Your Councillors and Curo

Since the Summer, Tim and Sarah have been having a monthly meeting with various staff at Curo.

This increase in direct communication means that issues can be discussed and an action plan put in place to try and tackle them.

During the meetings ward specific and individual resident concerns have been raised and acted upon.

These meetings are proving very productive and will continue in the future, so if you live in Twerton or Whiteway and are struggling to get action from Curo, please do let Sarah or Tim know and they will be able to discuss this with you and possibly raise this during their monthly meeting.

Lower Bristol Road - Parking

We have again requested the Council urgently review the state of parking on the Lower Bristol Road, specifically on the section from MacDonalds up to the Turnpike.

As you will be aware at this time of year, coaches are usually permitted to park along a large section of this road, especially along the fastest section, making it even more dangerous than usual.

This is not acceptable, we have asked officers to review this practice and look at alternative locations.

We have secured some additional double yellow line parking restrictions to be put in place, but again, we do not feel this covers a large enough section of this road to make it safe and have asked for this to be reviewed at the same time.

We appreciate that coaches may have already been granted permits to park on this section of road, however, we have asked for the restrictions to be imposed as soon as possible.

We will update you further when we have received a response.

Litter Bins

Whilst Twerton and Whiteway is starting to look a lot cleaner, with thanks to an increasing number of residents that are voluntarily spending time out and about picking up litter, we still have a few areas that would benefit from the installation of a litter bin.

Tim and Sarah are working hard to secure more bins in various locations around the ward including a replacement bin at the top of Innox Park.

We would like to encourage people to take responsibility for their own rubbish, whether it is a sweet wrapper, cigarette butt or even food waste, litter is only on our streets because people decide to chuck it there.

Together we can make our area the cleanest in Bath & North East Somerset.

Don’t let your community heroes go unrecognised

Time is running out to nominate people in Bath and North East Somerset who make an exceptional contribution to the community for a prestigious award.

The deadline for nominations for this year’s Community Awards is on 20 December and the council is encouraging people to put forward the volunteers, charities, carers, community leaders, staff and businesses in their community who might have been unsung heroes until now.

There are many people and organisations across Bath and North East Somerset who work tirelessly for the benefit of the community to improve people’s lives, whose initiatives the Community Awards seek to recognise and champion.

New for this year are awards for Charity of the Year, Foster Carer of the Year and Green Business of the Year. The Volunteer Leader of the Year Award has been renamed ‘The Beryl Dixon Community Leader of the Year Award’, in honour of Beryl Dixon, a well-respected advocate for the BME community who sadly died in 2017.

Films about three of last year’s winners are taking shape and will be shown at this year’s awards ceremony in February. Bath City Farm, the Guide Dogs for the Blind and Bath Ethnic Minority Senior Citizens Association (BEMSCA) are having their achievements highlighted in a short film that will be theirs to keep after the ceremony.

This year’s awards categories are:

Category 1: Volunteering

Volunteer of the Year  / Young Volunteer of the Year (25 and Under)

Volunteer Team of the Year / Young Volunteer Team of the Year (25 and Under)

The Peter Duppa-Miller Lifetime Achievement / Young Volunteer Leader of the Year (25 and Under)

Category 2: Charities

Charity of the Year

The Beryl Dixon Community Leader of the Year

Category 3: Carers

Carer of the Year / Young Carer of the Year (25 and Under)

B&NES Foster Carer of the Year

Category 4: Business

Business in the Community

Green Business Leader of the Year

Category 5: Services to the community

Above and Beyond Employee of the Year (partner organisations only)

Above and Beyond Employee Team of the Year (partner organisations only)

Employee Long Service Award (partner organisations only)

Residents, staff, councillors, businesses, organisations and groups, teachers, and volunteers from Bath and North East Somerset can nominate people or organisations for an award. Nomination forms must be returned by no later than 20th December.

People can nominate online by visiting: www.bathnes.gov.uk/communityawards

Nomination forms can also be downloaded and posted, clearly marked ‘The Community Awards 2019/2020’, to: The Community Awards 2019/20, c/o Chief Executive  Office, Partnerships and Corporate Services, Bath & North East Somerset Council, The Guildhall, High Street, Bath, BA1 5AW.

Everyone nominated for an award will be presented with a certificate in recognition of their contribution and invited along to the Awards in the Assembly Rooms in Bath on 25 February 2020. The winners of each category will receive a certificate and will be presented with a personalised Bath Aqua Glass Award at the event.

The Community Awards are organised in partnership with B&NES Clinical Commissioning Group, CURO, Sirona Care and Health, B&NES Virgin Care, Student Community Partnership, Bath College and a new partner for this year, 3SG.

Keep in Touch

Tim and Sarah are busy all year round working with the community to make Twerton & Whiteway the best it can be.

They post regularly on social media and residents can contact them by email, phone or via social media.  Below are the full contact details for each of your Councillors, please do follow the social media accounts as these are used to keep residents updated of things that will affect them as well as promoting local community events that you could go along and support:

Councillor Sarah Moore

Twitter - @sarahm_twerton
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/sarahmooretwerton/
Email - sarah_moore@bathnes.gov.uk
Phone - 07807013635

Councillor Tim Ball

Twitter - @timothyball
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/timballtwerton/
Email - tim_ball@bathnes.gov.uk
Phone - 07970461674

Twerton & Whiteway Liberal Democrats

Twitter - @Twertonlibdems
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TwertonWhitewaylibdems/

Bus Shelters

During 2019 we have seen almost all of the Bus Shelters in the area vandalised.  This is very disappointing and incurs a waste of valuable money and resources to continue to repair them.

Tim and Sarah are pleased to confirm that they have now received confirmation that shelters across the area will be repaired, however, instead of glass, the mesh that was installed in the Whiteway shelter (shown below) will be used.

This will hopefully provide the shelter needed for the people waiting for the bus whilst not obscuring the view or making the shelters too confined and reduce the prospect of vandalism.

Winter waste and recycling

Recycling and rubbish collection dates across Bath and North East Somerset will be revised over Christmas and New Year.

There will be no collections on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day.

Look out for the flyer advising of the revised collection dates which will be delivered to residents in the post at the beginning of December.

Full details will also be advertised in the local press and residents can also check collection dates for specific addresses on the council’s website: www.bathnes.gov.uk/checkcollection

With more rubbish thrown away over the festive period than at any other time of year, residents are being urged to recycle as much waste as possible.

Councillor David Wood, joint cabinet member for Climate Emergency and Neighbourhood Services, said: “Across the country the amount of waste generated over Christmas increases by almost a third. That’s a lot of extra rubbish, but if we think before we buy, we can reduce the amount of waste we create. Please think twice before buying cards with environmentally damaging glitter, and shiny wrapping paper which can’t be recycled as it contains plastic.

“When Christmas shopping choose environmentally friendly presents such as appliances that use renewable energy like a wind-up radio or torch, dynamo bicycle lights or a solar powered calculator. If you do need batteries opt for rechargeable ones and send recycled Christmas cards or e-cards.

“Once the presents have been unwrapped and the turkey eaten, inevitably there will be lots of rubbish and waste. It’s really important residents recycle as much as they can to avoid waste going to landfill – please use your food waste bin, green box and blue bag recycling collections and if you plan to make a New Year’s resolution, how about a pledge to recycle more?”

The majority of Christmas waste can be recycled from kerbside collections:

Food waste bin

• All food waste, including meat and bones - especially turkey bones & sprout peelings!

Recycling Boxes

• Wrapping paper (White backed wrapping paper. No glitter or foil).
• Tins and cans
• Plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays
• Glass bottles and jars (mincemeat jars)
• Foil (mince pie cases)
• Textiles – such as Christmas jumpers should be placed in a carrier bag in the box
• Small electricals (broken fairy lights)
• Batteries, mobile phones, printer cartridges, spectacles, engine oil and car batteries

Blue bag

• Cardboard and brown paper – Advent calendars, Christmas cards and gift tags can be placed in blue bags provided they are not shiny or glittery. 

The council’s recycling centres will be operating as normal for the majority of the festive period, but will be closed on:

• Christmas Day – Wednesday 25 December
• Boxing Day – Thursday 26 December
• New Year’s Day – Wednesday 1 January

There will be NO garden waste collections from Monday 9 December 2019 to Friday 17 January 2020 inclusive. Normal garden waste collections will start again on Monday 20 January.

People who have bought real Christmas trees can take them to the council’s recycling centres or put them out for collection between January 20 and 10 February on garden waste collections days (even if they don’t have a green bin) and the council will collect them free of charge.  Please cut them up small enough to fit in the lorry and ensure they are free of decorations.

Alternatively, if you live in BA1, BA2 or BA3 Dorothy House are once again offering to collect them for a small donation to the charity.  For further information or to register your tree for collection visit www.charityxmastreecollection.com

The Love Food Hate Waste website www.lovefoodhatewaste.com has plenty of seasonal tips to help reduce food waste and save money this Christmas.

For further information or details of updates to collections during extreme bad weather conditions visit: www.bathnes.gov.uk/wasteservices or call Council Connect on 01225 394941

For news and tips on how to recycle more visit: www.facebook.com/recycleforbanes

Freevew Road - Update

Tim and Sarah have requested a meeting on Freeview Road with the Highways team to look at what can be done on both sides of the road to clear the increasing amount of weeds in the gutters.  This issue has been left for far too long and needs urgent attention.

They are also chasing up timescales for the Grasscrete to be installed and will confirm back to residents as soon as this has been scheduled.

If you have issues in your street that needs attention, please do get in touch.

Leaf Clearance and Disposal

Following issues in previous years, Tim and Sarah have been working closely with the Council to ensure leaves that are collected this year are not dumped in our local park areas.

They have had assurances that there is now a clear process in place that the leaves will be disposed of in non public areas.

Sarah and Tim have also arranged for public areas of Twerton that experience large deposits of leaves on the footpaths, for example, Watery Lane and Newton Road to be cleared more regularly, making these areas safer for all to use.