Monday 28 April 2008

Home Composting

Residents could help stop a third of their household and garden waste from going to landfill by composting at home.

Since 2006 the Council has been offering low cost compost bins to residents in partnership with national Recycle Now Home Composting Campaign.

For 2008 the Council is offering up to two compost bins per household with free home delivery. The bins on offer are:
· Compost Converter (220 litre) at £17
· Compost Converter (330 litre) at £20
· Komp (250 litre) at £40

You can order online at www.recyclenow.com/compost or contact the home compost order line on 0845 077 0757 (calls charged at local rate).

Road Reports for Lambridge 28th April 2008

The latest road reports for Westmoreland have just been released by Bath & North East Somerset Council and are available by following this link. Road Reports Lambridge

We hope that you find this information helpful and if you have any feed back then please contact us.

Tuesday 15 April 2008

Three local planning applications this week

There are three local planning applications registered this week.

The first application is for the erection of a first floor extension over existing and erection of a lower ground floor extension to create self-contained granny annex at 140 London Road West Lower Swainswick. The application was first registered on 10th April 2008 and has a decision date of 5th June 2008.

The application number is 08/00599/FUL and you can view the application by following the link on the application number.

The Second application is for the Conversion of 2 Lambridge Building Mews into a mews house, and conversion of 1A and 1B Lambridge Buildings into 2 town houses. The described location on the application is Lambridge Buildings Mews Larkhall. The application was first registered on 4th April 2008 and has a decision date of 30th May 2008.

The application number is 08/01265/FUL and you can view the application by following the link on the application number.

The Third application is a for a Renewal of lapsed consent no. 02/00869/LBA for rebuilding of mews outbuildings and change of use of first floor from storage to 1 no two- bedroom flat at rear of nos 4/5 Lambridge Buildings. The application was first registered on 8th April 2008 and has a decision date of 3rd June 2008.

The application number is 08/01308/LBA and you can view the application by following the link on the application number.

Any representations on these applications 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 www.bathnes.gov.uk. All representations must arrive no later than the 10th May 2008.

Road works Lambridge week starting 14th April

There are now a number of new road works in the Lambridge area that have been published this week, some may cause disruption please press on the link Lambridge Road works to see what they are and how they may affect you.

Wednesday 9 April 2008

Planning documents out for public consultation

Bath & North East Somerset Council is seeking residents’ views on locally important buildings and on planning policies relating to existing houses in the Green Belt.

Two new documents are out for consultation from 10 April – 22 May. Both supplement local planning policies outlined in the Bath & North East Somerset Local Plan.

The draft Locally Important Buildings Supplementary Planning document gives details on the selection criteria for locally important buildings and proposes how buildings will be nominated and considered for inclusion on the local list.

Once the document has been agreed and adopted, parish councils, amenity societies and the general public will be able to nominate buildings or structures to be considered for local listing. The local list will complement the existing statutory list of nationally important buildings, of architectural and historic interest.

The document regarding Existing Dwellings in the Green Belt aims to provide further information and guidance on the approach the Council, as a Local Planning Authority, should take regarding extensions to dwellings in the Green Belt, and the circumstances under which replacement dwellings will be acceptable. This document aims to provide clearer advice and guidance for the benefit of members of the public, planning officers and Council Members.

The Bristol-Bath Green Belt was designated in 1966. The Green Belt in Bath & North East Somerset covers just over 70% of the total area of the district.

A significant number of planning applications for extensions to existing residential properties in the Green Belt and a lesser number of applications for replacement dwellings are dealt with by the Council each year. The majority of these are householder applications are submitted by the general public.

Copies of the documents can be viewed in all public libraries in the district and in Council offices. Alternatively, they can be viewed on the Council’s website: www.bathnes.gov.uk/ldf

The Council welcomes comments from the public or interested groups. A drop-in session has also been arranged for Wednesday 23 April, from 9am – 1pm at the Council’s Planning Office, Trimbridge House, Trim Street, Bath. The Council can also be contacted by phone, email or letter with any comments or queries about the documents: Planning Services, Bath and North East Somerset Council, Trimbridge House, Trim Street, Bath BA1 2DP; Planning_policy@bathnes.gov.uk ; Tel: 01225 477548.

Following consideration of the comments received and a formal adoption process it is anticipated that these new supplementary planning documents will come into force from August 2008.

Call-in on decision to raise care charges

A call-in on the decision to increase the cost of home care services for elderly residents has been submitted by the Liberal Democrat Group on Bath and North East Somerset Council. Members of the Labour Group agreed to co-sign the call-in. The call-in has been verified and the hearing will be held within 2 weeks.

The signatories are calling on the Cabinet member to reconsider his decision to increase the charges for a range of services to elderly people, such as:

Community meal costs up by over a pound per meal.
Hourly rate for home care to rise by 74%.
Maximum weekly charge for care to go up by almost 400%.
Councillor for Newbridge, Loraine Brinkhurst, who is leading the call-in, commented:

“When we heard that Cllr. Vic Pritchard the Conservative Cabinet Member was authorising these extortionate price increases for Home Care we were incensed. The price increases will have a huge impact on our residents who so desperately need these services. My fear is that many residents may cut down or even cancel the use of home care due to this hike in charges, and this could then lead to our residents struggling to live independently in their own homes.”
Councillor Cherry Beath (Combe Down) said:

“When decisions like this are made, you have to question the focus and value systems held by this current administration. This decision is, like many we have seen in recent months, all about money, and disregards the dire impacts it will have on a particularly vulnerable group of our residents, hitting them hard at their point of need, and at a time in their lives when they are least able to protect themselves.”

Big Recycling Increases in Flats and Shared Houses

Over the past year the amount of recycling in flats and shared houses has risen dramatically thanks to a project run by Bath & North East Somerset Council to help more people recycle more of their waste.

The project, which ran from September 2006 to February 2008 was funded by WRAP (The Waste & Resources Action Programme) and was designed to help inform people living in flats, shared houses and university accommodation about the services available to help them recycle more.

The project was a great success in helping people in areas that do not always have easy access to information on recycling. As a result of the project the amount of people committed to recycling and using the service has increased, along with the amount of material now being recycled.

The number of people in flats who report using their Mini Recycling Centres (private recycling banks for residents in flats) has increased by over 28% which is reflected by the amount being recycled in flats. In January and February this year, the Council had already collected more recycling from flats than January to March last year (622 tonnes in two months of 2008 compared to 554 tonnes in three months of 2007).

Not only that, but more people living in shared accommodation are now committed to recycling their waste compared to this time last year with an increase of over 8% and even more are now recycling using the green box service (a rise from 71% to over 76%).

Locally Liberal Democrats support these initiatives and have long campaigned for greater recycling in the City and in Lambridge Ward. It is important to remember that it was the Liberal Democrats that drove the recycling initiatives on Bath City Council.

Bath & North East Somerset Council provides a weekly green box service and Mini Recycling Centres in flats to help collect recycling. If you would like to find out more about these services or the other recycling, composting and waste services that the Council provides, please contact Council Connect on 01225 39 40 41 or email councilconnect@bathnes.gov.uk or see the Council’s website www.bathnes.gov.uk/wasteservices

This project was funded by the WRAP Behavioural Change Local Fund.
WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme) is a major UK programme established to promote resource efficiency. Its particular focus is on creating stable and efficient markets for recycled materials and products and removing the barriers to waste minimisation, re-use and recycling.

A not-for-profit company, WRAP is backed by substantial Government funding from Defra and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
More information on all of WRAP's programmes can be found on www.wrap.org.uk. For more information on WRAP's national communication campaign, Recycle Now, visit www.recyclenow.com.

Disappointment as parking call-in dismissed

Liberal Democrat Councillors have expressed their disappointment that the scrutiny call-in, which had been organised to look into the increases in parking costs in Bath, has been dismissed.

The panel voted, by four votes to three, to dismiss the call-in, with Conservative Councillors from outside of Bath backing the original decision taken by their Conservative Cabinet colleague. The Cabinet member will now be free to go ahead and implement the decision to apply increases of up to 60% to residents’ permit costs across the city, as well as a number of other changes to parking costs and arrangements.

The call-in panel raised a number of issues around poor consultation and excessive increases to permit costs. Although all Councillors agreed that consultation on this decision had been inadequate, Conservative Councillors appeared more concerned with the state of the Council’s finances than the issue of engaging with those who will be affected.

Councillor Ian Gilchrist (Widcombe), who led the call-in signatories commented:

“I am disappointed that the Conservative and Independent members of the panel did not recognise the merits of the case made to uphold the call-in.

“I thought that the arguments outlining the damaging effects of extending charged times in the city centre to 8pm were pretty compelling, and if they don’t listen to Nod Knowles (Director of Bath Festivals) who will they listen to?

“I am slightly mollified by the apparent concession that Cllr Gerrish has made in the direction of Sunday evening parking, but this still has to be confirmed. If we have achieved even this small bit of good then that is a good thing. Residents will not be pleased at a 60% increase in their annual charges, but I do draw comfort from the thought that we at least did our best to oppose this.”

Cllr Steve Hedges (Odd Down), who sat on the panel, said:

“This really is a kick in the teeth for the democratic process; this decision has been made with complete disregard for best practice in decision-making such as engaging with hard-to-reach groups and the elderly who are often on fixed incomes. The Cabinet member also refused to address the issues raised in the call-in notice, including my concerns around costs of permits for traders, most of whom are small independent businesses who can not afford such huge increases.”

Concerns raised by Nod Knowles as to the impact on the night time economy, were supported by Cllr Roger Symonds (Combe Down), who said:

“Extending car park charging from 6pm to 8pm will have a knock-on effect for all evening and night time businesses in the city centre. How long before this money grabbing administration extends charging until 8pm for kerbside parking as well? It is significant that none of the four councillors who voted to dismiss the call-in live in Bath.”