Press release by South Gloucestershire Labour A local MP earned almost £14,000 as advanced payments for book-writing deals in the first six months after his election. The latest edition of the Register of MPs’ Financial Interests shows that Conservative MP for Kingswood, Chris Skidmore, was paid almost £14,000 in four separate deals between May and October 2010. The largest of
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Local Conservative councillors and Green Belt campaigners have criticised confirmation that a future Labour Government would reintroduce regional housing targets. The Regional Spatial Strategies (RSS) were a spectacular bureaucratic failure representing an affront to local democracy yet also proving ineffective in getting houses built – house building fell to the lowest level since 1924. The South West RSS proposed 32,800
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A South Gloucestershire council building which has recently received a multi-million pound makeover could lie half-empty when it re-opens, and senior Labour councillor Terry Walker is challenging the ruling Tories over the reduced number of staff now scheduled to work at Kingswood Civic Centre. The council has embarked on a major accommodation strategy with a view to consolidating its headquarters
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Councillors in Kingswood have begun their annual programme of holding surgeries within every street of their ward. Labour councillors representing the Woodstock ward of South Gloucestershire Council, Gareth Manson, Andy Perkins and Pat Rooney operate their ‘mobile surgeries’ each year in addition to their regular monthly surgeries which they hold in local schools. A few days before the surgery, residents
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Two new purpose built centres that bring together health and council services for children and young people opened on Monday (5th September) in Kingswood and Patchway. The Hubs, in Alma Road, Kingswood, and Rodway Road, Patchway, will bring essential services to the heart of these communities. Parents and carers of children of all ages can receive advice, support and a
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Swimmers will be welcomed back to Kingswood Leisure Centre from Monday 18th July following the completion of the first phase of a major £2.8 million refurbishment by South Gloucestershire Council. Carried out over six months, the improvements include remodelled and refurbished swimming pools, brand new changing facilities and new spectator seating. This is all in a light, bright modern pool
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Longwell Green residents, MP Chris Skidmore and local councillors Christine Price and John Calway are celebrating after saving the local Green Belt from being bulldozed by developers after a hard-fought community campaign. The long-running campaign collected nearly 1,000 petition signatures and a protest demonstration was held with over 200 local residents turning up to show the strength of support for
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The British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV) Tree Life Centre has just been awarded a prestigious Planting Places Award. The Centre is a volunteer-run tree nursery based at Grimsbury Farm in Kingswood, which is owned by South Gloucestershire Council. The BTCV volunteers, who come from many different backgrounds with people aged from their late teens through to sixty plus, have
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Up to 100 young flautists from South Gloucestershire will take part in a workshop at Kingsfield School in Kingswood on Thursday 24th March, with the celebrated flautist and composer Ian Clarke. Organised by South Gloucestershire Music Service (SGMS), with support from B&NES Music Service and sponsored by John Packer of Taunton,the workshop enables young flautists to have the opportunity to
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Councillors in Kingswood are celebrating after a council committee agreed to allocate funding for a zebra crossing outside a sheltered housing scheme. Blackhorse Court on Blackhorse Road provides supported living for around 19 people with disabilities or learning difficulties. Residents had approached their local councillors about two years ago to see if South Gloucestershire Council would build a zebra crossing
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