Our town is a very nice town

THE online community newspaper for Nailsea people, their family and their friends

December 2022

Property Peeps

All roads in Nailsea had a traffic count meter stretched across them for days. The consensus was developers were measuring the number of vehicles going back and forth as concern about commuter routes have been voiced. This is pending planning permission for thousands of new houses. Read more on our Property Peeps page sponsored by HENSONS estate agents HERE

What's On 2022

This is the page for the food markets, fairs, fetes and fests, basically all the fun things in life. Dance, theatre and concerts also feature as well as Christmas activities. The diary dates go into 2023 and for December it is festive fings including carol singing and the big eat:Nailsea food and drink street fair - see below or read more HERE

Gallery 2022

We have hundreds of images in our galleries (under dropdown menu top) and for 2022 it goes from the wassail to wildlife, jubilee to carnival, skatefest to beerfest and more. The latest slideshows are from bonfire night and Remembrance day. This image is by Tracey Thomas. Email pics to nailseapeople@gmail.com

Photos from event in slideshow in our gallery HERE

Thanks to the support of Crown Glass Shopping, Nailsea Town Council and North Somerset Council the food and drink festive street fair promises to be the biggest and best in Nailsea.

It will be stretching all the way along the High Street and through the Crown Glass Shopping Centre including the area outside Wetherspoons.

And Father Christmas will be around all day too.

COLLIERS WALK

Somerset Charcuterie

Still Sisters & Friary Drinks - NEW TO NAILSEA

Stop Ya Beefin’ - NEW TO NAILSEA

Centre for Sustainable Energy

Bobbie and Bee

Willow Chiropractic - NEW TO NAILSEA

CROWN GLASS PLACE

Bath Soft Cheese Co

My garden of Eden

RebelRox Kitchen - NEW TO NAILSEA

RSPB

Winnies Bakery Limited

Knollys' Desserts

Forest Funghi

shorkk - NEW TO NAILSEA

Bee Sweet Co

Butternut Box

Monmouth Shepherd

Rambos Country Kitchen

Nelson & Forge

HIGH STREET

Honey's Cider

Kumbites

Country Bumpkins Catering

Big Munch Mac & Cheese

Nailsea and District Community Transport

Maestro's Pizza

Riverford Organic Farmers

Sweet Drinks

DusiCake

Fenny Castle

Robert Hawker Venison

Dark Matters

Boo Cottage Botanicals

Nutts Scotch Eggs

Haselburyspirit Ltd

Little Oak Farm Pork

Kinetic Kitchen

The Somerset Deli

Spengler's Deli - NEW TO NAILSEA

SOMERSET SQUARE

Truespeed - NEW TO NAILSEA

Chalice Mead - NEW TO NAILSEA

Little Jack Horners

Quantock Steamers

Yellow Door Cottage

Cocoa's

Nutcessity

Wild West cider

Carslake Tea Company

Hullabaloos Drinks

Fostering North Somerset

Taylors of North Somerset at Uncle Pauls Chilli Charity

Creamberry Artisan

Mery art glass

Salsa Stories

Herby4

Avon Wildlife Trust

Gingerbeard Preserves

Stanbury Game Dealers

Boulton Spirit

Lunita Pasteleria

Soy Ahoy

Gluten Free Picnic

Mike’s Pork

Times Past Dairy

Passion & Smoke

The Crepe Cart

Charles Taylor Furniture

Pop's Thai Kitchen

Nailsea Cider

Diggity Doughnuts - NEW TO NAILSEA

Sadly the eat:Festival on Saturday, December 3, could be the last one in Nailsea although dates for Clevedon and Portishead 2023 are booked.

Nailsea People is told the trouble positioning stalls in parking bays along the Tesco end of the High Street on a bus route at the October food and drink event caused some complaints although the official line is the festival is trying new venues.

Eat:Festival organiser Bev Milner-Simonds said: "When we were asked to work in Nailsea the farmers' market was not performing as desired and there was a shop vacancy rate problem.

"We created a busy destination event for the town, worked alongside the town council to show them how to close the road and enabled the market to move to the High Street.

"We then brokered the deal with Somerset Farmers' Markets to take on the farmers' market.

"This has proven to be very successful and is the largest one they run.

"The vacancy rate has reduced and the market continues to thrive.

"The support of North Somerset Council, Nailsea Town Council and the Crown Glass Shopping Centre has been invaluable and very much appreciated.

"We feel that we achieved what was asked of us.

"We are continuing to deliver festivals in North Somerset and further afield and are very much looking forward to the December festival in the High Street and an expanded area of the Crown Glass Shopping Centre."

Nailsea Town Council chairman Mike Bird said: "There was some confusion at the October festival as the licence covering the festival and farmers market only covers the west end of the high street.

"The council was unaware of the Eat Festivals intentions until the day.

"However, again as Bev points out, they are expanding into more of the precinct.

"The street licence also covers the High Street down the side of Coates House, unused by both the festival and market. So there is room for expansion."

A huge debate on Nailsea People Facebook page reached nearly 7,000 people!

Dump Backwell Recycling Centre to save council cash

Lister to North Somerset Council executive discuss how to cut £17m from its budget for the next financial year on its YouTube chanel here https://youtu.be/cHwTSo14w4g.
One proposal is to close Backwell Recycling Centre and another is to introduce for the first time car parking charges for Nailsea.
Green Party councillor Bridget Petty said: “Local government is required to plan a balanced budget.
“After more than a decade of cuts from central government, it is a really difficult to deliver all the important services.
“The end of the report lists some of the decisions that the executive is being asked to consider.
“To help close the funding gap it is proposed to close the Backwell household recycling centre, it would not be an easy decision to make, but with difficult decisions ahead, it is something that is being considered.
“Backwell residents have raised concerns about the location of the recycling centre.
“It is also the only one in a very village based location which does have impact on the local community.
“This is not a decision about what the future use of that site would be and that decision has not been made and there would be significant more conversation over any future use for that site.
“The waste site is run by North Somerset Environmental Company and would not result in any job losses to those associated with that site.”
North Somerset Council plans also to build homes on part of the Clevedon Road car park revisiting a proposal from the 1980s for a tower block on the site matching the height of the Wessex Water offices across the road.
Nailsea has six car parks - Clevedon Road, Station Road, Waitrose, Crown Glass, Scotch Horn and Tesco.
A car park survey revealed there were more spaces than needed.
A council spokesman said: “Some spaces could potentially be better used to improve public space, landscape amenity or to provide housing.”
Read the the full Somerset Live report here https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/car-park-swallowed-homes-under-7882804.
The meeting to discuss this will be broadcast live on YouTube Wednesday, December 7, at 6pm.
The public can also attend and request to speak in advance.
Like councils across the country North Somerset faces spiralling inflationary cost pressures and stretched staff resources as well as increasing demands for services as more residents struggle with the impacts of the cost of living crisis.
The council has already made significant savings during the past 13 years of austerity.
Additional funding allocations from central government to support covid recovery have come to an end and have not been replaced with revised measures to help tackle the inflationary increases.
The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement earlier this month brought news that councils would be able to raise council tax next year by up to five per cent including up to two per cent ring-fenced for adult social care.
North Somerset Council executive member for corporate services Ash Cartman is the Lib Dem ward councillor and a parish councillor for Long Ashton.
He said: "Given that our council tax is lower than all our neighbours and last year was £351 lower than Bristol for a band D property, raising more money through council tax doesn’t generate as much additional money for us as it does in other council areas.
"And doing so places additional pressures on our residents who are already facing significant financial challenges of their own, so it’s not something we do gladly or lightly.
“The Chancellor’s announcement doesn’t translate into additional budget

for us because our financial planning included extra grant funding from government which has not materialised.
"His Autumn Statement also outlined that councils would benefit from new funding for social care reform. While this is welcome it will need to be ringfenced for the additional responsibilities which we will face.”

Since the £17m gap in the council’s budget was announced in September,

council staff have been working with Executive councillors to develop savings proposals to reduce that gap to £4m. £17m accounts for about 10 per cent of the council’s net spend against a background of an already very lean financial position.
Mr Cartman added: “We will do our best to protect our services for the most vulnerable people in our communities wherever possible and they remain our priority.
"We know that there are difficult times ahead for our residents, businesses and our organisation as we all face the impact of the cost of living crisis, but we are committed to delivering the best services we can and a more open, fairer and greener North Somerset.”
Once the draft budget has been approved for consultation at the meeting North Somerset Citizens' Panel will be invited to share their views on the plans for the year ahead.
They’ll have the opportunity to answer questions relating to current service provision as well as potential changes highlighted within the budget papers. Their feedback will be included within the next report so councillors can consider the views of local people when these important decisions are made.
The council’s leadership team and senior managers will continue to work on proposals to close the remaining £4m gap for 2023-24, before the final budget and council tax levels are agreed in February.
The executive meeting is open to the public at the Town Hall in Weston-super-Mare at 6pm on Wednesday, December 7.
Full agenda papers are HERE.

BIRDS, BUTTERFLIES AND BIG TREES: An artist's impression of how Colliers Walk in Nailsea could look in the future in an image supplied by North Somerset Council. This recommendation comes from a twin report with Clevedon which cost thousands of pounds (we paid) and recommends for Nailsea building in the Clevedon Road car park and charging to park elsewhere on council owned space - read more on the Somerset Live full report here https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/car-park-swallowed-homes-under-7882804. And if you thing there is a hummingbirds in the image - humming birds have never been found in the wild anywhere in Europe.

IT'S BEGUN: Workman have started painting the red telephone box in Nailsea High Street on Wednesday morning November 30. . It has taken several years to get to this point. Painting is likely to take 4-5 days and still longer for a replacement door frame which had been kicked in, they said. This has been ordered by Nailsea Town Council clerk Jo Duffy and costs more than £500. AWOL MP Matt Hancock is pictured on television I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here which promoted Nailsea People Facebook comment from reader Sarah Goulty said: "As long as it doesn't come with a resident MP." No decision has been made on its use once refurbished - suggestion have been varied during the past three years when its purchase for one pound was finalised from BT

www.thetekhut.uk

computer techies for the online community

The TEK Hut was started by Ben Parker in the summer of 2018.

For 12 years Ben had been one of the team at The ICT Workshop which provided a wide variety of computer services to Nailsea, Clevedon, Yatton, Backwell and even Weston-Super-Mare.

Ben felt it right to continue the same great service customers had previously experienced but under new branding for a new business and The Tek Hut was born.

Trading at the familiar location in Nailsea, The Tek Hut will continue to offer the same cost effective, new laptops and PCs, upgrades, onsite support for homes and businesses through to a wide range of workshop services and accessories.