NAILSEA
PEOPLE
Our town is a very nice town
THE online community newspaper for Nailsea people, their family and their friends
October 2023
Property people
Another month and another developer presents its ideas for house building in Nailsea and Backwell. Lots for North Somerset Council to consider with no local plan in place. Read more HERE
What's On 2023
This page is for market dates - two this month, fairs, fetes, and fests. September started with the Emergency Services Open Day and the annual ploughing match. This month as we edge towards Christmas we have Halloween, then festive concerts and pantos added. Read more HERE
Gallery 2023
We have hundreds and hundreds of images in our 2023 galleries featuring Backwell lake, country walks as well as sensational sunrises and sunsets - added a Macmillan afternoon tea party and the Nailsea International Bike Show at the Ringers this month - thanks to Backwell Camera Club for sharing its images, see our slideshows in the gallery HERE
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.
FIVE STAR
Window Cleaning
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Get spruced up for 2023 with this Nailsea-based company boasting best prices
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Quotes for fascia, gutters and drainpipe cleaning no obligation
Call 0759 532 3274
Togs
School
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Starting School: Everything you need for that first special day
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Schoolwear: Uniforms, Accessories, Name Tapes, Waterproof Jackets and Trousers
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Sportswear: PE Kits, Gumshields, Shin Pads
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Dancewear: RAD Approved for Ballet, Tap, Modern and Jazz
School Togs
Clevedon Walk, Nailsea, BS48 1RS
01275 857491
MEMORIAL SERVICE
A memorial service for much loved academic and lover of nature Terry Smith has been arranged by his son Christopher for 2pm on Friday, October 27, at Christ Church, Nailsea. Terry who died in May this year was an active member of many local groups including Nailsea Environment and Archaeology Team, Nailsea and District Local History Society and wrote articles for the publications Pennant and History and Heritage Matters. All who knew him are welcome to attend
STAR BAKER
A young Nailsea baker has been awarded the title of Best Home-Based Cake Making Business in Somerset 2023 by a lifestyle magazine. Becky’s Cake Creations has been running for nearly 10 years and started as a hobby before becoming a full-time business. This is the eighth year LUXlife which was founded in 2015 by publishing company AI Global Media Ltd and has a circulation of 94,000 has run the competition to honour the ‘skill and creativity of chefs, mixologists, producers and more across the food and beverage industry’. Becky’s details are on our Food and Drink page HERE
MISSING WALLET FULL OF MONEY
A Nailsea visitor has lost his wallet containing a substantial amount of money, driving licence with Winford address and photo of his son. This happened while walking from Greggs bakery in Colliers Walk to Southfield Road this morning, Monday, September 18. Greggs have been contacted by it hasn’t been handed in and although the man has re-traced his steps it cannot be located. The loss has been reported to the police and a small reward is offered to anyone who finds the brown leather wallet especially if the money is still inside!
SCHOOL SCRAPS AFTERNOON BREAK
New Golden Valley Primary School head teacher Richard Riordan is introducing more ‘learning time’ by scrapping afternoon breaks at the Nailsea Park infant and junior campus. Afternoon breaks were once a common feature of nearly all primary school timetables. But, as schools have sought to dedicate more time to teaching and learning, and limit poor behaviour, these short play times have been almost eliminated. Mr Riordan said in a letter home to parents in the first week of the new term the move ‘equates to over an extra week of learning per year’. However, Michael Rosen, a former Children’s Laureate and author of We’re Going On A Bear Hunt, has argued publicly for more playtime not less
NEW FIREFIGHTER
Nailsea has a new recruit to be stationed at the Pound Lane HQ of Avon Fire & Rescue Service (AF&RS). Lauren Harris was among three new recruits who all graduated in an official ceremony from AF&RS and Gloucestershire Fire & Rescue Service at the end of September. The course recruits complete provides new on-call firefighters with specialist skills including tactical firefighting, pitching ladders, breathing apparatus, road traffic collision safety and water safety and rescue.
NAILSEA TOWN COUNCIL
Unlike our MPs Nailsea town councillors have decided not to introduce an August recess despite it being a busy summer holiday time. Former council chairman and town clerks are to get their service acknowledged on a ‘honours board’ and other councillors with get a formal letter of thanks on retiring from the council. North Somerset Council leader Mike Bell who attended the September meeting is to find out from district council contractors Dignity who were recently subject to a takeover bid why the extension of the garden of rest at Stockway North is delayed. And meanwhile the council looks likely to organise for this year a Christmas fair, details and date yet to be released
NAILSEA SCHOOL ENTRANCE
From the end of September, the Station Road entrance to Nailsea School will not be open and closed at the start and end of the school day. Given the restricted access at this entrance and members of the public reporting ‘near misses’ between students (both walking and on bikes) and cars this entrance will be closed for the foreseeable future. The decision is based around the importance of student safety. The main entrance at Mizzymead Road and the Ash Hayes Road entrance will be the only two student entrances.
NEW STREET LIGHTS
North Somerset Council contractor Centregreat Ltd is fitting new street lighting columns in the following Nailsea roads as part of its £250k capital replacement programme:
The roads that will be affected are:
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Causeway View
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Fir Leaze
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Fosse Barton
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Fosse Close
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Fosse Lane
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Fryth Way
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Goodwin Drive
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Greenslade Gardens
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Kingsmead
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Leighwood Drive
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Moor End Spout
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North Lane
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St Marys Grove
Work will start on Monday, October 2, and last for approximately four weeks.
Affected residents will be notified by letter and advance notice boards will be displayed in the roads
BACKWELL RECYCLING CENTRE
The ‘tip’ at Coles Quarry. Backwell, where residents can recycle their mixed glass, paper, cardboard, cans, plastic, cartons, textiles, shoes and more is now on winter opening hours. This runs from Sunday to Sunday, October 1-March 31.
The hours are:
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10am to 3pm Monday, Tuesday and Friday
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9am to 4pm Saturday and Sunday
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Closed Wednesday and Thursday
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Closed bank holidays including Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day
GREEN MAN SHORT WAITING TIME
North Somerset Council is spending approximately £46,000 shortening pedestrian crossings waiting times. Currently people walking or wheeling in North Somerset can wait up to 60 seconds at some standalone signalised crossings. But research shows that people waiting to cross get impatient after 20 seconds, resulting in unsafe crossings without the green man light. This also leads to frustration for drivers who find themselves facing a ghost crossing - a red light with no one waiting to cross. The changes will begin in October and are being funded by the Green Infrastructure Fund, the NHS, Active Travel England and North Somerset Council.
The Pink Ladies cancer support fundraiser for 2023 in Nailsea has been cancelled due to poor ticket sales.
Three pioneering local women launch the annual fundraiser in 2008 and over the years it has raised thousands and thousands of pounds for cancer charities including BUST the Breast Cancer Unit Support Trust, based at Southmead Hospital.
Annabel Kew, Sue Morris and Rachel Sullivan were the brains behind what started as a Pink Ladies dinner at Nailsea & Backwell Rugby Club 20 years ago and apart for the lockdown years it has run annually with an amazing range of themes and a huge team of volunteers working tirelessly behind the scenes.
Hundreds of women dressed in pink and sipping cocktails have enjoyed entertainment and fine dining at Nailsea & Backwell Rugby Club for two decades.
From the gin event to Absolutely Fabulous, from buff waiters to rugby matches with macho men sporting pink shirts, from energetic performances of the Haka to diamonds and denim fancy dress the ideas captured the imagination of all supporters.
Funds were booster by raffles and an auction and part of the fun was a best dressed bra competition.
And 2023 would have been no different with plans for a Beastival in a marquee at the rugby ground on Saturday, October 14.
In 2018 the celebrated The Year Of The Woman marking 100 years since women gained the vote.
The theme was the Land Girls from the 1940s with its iconic artwork and battle cry 'we can do it'.
One of the guests of honour was retired Golden Valley Primary School deputy head Joanna Hopkinson who sadly died just a few weeks ago.The committee announced at the end of September: "Much to our disappointment and It breaks our hearts to announce this, but despite our best efforts to sell more tickets, we just haven’t sold enough for the event to go ahead."We apologise to our loyal attendees who have already purchased them, and we will arrange refunds as soon as we can.
"We are gutted this has happened and we aren’t sure at this point what will
Pink Ladies fundraiser cancelled
happen in the future with Pink Ladies."
Organiser Hannah Waghorn said: “I think it’s a combination of things!
“The fact we’re in a marquee, clashes with the rugby world cup matches and the rise in the cost of living!”
Happily, to all those kind and generous people who had already bought tickets didn’t want a refund and donated the admission cost to BUST, added Hannah.
Vistry vision 2025
The public gallery was packed for Nailsea Town Council planning committee chaired by James Tonkin on Wednesday evening, September 27, at the Tithe Barn to hear a presentation by the Vistry Group, the developers who want to build on Causeway View.
The three-strong team of Marengo Communications director Tom Selway, Vistry Group strategic planning manager Lucy Atkins and Boyer Planning director Lawrence Turner delivered a PowerPoint introduction to how they would like the land to the north of Hanham Way developed.
The trio were working on the assumption that now the National Grid had removed the pylons that most of the consultations had been completed in 2018 when the site was first identified for house building in the adopted local plan prepared by North Somerset Council.
Phase one is for 150 (of a potential 450) new homes with 30 per cent ‘affordable’ and lots of open space for allotments, parks, picnic areas, an orchard and the like very similar to the strategy put forward by Barratt Homes in its presentation.
The Vistry Group only have an interested in half the site which is allocated for housing in the local plan and once planning permission is granted work could start at the end of 2025.
The contentious issues included the proposed access through Watery Lane and potential flood risks.
Currently in Nailsea major house builders Barratt Homes and Taylor Wimpey are developing green fields with smaller companies like Woodstock, Acorn and a Mikhail Riches led project working on smaller sites.
And investors LVA want to build an ambitious housing estate on the northern boundary of Nailsea with large parts of this land in the parish of Wraxall that includes a ‘northern bypass’ while Gleeson Land which promotes land through the planning system for residential development are exploring the slope from the Taylor Wimpey site towards Nailsea & Backwell railway station.
Backwell also has swathes of countryside under threat from the builders.
Vistry is an amalgamation of Bovis Homes, Linden Homes and the Countryside Homes.
Vistry control the central and southern parts of the allocated site, other landowners control the land to the north which includes the Nailsea & Tickenham Football Club ground at Fryth Way.
These plans have been delayed by National Grid's work grounding the pylons on the site.
Since then, a detailed set of technical and environmental assessments have been undertaken to understand the site’s opportunities and constraints to development, say Vistry.
In its public blurb it says, ‘the proposals look to deliver up to 150 new homes, including 30 per cent affordable homes, through a landscape and ecology-led approach that retains 54 per cent of the site as green space, providing a multi-functional new community parkland, with a mix of meadows and wetlands, orchards and allotments, play and recreational space, and extensive new tree and hedgerow planting.’ And it promises part of a new spine road which will ‘improve connectivity around north-west Nailsea’.
Read more here https://vistry-northwestnailsea.com/.
Nailsea & Tickenham FC chairman John Murray was given assurances that the Fryth Way ground was not included or affected by these proposals although the PowerPoint said Twickenham FC ground (which is in Middlesex) which made the audience questions whether they had done their local homework.
Mr Murray said: “We are grateful that there was no direct impact on the club’s ground from the development, but we are concerned that access from the Vistry site to the adjacent site would need to cross the club’s land?”
He was told that this would not be necessary.
Many of the 60 residents who attended the meeting lived in the area adjacent to that on which Vistry developers are proposing for housebuilding.
The meeting heard the proposed housing estate would be energy efficient, gas-free, with electric vehicle charging points.
Fifty per cent of the whole area would be open space with good ecology management, sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) with retained hedgerow boundaries and buffer spaces, yielding a 15% increase in biodiversity gain which is beyond that required by regulation.
Prior to the planning application being submitted all the statutory surveys will be undertaken for heritage, ecology, flooding, transport impacts.
Golden Valley ward town councillor Ian Presland refuted the developers’ claim of good public transport links from the area and exhorted them to consult local councils and bus companies further on this matter.
Clerk Jo Duffy said she understood that the government-owned company National Highways, formerly the Highways Agency, has asked for a halt on all development planning in Nailsea for six months to allow further consideration of the cumulative effect on the roads in, and as access to and from the town.
But the Vistry team said National Highways should have already consulted on allocations of land made by North Somerset Council in 2018 which included the north Nailsea locations.
Golden Valley ward coopted town councillor Anthony Hobbs averred that affordable homes were not – affordable, and exhorted Vistry to do more than just to tick the required boxes for a development plan as he had heard all this before from other builders’ presentations.
He urged them to ‘go beyond basic expectations’.
Nailsea Action Group spokesman Dave Gray said they was an identified need for more smaller homes to be built in Nailsea to allow older residents to downsize and younger people to come in and this wasn’t reflected in the design for the site.
Resident Beth Connock raised concerns about notorious flooding in the area and the dangerous nature of the main access point to the site on a sharp, poorly sighted bend in the road.
Vistry assured those present that these matters would be dealt with by the district council and related local flood drainage boards once a formal planning application was made.
Mr Tonkin invited those present who still wished to speak to meet the Vistry representatives in the small council room off the foyer.
An orderly queue then formed!
Mr Selway added: “Most the questions from the presentation concerned highways, downsizing with flooding being the main.
“The main point from the residents afterwards focussed on the direct impact on them, the loss of views and why we were building on green fields.
“One gentleman referenced that this had been coming for 30 years, another said she’d bought their house there earlier this year and had no idea, another that she’d known but assumed it wouldn’t happen.”
Thanks go to Antony Evans, of NAG, for help preparing this report.
This article is repeated on our Hensons propert and people sponsored page from where you can download the Vistry PowerPoint presentation in full.
Bus improvement works planned for October at Brockley Combe
As part of North Somerset Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), improvement works on the A370 Brockley Combe will start next month and will include:
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widening the A370 to introduce a new bus lane for buses Bristol and Congresbury bound.
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adjusting the right turn into Brockley Lane and moving it to Chelvey Road further on the A370.
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new ‘smart’ traffic lights that will detect and prioritise buses.
The A370 Brockley Combe junction has been identified as a pinch point along the X1, A3 and WESTlink bus routes.
Improvement works will enable the junction to work more efficiently, deal with the increasing number of vehicles using the junction whist tackling delays caused for buses heading from the airport and in both directions on the A370.
Works will start Monday, October 2, and will take approximately 20 weeks.
Roadworks will not take place during half term breaks and the Christmas period.
More information on our On The Road page HERE and On The Train page including strike dates HERE under our Travel dropdown menu top.
And on the Bristol Airport page (also under this heading) HERE is news of a £60m airport bus/coach station with a multi-storey car park too.
Travel issues for Nailsea people
