Councillor urges Committee to go ahead with plan to close a major road through Patchway – despite being one of 4,137 signatories of a petition to keep it open. A local councillor has made an astonishing U-turn in his opinion on South Gloucestershire Council’s (SGC’s) plan to close Patchway’s Highwood Road to general traffic. Cllr Brian Hopkinson, a Town Councillor in both Bradley Stoke and Patchway, was the 525th person to sign the petition online but when the matter came to be discussed at SGC’s Planning, Transport and Strategic Environment Committee on 20th June, he claimed the wording of the petition had been “misleading” and spoke in favour a recommendation to close the road for a trial period of 18 months. Members of the Committee voted 10-3 to go ahead with closure but that decision was immediately “suspended” after the Labour Lead Member used a new constitutional mechanism to refer the matter to a meeting of Full Council on 18th July. More in the Patchway Journal…
Kenyan Olympic squad arrives in Stoke Gifford to begin their training camp ahead of the London 2012 Games. The squad is staying at UWE Bristol’s Frenchay Campus and its members are training on the Olympic-standard athletics track at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College’s WISE Campus in New Road, Stoke Gifford. The visit has been arranged by the Bristol Kenya Partnership (BKP) with support from UWE Bristol, University of Bristol, WISE SGS, Bristol City Council and others. Dual Olympic gold-medal winner Kip Keino, Chairman of Kenya’s National Olympics Committee, is one of the officials accompanying the squad. More in the Stoke Gifford Journal…
Air traffic control equipment currently in use at Filton Airfield put up for sale on an asset disposal website. The equipment being advertised for sale (in 47 lots) includes radar systems, navaid systems, airfield lighting and radio communications equipment. BAE Systems, owners of the historic airfield, announced in April 2011 that they intended to close it at the end of 2012. A campaign group, Save Filton Airfield, is fighting to keep the airfield open but it now seems that even if the group can convince South Gloucestershire Council to alter its Core Strategy planning document (which currently foresees the airfield site being redeveloped with the building of 2,600 houses), the facility will be left in a non-functional state by its present owners. More in the Filton Journal…
