Twerton Bath

After Popular demand we have decided to run our ward Surgery on Saturday 5^th January. All Surgery's are held at The Hut Hinton Close off Newton Road 10 am till 12 noon and no appointment is required.

If you are unable to come to the surgery's residents are asked to phone us and we will come and see you.

Other dates for 2008 are

Feb 2^nd March 1^st April 5^th May 3^rd June 7^th July 5^th August 2^nd September 6^th October 4^th November 1^st December 6^th

The time of year is upon us again and we would like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas. And we would like to also thank our regular reader for the good wishes that we have received.

Planning applications

We have only one planning application to report this week and that is a permission to demolish 105 High Street ref Number 07/03747/CA.

Any representations on this application should be made in writing to Development Control, Trimbridge House, Trim Street, Bath BA1 2DP.  Alternatively representations can be made using the Planning Service pages of the Council's website http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/.  All representations must arrive no later than the 24^th January 2008. Please also let you local councillors know of any comments that you make.

Refuse and recycling

For your ease we have attached a word document of Bath & North East Somerset councils refuse and recycling collection days, if you have any problems contact Council connect 01225 394041. Please recycle all that you can over the Christmas period.

Refuse_Collections_only_Christmas.doc

And finally we have decided due to popular demand to run our residents surgery at Hinton Close on 5^th January 10am till 11am. Please come along no appointment needed.

The Liberal Democrat group on the council have produced a response to the Councils Core Strategy that includes shopping and planning policies.

In our response we say a clear no to any urban extension to Bath.

Please read the document attached we have been told that it is not too late to respond so if you have any comments please send them in.

Core_Strategy_LD_Response.rtf

Sheridan Road

We have received confirmation that the councils parking officers have been visiting Sheridan Road and have been taking action against vehicles parked on the pavements.

Hanna Close

This is an area that has had a problem with Moss on the paths this has now received treatment and the problem should now be cleared up.

PACT meetings.

For those of you who do not know what a PACT meeting is. It is meeting co-ordinated by the Police with community leaders meeting with residents in order to identify problems in the local communities and try to find out ways of solving them.

We have reached an agreement to have two Pact areas one joining with Southdown to have a Whiteway Pact, and the second one the rest of Twerton joining with part of Westmoreland to form a Twerton PACT. We have a provisional agreement with the Police that these will take Place in January 2008. The dates of the meetings will be circulated by the Police in the New Year.

Urban extension.

In the Councils Core Strategy an urban extension is suggested to Twerton Ward. Your local councillors are opposed to this extension and will be making suggestions as how this is not needed as there are sufficient Brown field sites available in the immediate future. Local Liberal Democrats are working on a full response to the Core Strategy including how the governments housing numbers can be met without an urban extension and this will be published shortly. We will post a copy on this site.

We have a planning application to build a two story dwelling following demolition of existing single storey workshop opposite the Electricity Sub Station the application at  North Way Whiteway Bath BA2 1PX. The reference number is 07/03664/FUL

Any representations on this application should be made in writing to Development Control, Trimbridge House, Trim Street, Bath BA1 2DP.  Alternatively representations can be made using the Planning Service pages of the Council's website http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/.  All representation must arrive no later than the 7th January 2008. Please also let your local councillors know what you have said.

The Council has launched a consultation planning document called The Core Strategy to which residents are being invited to respond to the document.

A deadline date for comments was originally set for December 17^th but we have asked that further time is given for residents to be able to respond.

Your Twerton Councillors have complained that you our residents have not been given sufficient notice of this consultation to be able to respond.

Please read the document which can be found at the following link http://tinyurl.com/2hfm4p and respond to the questions asked. It would be helpful if you could also let us know what your general responses are.

In February of next year, a government consultation will begin to decide which Post Offices in our area will be closed as part of the latest round of cuts.  Post Offices provide a valuable service to local communities, yet Labour sees fit to continue to close many Post Offices which many people rely on.  Twerton & Wedgewood Road Post Offices are not safe from these cuts.

The Liberal Democrats are against any further Post Office closures.  There have already been too many.  Labour has shut 4,000 since 1997.  Before them, the Tories closed 3,000 Post Offices; they cannot be trusted to safeguard this important network.

"The current government seems to have no idea how important local Post Offices are to the community," said Bath MP Don Foster.  "I am campaigning against any further closures in Bath.  The Post Office needs new investment, not cuts, and the ability to compete in the current market.  Neither Labour nor the Tories can be trusted to save the Post Offices."

Liberal Democrats believe that £2 billion should be invested in the Post Office network, and that all Post Offices should offer important government services.  New branches should open where needed and the government should be forced by law to maintain the current network.

"I am concerned that our local Post Offices could be closed," said Twerton Councillor Tim Ball our local Post Offices are such a vital part of this community, and they provide an important service for local people.  If it is closed, many people will be forced to travel miles to find the services that they rely on.  We have provided petitions at local Post Offices, and we hope that you will support our campaign."

On walking back form our local shop today I happened to see some old fence panels that had been dumped against the fence of Bath City football club, a bit further up an old portable Television had been dumped in the lane between Dominion Road & Freeview Road.

I am annoyed that some one has been so lazy and irresponsible not to dispose of their rubbish properly.

If we want to keep our area clean and tidy it is important that we all do our part in making sure that we do not dump rubbish in Public area's and clear up any mess that we make. If you know who dumped these items then please report them to Bath & North East Somerset Council connect on 01225 394041.

I have asked that these items are removed as soon as possible, and have also asked for the litter Bin on the corner of Dominion Road is replaced that was vandalised a few weeks ago.

Both your Councillors for Twerton Tim Ball, & Gerry Curran and are committed to making sure that Twerton is a clean and tidy place in which to live.

Liberal Democrat Councillors from Bath and North East Somerset who have been taking part in the Council's second annual Zero Waste Week will soon be meeting to weigh their residual waste from the Zero Waste Week and compare with the previous week!

                Pictured: Liberal Democrat Twerton Councillor Gerry Curran (who was the Executive Member who lead on last year's first Zero Waste Week) and Paul Crossley (Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group) with their waste at the start of the Zero waste week at Gerry Curran's home.

 Gerry said after last years Zero waste week that "Zero Waste Week was a great success.  It was a challenging concept designed to stretch our idea of what we can do to reduce the amount of waste we throw away. The week was an excellent way of raising awareness and really caught the imagination of the media locally and nationally."

"We are planning to build on the success of this first week by running it as an annual event and encourage more people to take part in the future by encouraging local communities and businesses to get involved."