Amy Williams MBE

Tremendous to read that Amy Williams has been recognised in the recent Birthday Honours. Our very own Olympic Gold Medallist recently received the Freedom of the City at a ceremony in Bath - the first woman ever to receive this honour which recognises her outstanding contribution to life in Bath and for her exceptional achievement. Amy trained so hard at the first-class facilities at Bath University, she truly deserves all these accolades. Well done Amy!

Housing targets scrapped

Thank goodness that the new coalition government has thrown out Labour's plans for 2000 houses to be built at South Stoke. There had been no consideration to what local residents thought or the impact on local services and amenities. Hooray for the new government's view that local people and local councils should have the freedom to decide where new housing developments should be built and when they will be needed.

The pressure and campaigning over recent months - including a petition signed by every resident of South Stoke - has been vindicated and democracy has triumphed. Now local people are back in charge of their own communities. The old government had imposed a target of 21K houses to be built by 2026 in B&NES.

Wonderful Wellow!

Looking forward to Wonderful Wellow Week which starts on Friday 18th June. First up at 2.00pm is the flower festival in St Julian's Church which continues for an amazing ten days. There will be a host of events including open gardens, history tours, a concert, a treasure hunt and even a visit from one of Bath's Lions. This is a brilliant example of the community spirit that exists in Wellow and all our villages. Well done to Churchwarden Pauline Preddy whose idea it was to bring together a group of people and get this WWW under way.

www.wellowparish.info

When Neil met Amy...

Cllr Neil Butters recently met Olympic Gold Medalist Amy Williams in Bath. Here they are with her gold medal.

Park and Ride lights to be turned off

Wellow Futures, a community group in Wellow, and local Lib Dems hosted an evening showing the film the Age of Stupid last week both in Wellow and at Bathampton Village Hall. It was followed by a far ranging discussion about energy efficiency and moving away from the oil economy.

Gail Coleshill, Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for North East Somerset, said:

“The film outlines what could happen in the future if people of this generation do not make much more effort to save oil and reduce global warming.

We had an animated discussion about what we could achieve locally and ended with how much more could be done with a bit more Government and Council leadership.”

The group has already chalked up one success. Local resident Jane Rees complained that the lights at the Park and Ride at Odd Down did not need to be on all the time and Cllr Neil Butters (Lib Dem, Bathavon South) promised to find out if they could be altered.

This week he received a reply for the Sustainability Officer at B&NES that the lights would be turned off half an hour after the Park and Ride closed.

Cllr Butters said:

“This is a real achievement for the Council working with local residents to effect energy efficiencies. I am really pleased that we were able to make a real energy saving thanks to the observation of a local resident.”

Gail ready for election fight

After 18 months of uncertainty, the Prime Minister has finally called a General Election.
Here in North East Somerset, the Liberal Democrats have re-selected well respected political activist Gail Coleshill to contest the election, which will be fought under brand new parliamentary boundaries.

Gail, who has worked for ten years on community projects and initiatives in the area, said:

“A lot has changed here since the last General Election. Not just do we have new boundaries, but our Labour MP has become even more unpopular and the Conservatives have selected a candidate who has no track record of doing anything in our area.
I’m 100% ready for the election contest and hope the people of North East Somerset will elect me as their new MP.”

The new constituency, previously known as Wansdyke, will be losing the Bitton, Oldland Common area to the north of Keynsham – which has had a Labour MP for the last 13years.
New additions to the constituency include Batheaston, Bathampton, South Stoke and Freshford (a total area of around 7,000 voters) – which have all been served by the Lib Dem MP Don Foster for the last 18 years.

Today, Gail Coleshill has published her four pledges for election to Parliament:

1. Economy: I’ll work with Vince Cable to help working families by raising the individual tax free allowance to £10,000. We’ll cut out tax loopholes for the rich and reduce income tax by taxing pollution.
2. Environment:
· I will continue to campaign to protect the environment, particularly against plans to build thousands of houses on the greenbelt.
· We do need more low cost housing, so I want to bring empty homes back into use for affordable housing and increase the energy efficiency of all houses to save money and keep homes warmer.
· I’ll work with other Lib Dem MPs to push for planning decisions to be taken away from central government and decided locally.
· I would like to make buses and trains affordable and reliable so that people have a real choice on how to travel. Re-open railway lines and stations such as Bathampton, Saltford and Radstock to Bristol.
· I support the local Lib Dems plans’ to give all young people free bus passes so they have better access to services.

3. Education: I plan to give teachers more time in the classroom by cutting administration. Raise standards in every school with a pupil premium for every child. Reduce and eventually eliminate university tuition fees.
4. Democratic Reform: The expenses scandal in parliament has put people off politics. I want to change this by using local groups to bring democracy closer to the people, to give people the freedom to sack their MP, and introduce a fairer voting system where every vote counts.

Gail believes the contest locally is wide open:

“Our canvass results are looking very good, with Labour finishing in third place. Every week I am meeting new people on the doorstep, and they’re telling me they want a change from the old-style politics and break from the two older parties.

As we get closer to polling day, election fever is sure to heat up in North East Somerset.”

To watch Gail’s General Election Campaign video visit http://www.nes-libdems.org.uk/

Work finally begins

Work has finally began on the Two Tunnels project, thanks to pressure on B&NES Council by Cllr Neil Butters and Project Chair Gitte Dawson.

Attracting £1 million of Lottery funding, the project will connect Midford with the centre of Bath to create a new cycle and walking route between thelocations. The multi-user path will join Bath and Midford by an almost-flat system of tunnels and overland paths following the existing railway line that is currently out of use.
Prospective Lib Dem MP Gail Coleshill commented:
“The Two Tunnels route will benefit businesses, residents and visitors. It will encourage visitors to make more use of what Bath & North East Somerset has to offer.
Overall, this is part of the national Sustrans initiative which links up hundreds of walking and cycling routes around the country.”