Schools closures, nearer boys school ?

The council is carrying out a secondary school review. The recommendations suggest Oldfield School will become co-ed and that there should be only one site for a secondary school north of the city. If school was built on the Oldfield site it would mean a closer school than Beechan Cliff for boys in Weston, but the nearest single sex school for girls would be Hayesfield.

If the new school was built on the St. Mark's site in Larkhall that would mean a long trip for all children in the Weston area, for that we would need school buses, as suggested by the yellow bus campaign. What are your views ?

The recommendation of the report for Bath are below:

Bath

Retain Beechen Cliff School and Hayesfield Technology College as single sex boys and girls 11-18 schools with co-educational post 16 provision.

Retain St. Gregory’s Catholic as an 11-16 co-educational Catholic school.

Retain Ralph Allen as a co-educational 11-18 school.

Consult on closing Culverhay and re-opening the school as a new 11-18 co-educational Community school or Academy on the current site. This would address the issue of parental demand for a higher number of coeducational places.

Consult on the closure of St Mark’s Church of England and Oldfield schools and opening a new 11-18 co-educational Church of England school in the north of the city. The consultation should determine the site for the school. This would address the issue of parental demand, and also factors including the high number of places at Oldfield which are currently filled by South Gloucestershire students.

Post Office Closures

We are pleased that Weston Post Office is not included on the list for closure, although the post office in lower Weston is threatened.

Four Bath Post Offices are down for closure and Liberal Democrat Councillors with threatened Post Offices in their wards are campaigning with Don Foster MP against the Government plans.

Councillor Caroline Roberts (Newbridge) who is a regular patron of the Lower Weston Post Office, said:

“After the closure of Yomede Post Office, local people were hoping that the Lower Weston Post Office on Newbridge Road would be safe. Since the closure of Yomede, elderly people in Newbridge area have already had to take the bus to get to Lower Weston. The nearest Post Office will now be in Weston Village – which is not on a bus route – or the city centre.

“The future of the very popular shop attached to the Post Office is now in jeopardy.”

“I urge all residents to support the campaign to save Bath’s Post Offices, and to sign the petition on our website.”

http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/savebathspostoffices

This is a backward step which does nothing to help local people. I call on the govt to reconsider.”

Don Foster MP said:

“I am concerned that the social importance of Post Offices is being ignored by the Government. These closures do not take into account the knock-on effect on other shops in the local community. It will be the elderly and vulnerable who are most affected by these closures as they may struggle to travel the extra distance to important services”.

7.56% is real tax increase in Council budget

7.56% is the real tax increase residents are facing this year

Directly, residents are going to be charged a 3.95% Council tax increase. However, with all of the hikes in other fees and charges and the introduction of new fees planned by the Conservative Cabinet, the real figure is 7.56%.

New and increased charges in this budget include: the introduction of charges for on-street parking for disabled drivers; increases in charges for services for older people; an increase of 56% for residents’ parking permits; increases in park and ride fares; extensions to other car park charges; and a 10% increase in garden and bulky waste charges.

The budget will hit vulnerable people with high charges; it will punish drivers, without improving traffic flows; it will delay, put off or abandon important environmental measures, such as same-day collection and extending recycling; and it will exacerbate problems through cuts to the Council’s youth and other services.