Bath and North East Somerset Full Council Meeting Tuesday Nov 16th.

 

At the above Council Meeting where besides other matters the Bath Transportation Package was discussed, a representative of ‘Newbridge Matters’ delivered a written and verbal statement which included the following.

With regard to the Bath Transport Package and in particular, if you wish to continue with your proposals for extending the existing Park and Ride Car Park at Newbridge and receive Grant Money, we understand that you will need to reduce the estimated cost of works in order for the Department for Transport to give further consideration to your Transport Package. A document has been prepared dated 15th September 2010 which I hope you have before you, showing Comparisons of Sites for a Car Park north and south of the River Avon.


From this document you will see that if you revert to your original site for the Car Park south of the river on Duchy of Cornwall land, not only will it provide for a much larger Car Park than that on the northern side of the river but, the cost per parking space should be much less.


This difference in costs is due to the very expensive decontamination works required to be carried out on the northern site, as part of the planning conditions when you received Planning Consent.


This site was for many years used as a commercial and domestic refuse tip.


Very expensive construction and maintenance costs would be involved on the northern site involving the provision of special water filtration material by way of permeable and impermeable membranes in the base construction, in order to prevent ground water from being drained from the site and affecting the adjacent Nature Conservation area.


At the time of the submission by your consultants for Planning Permission, they advised you that the Car Park would need to be excavated from time to time in order to replace the various membranes, giving rise to loss of parts of the Car Park as work proceeded.


Also, your consultants advised you that the Car Park would flood at certain times and that to try and minimise this effect they proposed that large underground water storage tanks be constructed.


None of these restraints would apply to your original site south of the river, it being on virgin land with drainage direct to the river.


The Land Agent for the Duchy of Cornwall in Newton St Loe confirmed on 4th November 2010 that he would be quite prepared to re-open negotiations with the Council for the sale of the necessary land in order for the Car Park to be constructed as originally intended on the southern side of the river.


Your original proposals for that Car Park included for part of it to be on two decks but, even if this was not carried out, the area is of sufficient size [8.33 acres] for it to be capable of providing parking for many more cars than the proposed extension of the existing Car Park, an area of only approximately 4 acres.


We respectfully request that you seriously consider reverting to your original site south of the river, which we feel confident would show a saving of costs at this critical financial time and provide for future transport needs.


To further show our resolve to help you, we have made available to your Chief Executive Officer a plan of the existing Newbridge Car Park showing that if the parking spaces were re-marked to the standard required size, then an additional 103 spaces could be provided giving a 20% increase on that now provided.


Madam Chairman, Councillor Sarah Bevan advised that this statement would be taken into consideration when the Council considered the Transportation Package further.

Conservative Campaign Pamphlet with the name 'Newbridge Matters'

We have recently received an A3 size double sided full colour pamphlet with the name ‘Newbridge Matters’ prominently displayed at the top of the first page, promoting the Conservative party.


Readers of this web site may also have received this document and other similar documents from the Conservative party.

We wish to advise you that this ‘Newbridge Matters’ web site has no connection whatsoever with any political party.

We have requested the publisher of the Conservative Campaign Pamphlet to refrain from using the title of our web site but, our request has been refused.

Be assured that the ‘Newbridge Matters’ web site will continue to remain non-political and continue for the benefit of Newbridge residents and the many supporters we have gathered since its inception.

Application for the Registration of Newbridge Meadows as a Village Green - Latest

We have received a letter from B&NES Council, advising us that they have now considered our application and, as there remains areas of dispute between us and the objector [B&NES Council,] it has been decided that a Non-Statutory Public Inquiry should be held into our application.

The Registration Authority [B&NES Council] will instruct an independent barrister who will preside over the Inquiry and we will be advised of further details in due course.

It may well be some months before the Inquiry is held and we will now need to prepare our case in detail.

Thank you to all those who have supported this Village Green application and we will of course keep you advised as matters proceed.

Application for the Registration of Newbridge Meadows as a Village Green - update.

As reported earlier, only one objection was submitted to the registration of this application, that being from Bath and North East Somerset [B&NES] Council.


A formal notice dated 16th July 2010 setting out the reasons for the objection has been received from B&NES.

In response to this notice, a robust and detailed challenge has been submitted and it is understood that it will be considered by the Council’s legal department at a meeting to be held on 16th September 2010, with a view to deciding what further action should be taken.

We understand that if as a result of our challenge the application is considered to be valid, a Non Statutory Public Inquiry will be held at some time in the future, presided over by a duly appointed Inspector, who will at the end of the inquiry report his findings directly to B&NES Council.

It is likely that the Inspector’s report will be considered by an appropriate committee of the Council and a decision then made as to whether the Newbridge Meadows should be granted Village Green status.

As readers will no doubt be aware from previous postings on this website, B&NES have already granted themselves Planning Permission for a Park and Ride Car Park to be constructed on part of the area of land being considered for registration as a Village Green and, it was thought that this action could influence any decision made concerning Village Green status.

It has now been established that the Planning Permission already granted for the Park and Ride Car Park will not in any way whatsoever have any effect on the making of any decision concerning Village Green status. The Officers of the Council, the Non Statutory Public Inquiry Inspector and the appropriate committee of the Council which will make the final decision, will follow the letter of the law in dealing with the application, purely on the merits of the application.

Unless the Council withdraws its objection, it is likely that the Public Inquiry will proceed after a period of time, to allow us to prepare our further detailed submissions to the Inspector prior to the actual inquiry.

The area under consideration is scheduled as a ‘Nature Conservation Area’ and an ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ with good reason.

The attention of the Council and our Member of Parliament Mr Don Foster has been drawn to the following.

It is well known that the world is in a state of ‘Ecological Meltdown’ with plants and animals missing two international targets for the continuation of the species.

Over 1,000 species are under ‘Special Protection’ but their decimation continues.

The habitat for many of these species is ‘Lowland Meadows’ such as the Newbridge Meadows, and since World War II, 97% of these Meadows have been destroyed, causing the cessation of very many species.

One in Five Plants in the United Kingdom form the basis of human life and these plants are fertilised by the action of bees and other insects.

Over a quarter of Bumble Bees are in danger of extinction due to the loss of habitat, with half the Honey Bee population having been decimated since the 1980s due to the loss of habitat.

As you will no doubt already know, pollination of plants takes place by the action of Bees, Butterflies and other insects visiting the flowers of the plants to gather nectar and, pollen from the flowers is then transferred to them. They then visit other flowers and deposit the pollen onto them and, fertilisation takes place. Without this action, pollination would have to be carried out by hand, a completely unthinkable situation with estimates of costs provided by the University of Reading running at over £1.5bn per year. This would of course increase the cost of basic food such as bread and even in this relatively wealthy country of the U.K, very serious health and other issues would develop.

For these reasons and many others, we cannot just take Nature for granted. If the pollinators are destroyed it will eventually see the destruction of the human race.

These comments may seem to those unacquainted with the situation concerning Nature, to be ‘outlandish’ but we and many other knowledgeable people in the field of ecology do assure you that if areas of land such as the Newbridge Meadows are not preserved then humanity will suffer, maybe not in our lifetimes but for those future generations.

As you will no doubt know, the Government is paying farmers to preserve hedgerows and strips of land adjoining their fields, half a billion pounds having been spent already, in order to provide habitat for pollinators and other wildlife to continue to exist and, provide an essential part of human life.

B&NES Council now have an excellent opportunity of continuing the policy of the Government in retaining habitat areas for wildlife, by supporting the application for the Newbridge Meadows to be a Village Green and by so doing, preserve the existing habitat for wildlife and at the same time continue the use of the Meadows for the inhabitants which has existed for at least 76 years.

We have seen the demise of many species of plants, animals and insects and we cannot allow this to continue.

The clock is ticking faster every day; now is your opportunity to at least slow it down !
We have been advised by B&NES Council that although the Meadows is the site of a proposed Car Park, this will not have any effect whatsoever on the way the application is considered by them or by an Inspector appointed to oversee any subsequent Public Inquiry and, that any report submitted by the Inspector to the Council will again be considered purely upon the merits of retaining the ecology and the granting of the Village Green application.

We again wish to thank all those who have submitted support and evidence of use of the Meadows, some for well over 70 years to the present time.

We hope that Registration of the Meadows will in fact take place to enable this and future generations to use and enjoy such a beautiful and rare area scheduled as Green Belt Land, a Nature Conservation Area and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

We will of course keep you advised on how this matter proceeds.

Application for the Registration of Newbridge Meadows as a Village Green

Readers will recall that in an earlier posting news was given of an application that had been made to the Bath and North East Somerset [B&NES] Council, for Newbridge Meadows to be Registered as a Village Green in order to retain the Meadows as now.

We can now advise you that the application was submitted and only one objection was received and that was from B&NES.

A challenge to the Objection is now being prepared and will be submitted in due course, after which further consideration will be given by B&NES.

We thank all those who have supported this application and who have provided very valuable evidence of use of the Meadows for well over 70 years and, we hope that Registration of the Meadows will in fact take place to enable this and future generations to use and enjoy such a beautiful and rare area scheduled as Green Belt Land, a Nature Conservation Area and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

We will keep you advised on how this matter proceeds.

NICOLAS MICHAEL SAMUEL. 9.5.1952 – 29.6.2010

It is with extreme regret and very great sadness that we record the passing at an early age on 29th June 2010 of Nick Samuel, husband of Helen and Father of Hannah and Ben.

Nick had been a tower of strength in supporting Helen and his family who have done so much for the residents of Newbridge and made ‘Newbridge Matters’ what it is today.

We offer Helen, Hannah, Ben and all the family our deepest sympathy.

Update.

Hearty congratulations to the Respose2Route group for a very successful Fund Raising evening held at The Weston Hotel on Thursday 24th June 2010.

Both Newbridge Matters and Response 2Route need to raise considerable funds if they are to have any chance of being represented legally at any future Public Inquiry.

Many people we speak with seem to think that the BTP/BRT schemes are ‘dead in the water’ due to the Government’s recent announcements of financial cutbacks but this is NOT so.

The Government will hold a ‘Spending Review’ this year in October and it is unlikely that any decision will be made before then on whether B&NES will succeed in qualifying for any Grant Money from the Department for Transport [DfT] for these schemes.

However, even if no Grant Money becomes available, B&NES have advised that “Any assumption that the DfT represents the only potential source of funding for this project is flawed.”

We therefore urge you to continue to contribute to the Newbridge Matters Fighting Fund details of which can be found by visiting our website and clicking on the picture of the ‘Pig Moneybox’ and of course thank those who have already contributed.

We really do need your support by way of contributions, no matter how small as every pound will count.