New Web Site

Cherry and I now have a new web site. As well as our normal posts and links there are a number of other pages including information about local services. We are happy to add to this local directory. The new web address is www.combedown.mycouncillor.org.uk

Glasshouse Field under threat.

Residents living in Southstoke Road and Midford Road, whose back gardens back on to the field were surprised to receive a letter from the Council asking them to sign a licence for the long standing use of their back gates into the field.

For as long as many can remember some residents have had access into the field without any problem. This action coincides with rumours of the departure of Old Culverhaysians Rugby Club from the field and the £20m sale of the field for development.

Local councillors were kept in the dark about the future of the field and asked Cllr Malcolm Hanney (Conservative Cabinet Member for Resources) to ‘set the record straight’ and confirm that there are no plans to sell off Glasshouse Fields.

Cllr Hanney's response is as follows:
"This has been subject to quite a lot of local speculation for the last few months. Property Services have no plans to take such a proposal forward. The school do have ambitions to create a sporting "hub" which, as far as we understand it, centre on Odd Down Playing Fields; which are closer to the school than Glasshouse, but there have been no discussions, to our knowledge about selling off this field.

Property Services are, as part of the review of the estate, trying to sort out a lot of illegal openings on to this and other school fields/open spaces by, initially seeking to formalise them by use of licence or, if they don't agree to such a licence, seeking to block them up. This is good estate management practice.

There is, unfortunately, no way that this authority can make undertakings as to the future of school premises. Under the provisions of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, any school may make an application for Foundation status. Several of the secondary schools in BANES have applied for such status and it is possible that some or all of the remaining secondary schools will follow suit.

If this happens, all school property assets transfer to the School. They are then able to deal with their land in a way that they see as being to their best benefit. In the case of Hayesfield a decision was made to sell off their detached playing field. The Council has very limited say in these decisions."

So the field is safe for now, but in the longer term Culverhay School, if it became a foundation school, could sell it off. However, they would have to get permission from Sport England to sell off playing fields.

We would like to know whether the Council has the right to block up these entrances that have been used for years. There is certainly not enough information contained in the letter to residents. Our view is that local residents should consider setting up their own Friends of Glasshouse Field, to look at how they can protect the Field in the future.

Latest Planning Applications

Ward: Combe Down App Ref: 08/00237/FUL
Parish: N/A
Registered: 16th January 2008 Expiry Date: 12th March 2008
Location: The St Andrew Centre Hawthorn Grove Combe Down Bath BA2 5QA
Grid Ref: (E)374924 - (N)162366 LB Grade: N/A
Proposal: Erection of a new single storey Community Church containing meeting rooms, cafe, kitchen and office
Officer: David Audsley
Applicant: Ms Rosie Coates
Agent: Hetreed Ross
Combe Down PCC
Holy Trinity Church Office EI Nido
The Avenue
Combe Down
Bath
BA2 5NE
Attika Workspace
Bath Brewery
Toll Bridge Road
Bath
BA1 7DE

Ward: Combe Down App Ref: 08/00272/FUL
Parish: N/A
Registered: 1st February 2008 Expiry Date: 28th March 2008
Location: 79 - 81 Bradford Road Combe Down Bath BA2 5BP
Grid Ref: (E)375014 - (N)162282 LB Grade: N/A
Proposal: Provision of new white powder coated aluminium shop frontage and relocation of existing entrance door and replacement air conditioning plant
Officer: Neil Harvey
Applicant: Co-operative Group Limited
Agent: Kendall Kingscott Ltd
Design And Services Dept
Co-op Store
Wyndham Way
Portishead
Bristol
BS20 8LR
Glentworth Court
Lime Kiln Close
Stoke Gifford
Bristol
BS34 8SR

Ward: Combe Down App Ref: 08/00042/FUL
Parish: N/A
Registered: 15th January 2008 Expiry Date: 11th March 2008
Location: 5 Stonehouse Lane Combe Down Bath BA2 5DW
Grid Ref: (E)375744 - (N)162575 LB Grade: N/A
Proposal: Erection of a two storey and single storey rear extension following demolition of existing extension and installation of front and rear dormers (Resubmission)
Officer: David Cox
Applicant: Ms J Glen
Agent: A W Francis
2 Old Derry Hill
Calne
SN11 9PJ
35 Seend
Cleeve
Melksham
SN12 6PU

Mines Mayhem

On the face of it there is little to be seen of the Combe Down Stone Mines infilling operation above ground, but if you live on the fringes of the mines area in places like Combe Road and North Road, no one is able to say with any certainty what the ground at the edge of the mine under your house is like. Stabilisation here is very much a 'voyage of discovery'.

During the last few days we have felt some of the real impact that has been visited on many people on the fringes of the mines in Combe Down over the past couple of years. Here at 22 we have had some new cracks appear and those already in evidence widen, but some of the inconvenience and disruption visited on our neighbours has been absent - until now! Even now we have not had too many problems inside, but outside our garden fits in well with the mess of neighbours gardens. The miners are drilling to verify whether houses here have been stabilised and in so doing they have reduced the garden to a sticky, muddy mess.

However, we are conscious that this has to be done if we are to receive one of the coveted "Completion Statements", signifying that stabilisation is complete. The chaos and mess that the gardens are in, to the west of Combe Road from the junction with North Road to the lane going to number 32, has to be seen to be believed. It is a leap of faith to believe that the gardens will ever recover, but we are assured (and I believe it) that soon everything will be back to normal. For us that means the fence between us and our neighbours , the broken pane of glass in the greenhouse replaced and the surface of the garden restored.
However, the inconvenience and disruption that many local people have suffered must be worth the end result of the stabilisation of the Mines.

The photo shows the state of our back garden today!

Latest Planning Applications

Ward: Combe Down App Ref: 08/00042/FUL
Parish: N/A
Registered: 15th January 2008 Expiry Date: 11th March 2008
Location: 5 Stonehouse Lane Combe Down Bath BA2 5DW
Grid Ref: (E)375744 - (N)162575 LB Grade: N/A
Proposal: Erection of a two storey and single storey rear extension following demolition of existing extension and installation of front and rear dormers (Resubmission)
Officer: David Cox
Applicant: Ms J Glen
Agent: A W Francis
2 Old Derry Hill
Calne
SN11 9PJ
35 Seend
Cleeve
Melksham
SN12 6PU

Latest Planning Applications

Ward: Combe Down App Ref: 08/00064/FUL
Parish: N/A
Registered: 24th December 2007 Expiry Date: 18th February 2008
Location: 21 Down Avenue Combe Down Bath BA2 5QH
Grid Ref: (E)375058 - (N)162360 LB Grade: N/A
Proposal: Erection of new dwelling as extension to terrace between nos 21 and 23
Officer: Mark Reynolds
Applicant: Mr P Stroud
Agent: LPC (Trull) Ltd
C/o Agent
Trull
Tetbury
Gloucestershire
GL8 8SQ

Nick Clegg is new Liberal Democrat Leader

Yesterday the results of the Lib Dem leadership election were announced. Nick Clegg won by the surprisingly narrow margin of 500 votes. After much heartsearching I had voted for Chris Huhne, but both were excellent candidates. Below is an extract from Nick Clegg's acceptance speech:

"Above all, our politics is broken. Out of touch with people. Out of touch with the modern world. And that is why I have one simple ambition: to change Britain to make it the liberal country I believe the British people want it to be.

I want a new politics, a people's politics. I want to live in a country where rights, freedoms and privacy are not the playthings of politicians, but safeguarded for everyone.

Where political life is not a Westminster village freak show, but open, accessible, and helpful in people's everyday lives.
Where parents, pupils and patients are can take charge of our schools and hospitals. Where fine words on the environment are finally turned into real action.
Where social mobility becomes a reality once again, where no one is condemned by the circumstances of their birth.

Why have we stopped imagining a better society? Look at what we've got. Labour and the Conservatives have governed in the same way: top-down and centralising. I simply refuse to believe that the only alternative to a clapped-out Labour government is a Conservative Party that has no answers to the big issues - environmentalism without substance, social justice without money, internationalism without Europe.

The challenge for my party is clear and simple: to define a liberal alternative to the discredited politics of Big Government.

I want to open up my party, open up Westminster, and open up politics for good. To lead well, a leader needs to listen.
That's why I will hold regular, public Town Hall meetings.
That's why I want to open up the Liberal Democrats to give people who support us, but aren't party members, a say on the big issues.
That's why I will spend at least one day every week listening and campaigning outside Westminster.
That's why I will set up a network of families, who have nothing to do with party politics, in every region of this country so they can tell me what my priorities should be.

If you once voted for us but you think we've spent too much time focusing on ourselves, if you once voted for the Conservative Party but have no idea what they stand for any more, if you once voted for the Labour Party but feel let down by 10 years of disappointment. If you've given up voting altogether, but still care about the world we live in then a newly united, energetic and optimistic Liberal Democrat party is the party for you."