Plans to halve staff numbers at the Ashfield prison facility in Pucklechurch will come as a ‘hammer blow’ to the local community, according to the village’s campaigning councillors. Serco Group plc – the contractors who manage and operate the facility – have announced 194 job losses as part of wider plans spearheaded by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), part
Continue readingTag: Conservative Group on SGC
Planning permission granted for park and ride at Emersons Green
A new park and ride on the A4174 Ring Road in South Gloucestershire has moved a step closer with the granting of planning permission. A 264-space ‘multi-modal interchange’ (MMI) will be accessed off the Rosary Roundabout opposite Sainsbury’s Emersons Green store and is being built as part of the new Emersons Green East development, which has permission for over 2,500
Continue readingHospital campaigners grill health chiefs over Frenchay plans
Frenchay Hospital campaigners grilled health bosses at a council meeting today (Wednesday 22nd January) about the latest uncertainty that hangs over a new community hospital. Plans for Frenchay’s new community hospital – now known as a Health and Social Care Centre – were only agreed last year and envisaged a greater range of services than that proposed in the original
Continue readingCouncillors asked to show support for Frenchay Hospital plans
Frenchay Hospital campaigners are to ask for South Gloucestershire Council’s support in their efforts to end the latest uncertainty that hangs over a new community hospital. Plans for Frenchay’s new community hospital – now known as a Health and Social Care Centre – were only agreed last year and envisaged a greater range of services than that proposed in the
Continue reading“Raid” on village’s transport funds put on hold
Plans to “raid” a village’s transport funds to spend in another part of South Gloucestershire have been put on hold. A report that went to last Monday’s (5th November) meeting of South Gloucestershire Council’s Policy and Resources Committee meeting had recommended that £420,000 paid to the council by the developers of Hortham Village in Almondsbury parish should be spent on
Continue readingItemised Council Tax statements could be on the way
Council Tax bills could be itemised in South Gloucestershire as part of fresh efforts to show taxpayers where their money goes, say local Conservatives. This year South Gloucestershire Council charged the average Band D household £1,227 in Council Tax. The authority had already been one of the first councils in the country to publish payments over £500 – and now
Continue readingCouncil agrees to continue funding youth centres in Priority Neighbourhoods
A Special Meeting of South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) last night confirmed a decision made by its Children and Young People Committee on 25th July that will see centre-based youth provision safeguarded in the authority’s six Priority Neighbourhoods (Cadbury Heath, Filton, Kingswood, Patchway, Staple Hill and Yate/Dodington). The committee had also agreed that a pot of £227,000 be made available to
Continue readingCrunch vote on youth centre closures
Community leaders across South Gloucestershire are to make a last-ditch attempt to save their local youth centres at a special council meeting on Monday 10th September. The special meeting of all seventy councillors is being held after Conservative councillors challenged a controversial decision taken by seven Labour and LibDem councillors on the authority’s Children and Young People Committee on 25th
Continue readingNew motorway junction campaign boost
The campaign for a new M49 junction in South Gloucestershire has received a major boost. It comes after a high-level ‘City Deal’ was agreed ‘in principle’ between the government and the four West of England local authorities, which includes South Gloucestershire Council. The deal would see the West of England authorities allowed to retain 100 per cent of the growth
Continue reading“Lifeline” hospital bus service saved
A previously-threatened “lifeline” bus service linking parts of South Gloucestershire with Frenchay and Southmead hospitals has been saved, delighting campaigners. First Bus had informed South Gloucestershire Council back in June that they were intending to withdraw the Service 18 with effect from 2nd September, which runs from Emersons Green to Southmead Hospital via Downend, Frenchay Hospital, UWE’s Frenchay campus, Parkway
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