Baker Associates exhibition
Baker Associates are holding an exhibition about their proposals for Ashton Park. It takes place from Thursday 26th to Sunday 8th March (12 – 5 p.m.) at the Architecture Centre, Narrow Quay.
Please note that the Centre is closed on Mondays.
Public meeting – 17th March
HOLA!’s first public meeting will be in the village hall on 17th March at 7.30pm. We’re inviting speakers from developers to outline their plans, and from other local action groups. Come along and find out more about the Seven Deadly Threats to the village, and how you can get involved in helping Long Ashton retain it’s separate identity.
HOLA meeting Tuesday 24th Feb 2009
Don’t forget our meeting at the British Legion 7:30 Tuesday 24th February. This is our opportunity to get more active. Please come with your ideas on how to make the group more effective and be prepared to do something, however small.
South Bristol Link
The Alliance has distributed 1000 leaflets encouraging a response to the consultation, with 600 of these going out in Long Ashton. All Alliance members were emailed and I hope you have all responded. The Mott MacDonald report has still not been issued and The West of England website still says “expected mid February”. The consultation will be open for another four weeks at least, so if you have not completed a questionnaire there is still time to do so. However, it seems that the West of England Partnership is applying for funding even before the closure of the consultation and issue of the consultants report.
Meeting with Liam Fox
Liam Fox met members from a number of the protest groups, specifically to discuss the RSS. He is strongly supportive of what we are trying to achieve and recommended taking any actions that could delay approval of the RSS. He repeated his pledge that a Conservative administration would scrap the obligations on local councils to provide centrally determined housing quotas and his opposition to changing the green belt. The government, it seems, is nervous about approving the RSS, as a number of Labour MPs are saying that approval would loose them their seats. We have to increase this nervousness. The critical time seems to be between the European Elections and the end of the Parliamentary session in early July. After that, the general election would be getting underway.
Group Evolution
The SBRR group decided before Christmas to expand its activities to cover the growing list of threats to the village and had suggested the name “Hands Off Long Ashton” or HOLA. This was given a boost at the village meeting at the end of January when a number of residents expressed an interest in helping such a group and gave their details for inclusion on the mailing list.
To get the group started there will be a meeting on Tuesday 24th February at the British Legion (the meeting room on the right of the entrance, starting 7:30 pm). Please come along. With the number of threats we now have, we need individuals or small groups to concentrate on one threat and keep up to date with developments. Please consider whether you could do this. The work involved will not be great, you will be makiing a contribution and you will find it interesting.
We are also planning a public meeting on March 17th. Details to be decided but the main aims will be to publicise what we are ding and imcrease the number of supporters.
Other News
The South Bristol Link Consultation
The Alliance has distributed 1000 leaflets to encourage a response to the consultation, 600 of these in Long Ashton. SBRR supporters should have received an email with a link to the internet consultation site. This can easily be accessed through the alliance website southbristolringroad.co.uk, click on the “phase 1&2 questionaire” link on the left hand side. Recommended answers have been filled in, but you can add or amend as you wish.
The long awaited contractors report has been delayed again so the consultation will remain open. Please fill in the questionaire if you have not already done so. Once again, the more responses the better.
Westminster Meeting
A number of protesters from around Bristol travelled to London to express their concerns over the Regional Spatial Strategy and in particular the number of houses being proposed in green belt land. Six local MPs were to meet with the Communities Minister Iain Wright. I don’t have a formal report of the meeting, but it would appear that there was no realistic discussion. Another instance of the government treating democracy with contempt.
Meeting with Liam Fox
A meeting is being held in Dundry with Liam Fox this week end. Long Ashton will be represented. Dr Fox has been very supportive of opposition to the RSS and the South Bristol Link.
Don’t forget the meeting dates and to complete the South Bristol Link consultation
Rod Sterland
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