It's good to talk

We have been out talking with residents in Landseer Road recently and have picked up on various issues in the area including anti-social behaviour, broken, dangerous drain covers and street lights that do not work at night, all of which have been reported for repair.

The residents in Landseer Road have also taken ownership of their street by clearing up the streets, planting flowers and shrubs and even installing a seat so they can sit out talking with each other.

We are out in Twerton all year round talking with residents to ensure their voices are heard.

Residents often say they do not know who to talk to about issues  in their community, especially if their landlord, housing association or council are not listening to them and we are keen to make sure everyone across Twerton know we are here all year around, but also make it clear what local Councillors can actually do for them.

A lot of issues raised are things that are down to central government and locally elected individuals have very limited capacity to help, but without being asked we cannot direct people to the correct people that could help.

We also find with the rapid cuts and constant changes in services, residents feel they no longer get value for money from their taxes.

Please do look out for us in your street and don't be afraid to stop us and have a chat, we are keen to make Twerton the best community it can be.

Keep safe take the advice get your gas appliances checked.

After the long hot summer this year its now time to focus on preparing for winter – and we’re urging everyone to take just five simple steps to make sure winter doesn’t catch them out: 

1.       Get gas appliances safety checked by a Gas Safe Registered Engineer – this should be done every year. 

2.       Keep your eye on your appliances: Flames on your cooker and boiler should be crisp and blue, and no sooty black marks on or around any gas appliances.

3.       Make sure you have an audible carbon monoxide (CO) alarm: it might save your life and save you from the debilitating side effects of CO poisoning.

4.       Know the signs of CO poisoning: a headache is the most common but also dizziness, feeling sick, tiredness & confusion, stomach pain and shortness of breath.  The symptoms are flu-like without the high temperature – but very high levels can kill almost instantly.

5.       Save the National Gas Emergency Number 0800 111 999 in your phone so you can call it immediately if you smell gas or suspect the presence of CO.

Mixed planning results at Development Control Committee

97 Sheridan Road

We are pleased to be able to inform residents that the controversial planning application to convert 97 Sheridan Road into an HMO has been turned down by Bath & North East Somerset Council's Development Control Committee on 29th August.

Twerton Councillor Tim Ball who addressed the meeting had referred the item to the committee after receiving numerous comments from residents concerning the scale of the application.

The application was rejected on the grounds of the amount of parking problems that it would cause and on road safety issues and also causing residential harm to the area. Members of the committee expressed concern that this property formerly a 3 bedroomed family home was to become a six bed HMO.

99 Sheridan Road

This application was for a four bedroomed HMO although we laid the same concerns as 97 Sheridan Road, members of the Development Control Committee approved the application as they thought that the scale of the development was less of a problem.

We have also asked for an urgent policy review on how the number of current HMO units are counted by the planning department.

If you have concerns about any planning application, then please let us know as without your input we are powerless to be able to help.

Two planning applications to report one variation of use one HMO

1) Freedom House , Lower Bristol Road, Twerton, Bath, BA2 1EP

This application is to formalise car parking arrangements to the rear of Freedom House and so they can share the carparking they have with Curo, and it their words stop parking over spilling on to local Roads.

Please follow this link to view or comment on this application.

2) 2 Windrush Close, Whiteway, Bath, Bath And North East Somerset, BA2 1PL
Change of use from 3 bed dwelling house (use class C3) to 5 bed house in multiple occupation (use class C4)

Please follow this link to view or comment on this application. 

Dogs mess Twerton High Street

I have been receiving rather a lot of complaints from residents about the amount of dogs mess that there is on Twerton High Street that is being caused by just a few dogs.

I have asked that the dogs mess is cleared up and that the culprits the dog owners are caught and dealt with.

It is annoying that some people are not caring enough to pick up the mess that their dogs are making.

Please let me know if you are aware of further problems.

Highland Road ( street cleaning issues )

We have asked the council and Curo to take action to remove the weeds and rubbish from the footpaths in Highland Road.

Weeds that have grown through the paths are not acceptable  and residents should not be expected to put up with the untidy conditions that have been created.

We would expect the are to be brought back up to standard in a very short period of time.

We will be monitoring the condition of this area and will be chasing the matter up if it is not brought up to an acceptable standard.

New Planning application for HMO in East Way

We have a new planning application to convert 16 East Way from a 4 bedroomed family home into an House of multiple occupation ( HMO ).

The application has just been submitted and is available for comments until 20th September.

If you wish to view the application or make comments or objections then please follow this link. 16 East Way