Councillors on Bradley Stoke Town Council say they will consider supporting a scheme to reduce CO2 emissions and cut electricity bills by turning off some of the town’s streetlights overnight, but only if the financial savings are passed on to local residents.
South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) has been trialing overnight switch-offs in the village of Charfield since June 2009 and is now looking to extend the scheme to other towns and parishes.
A similar scheme has recently been introduced on stretches of the Avon Ring Road, where switching off 35% of the streetlights is expected to yield savings of £12,000 per year.
SGC says the scheme will only be extended to areas where full consultation has been carried out in advance with the local town or parish council, police, the fire brigade and other partners:
“Only when there is agreement between organisations would that area be considered to take part in the trial.”
Town Clerk Sharon Petela’s suggestion that Councillors might like to consider introducing the switch-offs in Bradley Stoke received a frosty reception from Cllr Robert Jones (Conservative), who expressed concern about the costs of a consultation exercise and how the money saved might be apportioned:
“I don’t think we should be expending [Town Council] officer time if we get no benefit. If SGC saves money, it should be Bradley Stoke that benefits – not the whole of South Gloucestershire.”
The discussion gave Cllr Julian Barge (Conservative) another opportunity to engage in one of his regular rants against the “one way” flow of money from Bradley Stoke into the coffers of SGC, citing police staffing, youth provision and litter collection as areas where the Town Council had felt it necessary to supplement inadequate funding from SGC.
A greener note was sounded by Cllr Jon Williams (Liberal Democrat), who suggested that Councillors needed to be thinking of the “bigger picture”, namely the environment.
Why isn’t this website called Bradley Stoke Liberal Journal?
I challenge the website editor to reveal his political backing….
(Bet he won’t though)
Not sure how you arrive at that conclusion Anon-e-mouse.
The report contains three paragraphs about what the Conservative Councillors said and one reporting the view of a Liberal Democrat.
And didn’t Mark Forsyth, Conservative Mayor of Bradley Stoke, recently praise The Journal, saying “[the editor] has always reported the news from a neutral stand-point”?
I was thinking the same as anon-e-mouse, especially in regard to the comment about Cllr Barge engaging in one of his regular rants?
Hardly unbiased reporting, given that Cllrs Barge and Jones appear to be trying to ensure that residents of Bradley Stoke get some benefit from this proposal, whilst Cllr Williams seems to have swallowed whole the propaganda regarding the environment, whilst the rest of the populus have seen through the lies and mis-information re climate change etc.
Alec, you’re fully entitled to form your own opinion based on my report of what was said at the Council meeting.
With reference to the photo, perhaps we should ask Tesco Extra to turn off their lights too – and demand extra points for Clubcard holders resident in Bradley Stoke!
Setting aside the political name-calling in favour of something constructive…
Harry’s onto something with the Willow Brook Centre – they leave the car park lights on out of hours.
Also, not sure why the feel the need to blight the area with garish and distracting blue lighting? Equally, why does the interior have to be lit to retina-burning retail levels out of hours?
Sometimes you just have to go with commonsense. Turning off lights can’t be bad for the environment and if the Willowbrook Centre follow the Council’s lead then that’s good news. Why the Conservatives need to see a financial return for consulting residents is beyond me. I suppose that’s why they don’t normally bother.
As far as the council meetings go I’m glad ED sits through them and reports rather than having to do it myself. Well done Ed.
Alec
You obviously feel protective towards Cllrs Jones and Barge and feel that Bradley Stoke residents should get a return from South Glos. It’s a pity then that you don’t challenge these same councillors and ask them why BSTC has committed a record £60,000 funding to young people, whilst South Glos pay a mere £33,000. If you look at Patchway, Filton and Stoke Gifford you will see that the Parish/Town councils put in a fraction of what we do but South Glos council gives more than twice (and in some case 3 times) what Bradley Stoke receives. Conservative councillors should be fighting for a fair deal on youth funding from a Conservative run authority, but I seem to be the only one doing so. You could also ask them why we’re subsidising the Police when other councils don’t.
It seems to me that Jon Williams is the pot calling the kettle black. I don’t believe that this vast difference in funding happened over the last three years. It must go back further than that to when the lib dems were the largest party on South Glos and also when they held Bradley Stoke Town Council by a massive majority.
Mr Williams has a short and rather convenient memory.
Darius.
Oh Darius
The Lib Dems were in control of South Glos Council (SGC) between 1999 and 2004. You must remember this as it’s the time when we got our swimming pool, the Jubilee Green and the secondary school. As far as being in control of the town council, Yes we were from 1992 until 2007 and the list of achievements are too numerous to list here. We also spent quite a bit on money on the youth service; but not quite the “record” amount the Conservatives have boasted about.
The issue I was making was that SGC reviewed their Youth Service provision in 2005/06 and a report went to the new Conservative Cabinet in 2008 suggesting that some areas (including Bradley Stoke) were not being catered for and that provision was based on outdated historical spend. The need was to reallocate the pot based on the number of young people in an area. Well guess what? nothing has happend and the only way young services are being delivered in any real sense in the town is by a top up of £60,000 of residents money.
Don’t shoot the messenger.