NAILSEA
PEOPLE
Our town is a very nice town
Against all the odds a brave little Nailsea boy is celebrating his third milestone – this third Christmas.
And top of his Christmas wish list is to go to Disneyland Paris.
Parents Sarah, 30, and Craig Marsh, 33, are being helped in their fundraising for a dream family holiday by friend Sarah Davies.
Sarah Davies has set up an online GoFundMe site called Logan’s Wish aimed at raising £3,000 for the trip of a lifetime.
Sarah Davies said: “Logan is three-years-old who was born with a rare type of acute myeloid leukaemia.
“This little boy has been through more in his short life than most of us could imagine going through in a lifetime yet he is one of the funniest, loving, happy children you could hope to meet.”
The two Sarahs met while out walking and their friendship developed when talking about parenting.
Sarah Marsh is a stay-at-home mum who also runs a small face-painting business called Sarah's Spectacular Smiles and dad Craig works at Kingshill Church School at Pound Lane.
Sarah Davies is married Ryan and runs Country Craft Cakes an online store selling non-edible gifts for small people and their parents.
She said: “When you see the face of any parent, you see clearly the love and devotion they have for their children.
“This is no different when you see Sarah and Craig Marsh.
“However what is not instantly obvious is what this family have been through to get to where they are today.”
As soon as Logan was born it was obvious something was wrong when bruising like a ‘blueberry muffin’ rash started appearing all over his body and he was whisked to intensive care.
Tests revealed Logan was suffering from leukaemia and with this news Craig and Sarah’s world came crashing down.
With time at an essence as the cancer had reached his bone marrow it left little choice but to start chemotherapy for the weak newborn.
What followed was a nightmare journey with baby Logan stopping breathing and needing to be resuscitated and long arduous weeks of drugs and all night vigils.
When Logan developed a difficult to treat haematoma his parents were told nothing more could be done.
But Logan has made a miraculous recovery and is well enough to attend Church Lane pre-school most days.
Although the future is still uncertain his family are determined to focus on the here and now and making memories for them and all their family.
If you would like to donate to this special fund click HERE.
A big thank you to Nailsea photographer Leah Bingham Hill for the lovely picture left.
1,000s of green field homes for North Somerset
And subsequently a High Court judge ruled in February 2013 that the inspector had failed to provide proper reasons in his report to support his conclusion that North Somerset’s 14,000 housing target was appropriate.
Dr Fox clearly put the blame on the inspector.
He said: “By this time the context had changed significantly with the publication of the national planning policy framework in March 2012.
“The stated objective of Government was now to ‘boost significantly the supply of housing’.
With adjoining local authorities in Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire having already signed, sealed and delivered their Core Strategy it leaves North Somerset vulnerable to pick up any shortfall.
Dr Fox addressing Bristol South MP Dawn Primarolo in the chair said: “Bizarrely, we are now being asked to meet what is termed ‘Bristol’s unmet need’—something that you, Madam Deputy Speaker, will understand from your own constituency interest—although the adopted Bristol city plan did not identify such a need.
“So what are the implications of all this?
“First, we have found ourselves with a new inspector who has told our elected council that even an increased number of 17,000 houses is too small and that 20,000 would be a starting point for discussion.
“It is clear that the number is rising back towards the 26,000 target.
“...North Somerset is not able to accommodate the scale of housing without encroaching into flood zones, green belt, sites of special scientific interest or areas of outstanding natural beauty.”
During the debate Dr Fox was supported by fellow Conservative MPs Chris Skidmore (Kingswood), Jacob Rees-Mogg (North East Somerset () and John Penrose (Weston-super-Mare).
In response Communities and Local Government minister Brandon Lewis said: “National housing data indicate high demand for homes in North Somerset.
“I am also aware that affordability is more acute in North Somerset than in many other parts of the country.
“The evidence of North Somerset Council itself suggests housing need of close to 26,000 homes, and the regional spatial strategy noted a figure of 26,750.
“Both figures are some 6,000 above those that the council is currently considering in its examination.”
To read all the background paperwork to be presented to the inspector at the Core Strategy re-examination click HERE.
This watch the parliamentary debate click HERE.
And the full HoC Hansard transcript can be read HERE.
COMMONS PEOPLE: North Somerset MP Liam Fox addresses parliament with Weston-super-Mare MP John Penrose and Kingswood MP Chris Skidmore supporting. Bristol South MP Dawn Primarolo was in the chair
What’s in store
Tesco Nailsea could be opening a dry cleaning business at its Nailsea branch in the new year.
The supermarket has applied to North Somerset Council for Timpson’s to run a dry cleaning, shoe mending, key cutting, jewellery and watch repairs and engraving business from a ‘retail pod’ in front of its trolley park approximately 12 metres south of the main store entrance.
The application says dry cleaning will not be undertaken within the kiosk; items to be cleaned would simply be dropped off and collected at the kiosk.
Equestrian centre
The equestrian centre just down the road from Nailsea across the moors at Clevedon has closed.
Boss Nick Davies said he is frustrated at having to bail out the business and fight red tape.
Mr Davies said in a statement: “It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that I have to announce that The Hand Equestrian Centre has closed.
“It has been our challenge over the years to try and diversify the business and find new sources of income that compliment HEC horse activities to ensure its continued future.
“It is no secret that I have met with fierce resistance to any and all of these proposals.
“Even now, HEC is under enforcement action from North Somerset Council to stop holding its car boot sales on a Saturday and events like the Zero to Hero white collar boxing, all of which helped in some small way to keep the centre going.
“We have agonised over this decision but are faced now with no alternative but to close the centre and put the property up for sale.”
To read his full statement click HERE.
Make Disneyland Paris Christmas wish come true for little Logan
Despite North Somerset Council spending more than £100,000 in legal fees nearly 30,000 new homes could be built locally in the next 12 years.
The exact number of new homes to be built by 2026 and where they are to be built will be finally decided in the New Year.
The most vulnerable villages are Backwell, Claverham, Long Ashton and Yatton.
And developers are already looking at great swathes of land around Nailsea.
Although many in the town don’t want it to stagnant most do not want a repeat of the 1960-80s unsettling housing boom.
The big housing debate went to the House of Commons this week having already been heard at public meetings and at every town and parish council in the area.
But the final decision will not be taken until after a Core Strategy re-examination on Tuesday and Wednesday, January 6-7, at The Winter Gardens, Weston-super-Mare.
The original figure was to build 26,750 homes by 2026.
Then North Somerset Council said it needed to build 20,985 new homes to accommodate its growing population.
As 6,752 dwellings have already been completed since 2006 it has put forward a plan to build just 14,233 in the time span.
It said anything more would be unrealistic and cited lack of jobs and poor infrastructure in the district.
But this opened the door to Bristol University to challenge the plan in the courts and threaten green fields surrounding local villages.
A North Somerset Council spokesman said: “The district has historically experienced relatively high levels of housing demand but low levels of economic growth.
“Our Core Strategy approach is to ensure that housing growth is better related to employment growth than in the past.”
Now it’s had a change of heart and agreed that ‘between 2006 and 2026 provision will be made for 20,985 new dwellings’.
This leaves North Somerset to ensure at least 1,186 new homes are built by developers every year for the remaining 12 years of the plan period.
Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon Homes are just two companies who want to build more houses in North Somerset.
North Somerset MP Liam Fox raised the matter in parliament last week when he secured an adjournment debate.
Dr Fox who lives at Tickenham told a handful of fellow MPs who had stayed late on Monday night to hear the arguments about ‘what has increasingly become a total fiasco around housing needs in North Somerset’.
He said the coalition government was elected on the promise that ‘greater decision making powers were returned to local councils’.
He said although North Somerset had dramatically revised its figure downwards this was accepted as ‘sound’ by a planning inspector at a public examination and adopted in April 2012.
Dr Fox said: “However, the plan was subsequently challenged in the courts by the University of Bristol, which wants to build on green belt land in my constituency.
“That is, in my view, an appalling testament to how much it values its own coffers and how little it values the local environment.”
THE online community newspaper for Nailsea people, their family and their friends
December 2014
Part Three
