LIDL REFUSED

The planning application first lodged a year ago with North Somerset Council  by Lidl to build a budget store at Stockway South, Nailsea, has finally been formally refused this week. The three reason given are inadequate customer parking, unsatisfactory access for delivery vehicles and loss of mature landscaping incuding trees.

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DOGGONE

New Nailsea landlords have been experiencing a bit of flak from concerned tenants. Dogs Palace owner Carolyn Price upped sticks and moved to Portishead claiming ‘sky high rents and business rates’ drove her out of Nailsea. And then to add insult to injury she was refused permission to put a ‘moved to Portishead’ notice in her old High Street shop. The Arcade at Nailsea which was on the market for £750,000 has been sold. But one of the first acts by property investment company Kindale Ltd was to shut Decades nightclub. Jem Imry who ran the popular upstairs venue for six years said: “Decades was great while it lasted.” He added he hoped to see all his customers again ‘in another premises if I ever find one’. The Atrium restaurant remains closed after its landlord was declared bankrupt and Gilly and Danny Chu have put the lease of their Ivy Court bisto and cafe up for sale citing ‘ill health’ after strife about opening hours and alcohol licence with new leaseholders.

YOUTH HOUSE TO CLOSE

At the 2014 annual meeting of Nailsea Town Council then chairman Clare Hunt said: “The young people of Nailsea also deserve somewhere to call home.” Well, it is back on the agenda that Youth House may close and the High Street property sold by North Somerset Council. The brainchild of former area youth officer Maurice Thornton the pioneering youth club has been under threat of closure for nearly a decade but since the district council stopped funding youth services the threat is more real than ever...watch this space. Foreal currently has a contract to provide Monday evening activities thanks to town council cash.

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NAILSEA SCHOOL OLD GIRL MP

Former Nailsea School old girl and now Conservative MP Claire Perry for Devizes has been slated in the tabloids for wasting police time. Mrs Perry, aged 51, who went to Brasenose College Oxford and graduated with a geography degree was accused of wasting police time when she claimed she was assaulted by a Labour opponent who tapped her on the shoulder at her supermarket surgery during a anti-austerity protest.

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FAIRER SCHOOL FUNDING

Weston MP John Penrose is celebrating the end of a long campaign to win Fairer Funding for Schools as the Chancellor, George Osborne, announces the Government will introduce a proper National Funding Formula for the first time. The seaside MP wanted to get a funding gap which saw Weston get £138 less education cash per pupil than Bath, £625 less than Bristol, and a whopping £2,628 less than Tower Hamlets closed. Nailsea School head teacher Chris Wade said: “We are very poorly funded by comparison to other authorities. Sadly with the drop in pupil numbers in the town the potential rise is funding will probably be too little, too late.”

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WATER PROJECT ENDS

The Nailsea/Uganda Water Project has ended after a successful three years fundraising. Spokesman Roger Evans announced this week: “So many people are now drinking clean water, living more hygienically and so having less illnesses. Also the young people are getting to school on time and not getting hurt carrying the containers of water. So thank you – without you we would not have been able to achieve so much.” The group with massive support from the community raised £95,500.