Green Waste Bags - update!

I’m very sorry, no sooner had I emailed you to tell you that you could ring and request the additional bags are dropped off than waste and recycling decided they didn’t have the manpower to do that. Therefore you need to collect the additional bags, either during the week from Milhams or Southcote Road or alternatively you can collect them on Sunday from the King’s Park drop site.

As usual with the waste items for the Council you will need to take along proof that you are a Bournemouth Resident by way of a council tax bill.

As an aside, we are looking at these arrangements which are not user friendly and to us (the new administration) are overly bureaucratic. It requires some negotiation with Poole Borough and Dorset County however and therefore change may take a little while I’m afraid.

Councillor responsibilities

To be honest another of the reasons I’ve not been able to provide you with an update (or update the blog) is because of the amount of enquiries and requests for assistance coming my way. Jane, Michael and I have therefore decided to split our work load on an issue related basis. We realise that this list of issues is not exhaustive but it should, we hope, give you an idea of who to contact in case you need some help:

Michael:
Highways/Parking

Jane
Environment/Waste/Social Services/Housing

Nick
Planning

And, a reminder that our ward surgeries start this Saturday and will continue on the last Saturday of the month from 10 until 12 at the Littledown Centre.

Highways

We held a meeting with the Highways Department and the new cabinet member for transportation issues last week to discuss the various traffic problems in our ward, the outcome of this meeting was as follows:

Holdenhurst Road: Instructions were given to begin works to improve the Richmond Park Road junction (by the fire station) to improve traffic flow along the length of the road between Ashley Road and this point. These works will probably take around 6 – 9 months to complete.

Instructions were also given to review the bus lane and begin negotiations with the bus companies to make it part time only.

King’s Park Slip Road: Instructions were given to commence the construction of the slip road. The works may take up to two years because of some considerable work that will be required to the Wessex Way, but at last the scheme is officially under way!

Castle Lane East: Instructions were given to begin the works to improve the Riverside Avenue/Tescos and Holdenhurst Avenue junctions. Again, these may take a year or so to complete. They will include the widening of the junction to make three lanes crossing the junction heading towards Iford. Two lanes will filter to one going straight ahead while there will be a dedicated right hand turn lane for Holdenhurst Avenue.

These road improvements will mean the loss of a couple of the trees on the corner of Riverside Avenue and Castle Lane East, we feel though that this is a price work paying for a much safer junction in this location.

Right turns exiting Holdenhurst Avenue will be prohibited and a new feeder lane will be created to exit the road on to Castle Lane East heading towards Cooper Dean.

Instructions were also given to review the bus lane here too and begin negotiations with the bus companies to make it part time only.

Iford Lane: Instructions have finally been given to widen the pavement running under the railway bridge, making the lane single carriageway only under the bridge, and giving priority to traffic travelling South along the road.

Green Waste Bags

Based upon everyone’s concerns about the availability of the Green Waste Bags, we’ve been able to immediately increase this year’s allocation by 8 bags to 33 per household. To register to take part, with bags delivered to and collected from your home, call 451199. Or collect the biodegradable bags from the Council’s Depot at Southcote Road between 0800hrs and 1700hrs.

Additional bags are now going to be made available above the allocation of 33 at a cost of £1 per bag. I’m sorry we are going to have to charge for these, but budgetary constraints require that we have to do so.

Council officers have been asked to bring forward a scheme for Green Bins to be introduced on a roll out basis across the town from April next year. Jane, Michael and I will be doing all we can to ensure that Littledown and Iford is in the first wave for these bins.

Troika Development Decision

The decision of the Planning Inspector and the Public Enquiry for the Troika Development has been released today, a day earlier than we were originally told.

I’m sorry to say, from my point of view, that the Inspector backed the development and granted planning permission for both the office development at Wessex Fields and also the park and ride and new junction off the Wessex Way. This is obviously very disappointing and I would like to pay tribute to everyone who has helped in the campaign to oppose the construction of such a large office development in this location and the development of the park and ride facility on green belt land.

There are some mitigating factors in the decision in that he has decreased the square footage of the offices that can be built and increased the amount of parking that must be placed on site. However there remains a substantial gap between the amount of parking provision and the projected number of workers for the space provided.

Michael, Jane and I will now be working to ensure that there is minimum disruption to our area while the construction of the development takes place and thereafter through even more workers’ parking in our residential streets.

Thank you to everyone who has joined in the campaign over the past couple of years, either by attending the public meetings, the Public Enquiry or through writing letters in objection to the scheme and the appeal. Without your activity it is certain to my mind that we would now have a larger development with even less car parking.

Nationwide Building Society Branch – Christchurch Road

You may have seen that there has been some publicity in the Echo about the proposed closure of the Nationwide Building Society Branch in Christchurch Road. It’s in the same parade of shops as Forest Cycles and opposite the lighting shop. This is the last financial institution in the shopping area of Boscombe East and is used widely by both the local businesses and many older residents. It also houses the only cash point in this part of the area.

Nationwide wasn’t to relocate the business of the branch to their office in Southbourne Grove. That’s a considerable distance for both the local business owners and older people to travel. Without the cash point the nearest places to obtain cash will be at either the Tesco Metro at the top of Pokesdown Hill or at Tesco on Castle Lane East.

Some local campaigners have been undertaking a very effective campaign to oppose the closure. The chief executive of Nationwide Building Society will be visiting the branch to take stock of local feeling tomorrow (Wednesday 9th May). Local people are being asked to gather at the branch at 11am to protest against the closure. If you are able to come along for 15 minutes to add to the numbers and have your say over the closure then please do. Michael, Jane and I will be there to add our support.

The election results are in

As promised, here are the results for Littledown and Iford from yesterday’s election:

Ansell, Roger (Labour) 246

Fudge, Adrian (LibDem) 645

Griffiths, Michael (Conservative) 1556

Ketchley, Fran (LibDem) 623

King, Nicholas (Conservative) 1845

Montrose, Jane (Conservative) 1648

Reeves, Colin (BNP) 223

Saunders, Rob (LibDem) 493

Sharman, Debbie (Labour) 209

Williams, Anthony (Independent) 358


Elected Members:

Nicholas King (Conservative)
Jane Montrose (Conservative)
Michael Griffiths (Conservative)


As you can imagine, Jane, Michael and I are absolutely delighted at the result, thank you to everyone who voted for us. We are all humbled by the trust shown in us by the residents of the area.

We now have an enormous job ahead of us to fulfil our election pledges. We’re determined to work as a team to represent everyone in the ward and to ensure that the many issues outstanding in our area are dealt with as a matter of urgency by the Council.

I should thank and pay tribute to our predecessors, Adrian Fudge and Fran Ketchley, for their work as councillors for the area over the past four years and their commitment to the town. Similarly, to my direct predecessor, Simon Foster, for the two and a half years he served the area.

In terms of the town’s results, the seats on the council are now:

Conservative: 41

Lib Dem: 7

Labour: 3

Independent: 3


Our first commitment is to do all we can to reverse the final decision the Liberal Democrat Council made, that of granting approval for the construction of the Casino next to the Pavilion. Locally we will be doing everything possible to help residents opposing the Old Bridge Road telephone mast and the access to the AFC Bournemouth housing development through Thistlebarrow Road.

Town Centre Car Park Sales

I think my opposition to the sale of town centre car parks is well known, the plans for residential developments on the various sites decreases the number of parking spaces in the town centre considerably and further threatens the viability of town centre businesses.

My colleague Cllr David Smith from Central Ward has obtained the following update on the progress of the sales which I thought might be of interest:

• Terrace Mount - planning application submitted. Revisions to the legal documentation to be finalised.
• Lansdowne Road/Madeira Road (corner of) - conditional contracts exchanged, planning application awaited. Boundary issue with the Police HQ still causing problems and Counsel's advice has been sought. This is expected 20th April.
  
• Priory Road - marketing concluded, preferred bidder identified, and solicitors instructed.
  
• Madeira Road East & West - consultation has been completed on a draft planning brief. Cabinet will be asked to approve a revised brief at the end of April.
  
• Leyton Mount - consultation has been completed on a draft planning brief. Modifications introduced to respond to proposals to remove on-street car parking from Christchurch Road mean that some public car parking is to be retained on the Leyton Mount site to accommodate this displaced demand. Cabinet will be asked to approve a revised brief at the end of April.
  
• Glen Fern - consultation has been completed. Cabinet will be asked to approve a revised brief at the end of April.
  
• Durley Road - a draft planning brief has been produced and public consultation undertaken. This identified concern about the impact of the loss of parking from Durley Road on local hotels and a revised brief has been produced, which will be subject to further public consultation in due course.
  
• West Hill - a draft planning brief has been produced and public consultation undertaken. A revised brief has been produced as a result of comments received, which will be subject to further public consultation in due course.
  
• Central - a draft planning brief has been completed and Cabinet will be asked to approve public consultation in the summer.
  
• Berry Court - a draft planning brief has been completed and Cabinet will be asked to approve public consultation in the summer.
  
• Richmond Hill - a draft planning brief is being prepared and proposals will emerge in due course.
  
• 10 St Stephens Road - a draft planning brief is being prepared and proposals will emerge in due course.

UKIP and the BNP

The BNP web site has this comment at the begining of an article about the number of UKIP candidates standing in this year's local elections:

"British National Party activists and members in all parts of Britain are generally on good terms with local members and activists of the UKIP – having so much politically in common."

That says it all really. It certainly confirms the suspiscion I've long held that UKIP are just the more acceptable alternative for those who would otherwise be more at home in the BNP.

New dog bins

I’ve had requests for new dog waste bins in Littledown Park and on the are of Green Space by the Old Iford Bridge in Old Bridge Road. I’ve passed these requests on to the Cleansing and Waste Teams for them to investigate suitable sites.

Speeding on Chaseside

I’ve been informed by some residents of cars speeding as they enter and exit J P Morgan along Chaseside. We’ve reported this to the local police who have asked the traffic section to keep an eye on the situation.

2 Ropley Road

A planning application has been made to build a house in the garden of 2 Ropley Road. If you remember, this is where there was originally a plan to demolish the property and build 7 and then 6 flats on the site. Both applications were turned down by the council and then at appeal, not least because of the superb support from local residents in opposing the applications.

The property is now divided in to two flats, and from what I understand from people round about the conversion has been done very well. The plot upon which the house is planned is rather cramped and it will be interesting to see whether the Council do grant permission.

Speaking to a few local people there is no real feeling of opposition to the proposal, unless of course you feel otherwise in which case please let me know so that I can help you make your views known.


While mentioning 2 Ropley Road, I have had some complaints about the state of the site and have reported it to the Planning Department’s enforcement team. They have issued an untidy site notice for the plot and it should therefore be cleared within 28 days.

Green Waste Collections

I’ve been contacted by a number of people confused as to why the green waste bags were not taken last week. I’ve checked with the council, apparently the garden waste collections will be in the opposite week to our recycling collection. Therefore the bags will be collected tomorrow IF you’ve registered to have them collected. If the bags were delivered to you over the last couple of weeks that means you are registered.

24 Swanmore Road Planning Application

A planning application has been made to build a bungalow in the garden to the rear of 24 Swanmore Road. A similar application for the same site was refused over a year ago.

The site is quite small and to my mind it’s not really appropriate. What is more worrying is that the plans make specific reference to the roadway in to the proposed bungalow giving access to further land for development. I know that the developers have not bought any other land, but they clearly think that they might be able to in the future. If this is the case then the access is completely unsuitable for access to additional properties, indeed it’s not ideal at all for this particular proposal.

I’ve been asked by local people to oppose the development and distribute our normal letters, which I am happy to do.

King's Park On Slip

If you live in Old Littledown, New Littledown or at the upper end of Harewood Avenue you will have received a request for feedback from us about the proposed on slip at King’s Park Drive. I think this is essential if we are going to properly handle the congestion problems at the top end of Littledown Avenue and along Holdenhurst Road.

Apparently the highways department are not recommending that the slip road goes ahead. They are saying they don’t think there is enough room for it and they think that it will create more traffic on Ashley Road and through King’s Park.

To me that’s simply unacceptable. They were able to recommend it two years ago, so why not now? As to more traffic through Ashley Road and King’s Park, there’s a simple answer to that: make the Holdenhurst Road bus lane part time so that it both lanes can be used at peak periods, thus allowing freer flow of traffic along Holdenhurst Road negating the need for people to turn right at the lights at the end of Ashley Road.

The Highways Department are proposing some improvements to the Ashley Road and Richmond Park Road junctions. Their consideration is apparently that this is the best that can be done to improve traffic along that route. I really think they should be thinking again!

AFC Bournemouth Planning Application

Groan! Sorry to tell you that there appears to be another hold up with this, apparently there were still some outstanding issues which stopped the Planning Department from registering the application. It is now expected in the next couple of weeks.

Green Waste Collections - A further Update

The Council have started delivering the green waste bags for the this year’s collections. A sting in the tail (as far as I am concerned) has come at the last minute, which is that they are only delivering 25 per household. Once you have used these up that’s it I’m afraid, they will not deliver any more to you and you’ll have to go back to placing your green waste in the small bin or disposing of it in whichever way you can.

Having been doing some canvassing this week I have seen at least three houses with between three and five bags waiting for collection, at that rate then those properties will be back to square one by the beginning of May. I think my opinion of the green waste scheme is well known by now, we need green bins, that’s the end of it.

Winter Gardens

Thanks to everyone who took the time to come back to me about the Winter Gardens last week. While there is some debate about the desirability and need of having a replacement arts centre, the feeling that we should not be proceeding without a firmer business case was almost unanimous. I’ll make sure this case is therefore put forward at the coming meetings on the subject.

Whilst on the subject, some of my colleagues have put together the following fact sheet, which I hope you might find illuminating:

QWhy are the Lib Dems insisting on building a new concert hall to replace the old
Winter Gardens?
A You may remember that prior to the last elections here in Bournemouth the Lib Dems promised to ‘save the Winter Gardens for the people of Bournemouth’ as a result of a petition signed by over 27,000 local people.

Q What happened after the Lib Dems won the election ?
A After stringing residents along since 2003, the Lib Dems finally demolished the Winter Gardens last year (much to the dismay of those same 27,000 people) saying it wasn’t worth repairing. (something the Conservatives had been saying all along).

Q So why build a new hall?
A The Lib Dems now argue that a new arts centre is needed to keep people out of pubs and clubs in the town centre. The reality is that they wish to save face after breaking their promise to save the old building. They are also planning to put luxury flats and student housing on the site, even though they haven’t consulted local residents properly.

Q Well, is a new arts centre needed ?
A The Conservatives believe not. The town is awash with venues all trying to attract audiences. In the BIC we have the Tregonwell, Purbeck and Solent Halls. The Pavilion has the main theatre and also numerous other venues capable of hosting smaller community projects. There are community centres all over the Borough such as the De Salle Theatre at St Peter’s School. Just outside Bournemouth we have the Lighthouse Arts Centre in Poole, the Regent Centre in Christchurch, the Barrington Theatre at Ferndown and the Mayflower Theatre at Southampton. They’re all fighting to attract audiences and remain viable.

Q How much will a new concert hall cost?
A Well, the land alone is probably worth 10 million pounds, or perhaps much more by now. Latest estimates show building costs to be well over 20 million pounds. Already the Lib Dems have spent about 2 million pounds ( the exact figure is being kept secret!) on consultants, architects, feasibility studies, accountants and other such ‘experts’. Remember, not a brick has been laid yet!

Q What would the Conservatives do ?
A We believe the Pavilion should be developed as a new Community Arts Centre. It is a Grade 2 Listed Building, it has ample room and needs millions spending on it to bring it up to decent standards and current health and safety regulations. Whatever happens elsewhere this money HAS to be spent on the Pavilion. We would raise the money by selling the Winter Gardens site for redevelopment ( probably £12 million pounds or more ) and reinvesting all of that money into the Pavilion.

Q What will the Lib Dems do with the Pavilion if they win the elections in May and go ahead with the Winter Gardens project?
A Well, they will still have to find over 10 million pounds to refurbish the Pavilion as this work HAS to go ahead whatever else happens. They will also have to find the 20 odd million pounds (of your money) for the new arts centre on the Winter Gardens site.

These are massive amounts of money and the current figures just do not stack up. The ’business case’ for the Winter Gardens leaves so many unanswered questions that it is obvious that the risks are enormous. At present the Lib Dems are selling off anything that doesn’t move. All the town centre car parks are currently up for sale ( imagine the charges when NCP get hold of them). The old Registry Office has already been sold for £800,000 and is now a Strip Club ( so much for the Lib Dems bringing culture back to the town centre!). Council assets all over the borough are being sold as the Lib Dems desperately try to raise money for this hopelessly unrealistic pet project. It’s a foolish adventure with long-term costs for the council tax payers of Bournemouth. The Conservatives want no part in it.

Conservative Policy…..

Your Conservative team pledge that if you support us on 3rd May, and we are elected to represent you, we will do everything possible to stop this hugely expensive Winter Gardens adventure. We will work to bring sensible and affordable projects to the whole of Bournemouth which will not involve selling off all of the town’s family silver.

The money saved will be used (amongst other things ) to bring much needed cctv cameras to the most vulnerable parts of Bournemouth to help curb anti-social behaviour, graffiti and all the other threats blighting our society.

Planning Application - 1080 Christchurch Road

An application has been made to build a house on land at 1080 Christchurch Road, I have as yet not seen the plans.

If anyone is concerned at this in fill development can you please let me know.

AFC Bournemouth Planning Application

As you know, we have been tracking the progress of the planning application for housing, an hotel and a sports facility at Dean Court. It would appear that the application has been made this week and the orange notices will be going up any day now.

My personal feeling is that in general I’m not opposed to the development, BUT, I am very concerned about the proposed access arrangements, particularly to the housing development. The proposal for access to the housing is through Thistlebarrow Road where a house would need to be demolished and very well established trees removed.

This would create even more traffic in what is a residential street and the whole development will create an even greater amount of traffic along Holdenhurst Road and Littledown Avenue unless the on slip is constructed. I’m therefore opposed to the development as it currently stands and we will be distributing our normal letters and flyers to help people object if they wish.

To my mind further development of the site makes the construction of the on slip on to the Wessex Way all the more important. The developers should be asked to contribute to the construction of the on slip and to also pay towards the upgrading of the Dean Court car park so that it can be used for a workers’ park and ride service.