFT Southdown Road Bath"

and on the website for Wed 20th

New Bus Shelter

A new bus shelter has been installed in Southdown.

Politicians Cllr Dine Romero (Lib Dem, Southdown) and Cllr Paul Crossley (Lib Dem, Southdown) have worked to increase the number of road-marked bus stops, which prevent cars from parking in the space and result in buses stopping in the middle of the road.

As part of the improvements in the past few months, they have also been striving to get more bus shelters put in.

The latest addition has been erected in Sladebrook Road which, Cllr Romero said, was particularly important as it served people in Mount Road shops.

She said: "Getting a good bus service into Southdown is very important, especially since the introduction of the free bus pass for residents over 60.

"However, if more people are to get on the bus it is important that stops are safe and that some shelter is provided from the weather.

"We are delighted to get this shelter which serves the Mount Road shops as well as local households and is very busy."

The councillors are now requesting a shelter in Haycombe Drive, opposite the Rosewarn Close entrance.

Find out your day by clicking on this LINK and entering your post code or street address for your collection day. In addition to your new waste collection service you can also get a lot of other information including planning applications.

Further information about the changes is available now through various leaflets and households will also be issued with a letter in the week commencing 25th May 2009 confirming which their new day will be from 8th June. Residents can also call Council Connect on 01225 394041 to find out their new day.

From the 8th June 2009, households across the district will put out their refuse, the green recycling box, and cardboard and garden waste on the same day - although the cardboard and garden waste will be collected every fortnight. The Council is asking residents to put out their waste by 7am on the right day every week and to check which week their cardboard and garden waste will be collected as this may have changed from current arrangements. Collection times on each street will be different to what people are used to at the moment so its important waste is put out early so as not to miss the collection.

This change was planned for two years ago but the new Conservative administration delayed implementation. We are delighted that it is arriving at last - better late than never. Same day collection improves re-cycling rates by as much as 6% and also allows greater flexibility and opportunity to collect more materials as recyclable. Most importantly though is that it makes it easier for residents who now will only have to remember one day for all their waste materials.

Today saw the end of three days of intense work in Southdown with a number of departments up in the area cleaning grafiitii, litter pick, street washing, paths being demossed. It also included the firebrigade with their safety trailer at Mount Road shops and the waste services up with their recycling information.

The work covered all parts of Southdown. However the real success was the community involvement achieved on the Whiteway estate thanks to the Regenerate project and the leadership of 4 of our residents lead by Elaine, Sandra, Michelle and Sally and with the help of a number of young people we cleared masses of bulky waste, scrap metal and other waste. We also had sponsorship from Hinton Organics with a large volume of soil and from Hilliers with seeds. These were put to good use transforming a number of tryes into food producing plant pots.

Well done to everyone who helped and got involved.

Deep Clean Keep Clean Stats; 13/14/15th May 2009

Streets mechanically swept 100% Where on street parking allows Litter Picking 100%

Graffiti 20 tags removed

Washing Down 7 paths moss removal, shopping area cleansed

AvonTask Force Home fire alarm checks 45 enquiries

Bulky Waste; Bulky Waste/Fly Tipping (from above locations); 5.5 x dustcart full (separated for recyclables) Wood 4 x flatbed lorry full Electrical items 6 x flatbed lorry full Garden Refuse including rubble 3.5 tonnes Bins & Seats Recently installed new bins Gardens cleared of refuse In excess of 60 Waste/Recycling Road show 73 Contacts Green Box Requests 37 (highest ever) Same Day Waste Collection advice 73 (two thirds had heard of the new arrangements) Volunteers (Nick, please ensure our heartfelt thanks are sent) 16 segregating waste etc, etc Ongoing clearance of green area in Rosewarn Close 

The three days ended with a group of Whiteway girls from Haysefield doing a litter pick of the Rosewarn ark under the watchful eye of the Mayor and local Councillor from Twerton Tim Ball.

The collection point in Rosewarn.

Today, with members from the Council, Somer Housing, Police and the DVLA, we conducted a big preparation and survey for work to be done for the Deep Clean Keep Clean days later this week. 2 vehicles were investigated for tax, mot and insurance - 14 graffiti sites were established and the cleanup started - 24 tenancy problems were identified - 12 litter sites were noted for the cleanup and a number of issues identified - problems with the play area in Parry Close, problems with footpaths in the Langdon road area.

We are going to ask Parks to replace the bark chipping with grass or something better. The play specialists seem to like bark chippings. Councillors find it a nightmare as when beer bottles get broke in them the bits get lost in the bark. 

As we had the power washer cleaner with us it did a cleanup on the Mount Road shops area and then went to Langdon to give a good power wash to the slippy footpath from the top of Langdon down to Blackmore.

On the Whiteway Road the DVLA team were stationed from 8.30am till midday to ping motorists with incomplete tax, MOT or insurance. 25 vehicles were identified. Interestingly this was from a vehicle count of over 4,100. Proof indeed of how busy this road is getting.

In the afternoon the Whiteway Project team had its monthly meeting withe the Re:Generate team. Five months into the project and the first outcomes are coming to fruition. Re:generate with a group of residents organised a scrap metal clear up and got rid of 5 lorry loads of scrap metal from houses around the estate. Great Job.

And finally back to Langdon Road to discuss the Yellow line changes with residents.

After the Church service at St Barnabus over coffee several people thanked me for the new bus shelter and some new white lines we have had put in. However then a young couple approached me and broached their problems about their housing and the need to move out of a one bedroom flat into a two bedroom house.

Social housing is in short supply in Bath and with the high price of land it is difficult getting more built. The Government would be well advised to simply take back all the banker bonuses paid out from our now nationalised banks and give the money to Councils and Social landlords to build new housing for social rent. Let the fat cat bankers sue (many people feel they would be better serving society from behind bars for the damage they have done) - we need money into social housing.

This economic crash is certainly hitting several households and business. Had to call round to help a young lady facing eviction because of a bank foreclosure on the property following a business collapse. The much vaunted help from the Government simply is not there! Suddenly I am referring people on a monthly basis to a specialist solicitor in Bath who works legal aid cases.

I am now helping three household in Southdown facing a bleak future in June. When I was canvassing in Bristol in the evening in Hillside ward - a Labour stronghold in previous years - there was real anger against the Labour Government. People suffering at the same time as reading about Hazel Blears playing the expenses games "within the rules" will not be good news for Labour in June.

On a better note we finally got our new bus shelter at the Catholic Church stop in Sladebrook Road. Dine waiting for the no 10 shortly after the shelter installation on Friday morning.

At tonights public meeting we have decided to set up a Neighbourhood Watch to cover Mount Road, Mount View and Mount Grove.

Prior to the meeting Dine and I had emailed all our contacts to inform them, then at the weekend the resident coordinator dropped a leaflet through letterboxes. Then tonight we had our beat team come along to a meeting.

The benefits of a scheme were explained and then we took comments and questions. The meeting has agreed to proceed so we have a new key co-ordinator and a new treasurer. Then as a team of police, residents and Councillors we will now work to ensure that the scheme gets up and running and is successful. We intend to use the power of email to contact most and then have volunteers to pass messages and information on to a max of three houses. That way we should cover every household.

Our job is to request permission from all our email addresses to pass them on to the coordinator. Then the PCSO team will call on all the other houses to attempt to fill in the gaps and find more volunteers to liaise with non-email households.

We and the beat team have a goal to spread the cover of NW schemes more widely acorss the ward and to work to ensure they are successful. 

Next step a summer barbeque?

Neighbourhood Watches do reduce crime and improve community links. If your street dowes not have a watch and you would like to get one going please contact us and we will help yopu get it started. They really do not involve much work once up and running.

The next Deep Clean Keep Clean is coming to Southdown on May 13,14,15. We are making lots of preparations - footpaths to be de-slimed, hedging on pathways to be cut back, litter spots to be tidied up etc etc. If you have a spot that needs cleaning please let us know so that we can add it to the list.

Nick Gardham on the Regenerate project is working up a mini recycling scheme for Rosewarn for the 14th that will involve old tyres being turned into plant pots and several other ideas. We are getting the commercial shredder up as well as the high power street washer. He is also getting a lot of commitment from residents to be involved in the action days so that its not just CouncillorsCouncil and the agencies.

This morning saw a young mum come in who is about to be evicted because her landlord is behind on mortgage repayments. That now makes three pending evictions we are helping with that may or may not result in people loosing housing in June July. This recession still has a way to go and the Labour Government are failing people badly in their handling of the economy. The mortgage help scheme is a complete fiasco. Who would have thought that Labour and not Conservative are more interested in supporting millionairesand banker bonus schemes than people on low incomes in genuine need!

The new vandal proof bin between The Hollow and Blagdon Park is overflowing again so have reported that to waste services. We are trying to get this bin emptied on a more regular basis as it is being so well used since being sited there.

Request for a bus shelter in Haycombe Drive.

And of course our other perenial issue raised again on speeding traffic. 

Report Back from Nick Gardham on the regenerate project in Whiteway on the scrap metal collection.

This was a huge success with involvement from a number of residents who mapped out where all the scrap metal, washing machines etc weree, arranged for a scrap metal collector to come for free and arranged the collection points and the information leaflets to be put around the estate.

It was a huge success with one lorry load on Thursday from Rosewarn, 2 lorry loads on Friday from Haycombe and 1 lorry load on Saturday from Kelston. The scrap metal; collector was pleased, residents were pleased and the whole places looks better. Congratulations to Nick and his team for a great result.