Haycombe Drive flooding

We have recently received reports about flooding during heavy rain and after our complaints the Council have replied with the following.

"During each visit, our process involves clearing the gully grid of debris, lifting the grid, and using a tanker to suck out the gully pot. We then perform a flow test, and if the gully isn't flowing properly, we jet the connecting drains to ensure everything is clear. I can confirm that the gullies were operational after each of these visits. Additionally, on 13th January 2023 and 27th February 2025, the pipework was jetted in response to reported flooding to ensure there were no blockages contributing to the issue.

 

The Council have recently inspected the gullies and can confirm that they are clear. However, looking at the reports and photos, it appears there is a significant amount of leaves and other debris on the highway. When this debris is washed onto the gully grids, it can quickly prevent water from entering the gullies. To address this, a request for street cleansing to attend to the area. The council will upsize the gully grids to increase their resilience to blocking from surface debris."

Large buses cause nuisance to Whiteway residents.

 

We have raised concern with both the Council and First bus about the amount of nuisance and damage that the large double decker buses are causing in the Whiteway area.

Trees are being damaged and the noise and disturbance with buses constantly running from the early hours  till late evening without any passengers on many of the busses has been brought to their attention.

We have asked that first bus and the council re-evaluate the need for these large vehicles on this route and return to using smaller buses. The need for the frequency of these buses has also been challenged.

Bus Shelter - Haycombe Drive

Following several conversations with residents and the Council, it is great to see the Bus shelter at the trees on Haycombe Drive has had the glass/plastic removed and replaced by mesh instead.

We will continue to monitor this shelter, but at least there will be no more broken glass in this area.

Bus Shelter Changes Haycombe Drive

 The council are replacing the glass at the bus shelter at the circle Haycombe Drive with a metal mesh that will hopefully reduce the maintenance.

The mesh has been ordered and will hopefully be in place during the next few week.

This is a trail and if it works will be introduced in other shelters.

The Shelters shown are in other areas where its is working.

As always the cost of maintenance is born by the council tax payer and in ever decreasing budgets this will only put up council tax.

If you witness any one vandalising a bus shelter or know who has then please inform the Police and let us know as well

HMO application Haycombe Drive

We have a retrospective planning application to convert a 4 bed dwelling house at 181 Haycombe Drive to a 6 bed roomed HMO.

We have raised objections to this planning application as we feel that a six bed roomed HMO in this location is far to much for the community and have asked that it is refused, we have asked that if approval is recommended that it is sent to the planning committee to be determined in public session.

The application can be viewed or you can leave comments at this Link 181 Haycombe Drive.

We are concerned that far to many properties are being converted into HMO's without permission being sought.

It is good to remember that all HMO's now require a license as well as planning permission.
The council Licensing policy for HMO's can be found on the link below.

Bathnes HMO Licensing

Curo Walkabout - Twerton and Whiteway

On Friday 19th October, Tim Ball and Sarah Moore met with a representative from Curo to walk around Walwyn Close, Woodhouse Road and Redland Park area of Twerton to show him first hand how unloved the area is and discuss regularly reported issues.

He has agreed that a number of trees and bushes need to be cut back to ensure the lighting is more effective as well as regular clean up of the area.

Curo are making changes to the way they work at the moment and we will hopefully have a full update on this shortly.

On Monday 22nd October, Sarah and Tim were joined by local residents and Senior Management from Curo to take a walk around Blagdon Park, Rosewarn Close and parts of Haycombe Drive for them to see the state of the area.

We discussed parking issues and a number of vehicles have now been served a 28 day notice for the owners to either remove them or Curo will take them away.  They are also looking at other ways to ease parking problems around the area.

Residents are fed up with not being listened to and having to regularly contact Curo to get anything done.

We have said that the biggest issues residents have is the lack of communication and action.  Whilst we know money is tight for everyone, Curo understands it has a duty to provide a service to it's customers and has agreed to go back and see how they can improve this process. 

We will keep you informed of any updates we have from Curo as we receive them.

Possible delays due to road Works

With Scheduled resurfacing works taking place in Haycombe Drive for 3 days later this week there is a potential for delays to the number 5 Bus service running through Twerton.

We would advise residents to ensure that they leave home in plenty of time to reach their destination.