The planned investment of nearly £3m of taxpayers’ money into broadband infrastructure within South Gloucestershire might still leave Bradley Stoke without superfast broadband in 2015, according to a report accepted by Councillors at a Cabinet meeting on Monday.

South Gloucestershire Council’s Cabinet has agreed to add £2.2m of its own money to the £710k allocated by the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) agency, which is aiming to “make the UK’s broadband the best in Europe by 2015”.

Commercial providers are expected to bring superfast broadband to 82% of premises in the district by 2015, leaving the remaining 18% reliant on public money, but the Council says its target is to bring 24Mbps+ broadband to only 90% of premises, meaning that more than half of the “don’t haves” could be left disappointed.

The only consolation is that those that don’t get superfast speeds will be guaranteed a minimum ‘basic broadband’ speed of 2Mbps (around one quarter of the UK average speed today but likely to be viewed by many as inadequate by 2015).

Detailed broadband coverage maps published by Wiltshire County Council (SGC’s new partner after its original consortium with Bristol and BANES disintegrated) reveal that the Council is NOT expecting BT to upgrade the Almondsbury exchange on a commercial basis within the next three years. The maps also show, for the first time, the parts of Bradley Stoke that are plagued with sub-2Mbps provision, at the granularity of individual postcode areas.

Around 4,000 premises in Bradley Stoke are thought to suffer from sub-standard broadband speeds because they are not served by Virgin Media’s cable network and are too away far from the two BT telephone exchanges that serve the town.

The latest maps suggest that around one quarter (1,000) of the non-cabled premises receive a sub-2Mbps service that entitles them to benefit from the Government’s “basic broadband for all” pledge. The remaining 3,000 premises, thought to be currently receiving speeds between 2Mbps and 4Mbps, will only benefit from state aid if the Almondsbury exchange is selected for upgrade to superfast broadband by South Gloucestershire Council.

The Council’s report makes some vague statements about using a prioritisation scheme to ensure that superfast broadband is deployed in “areas where its impact will be felt more strongly” but there is unlikely to be any certainty about geographical coverage until contracts have been awarded to telecommunication providers in “summer 2012”.

Work on the state-aided project is expected to start by the end of the year and be completed by April 2015.

In other developments, the Council is giving telecommunication providers one last chance to confirm their plans for the deployment of superfast broadband in the district, prior to commencement of the tendering process for the state-aided work. A new ‘Superfast Broadband State Aid Consultation’ started on 1st February and runs until 16th March.

The state aid consultation is in addition to the residents’ and businesses’ consultations that are each running until 29th February.

Please help give Bradley Stoke the best chance of receiving its fair share of the available state aid by completing the above consultations!

The Editor comments

South Gloucestershire Council’s investment of £2.2m is well above the ‘match funding’ minimum required by the Government and appears to be a welcome acknowledgement that our slow-coach administrators have finally grasped the scale of the problem.

But the target of 90% superfast is surely too low, given that many of the ‘have nots’ will be left on a ‘basic ’ 2Mbps broadband that will seem pathetic in 2015 – potentially leaving 10% of the population on the wrong side of a new and more pronounced ‘digital divide’.

The Council needs to look to its much vaunted Localism principles and urgently consider other funding mechanisms that, where necessary, allow local communities to supplement the state aid to ensure they aren’t left festering in ‘broadband backwaters’ for years to come.

Related links:

• Broadband coverage maps (Wiltshire Online)
• Submission from Bradley Stoke Councillors to Monday’s Cabinet meeting [PDF]
• Better Broadband Campaign (The Journal)

The 1st Bradley Stoke Scout Group has announced the formation of a new Explorer Scout Unit for young people aged 14 to 18.

The unit held its first meeting on Friday 6th January and will now meet regularly on Friday nights from 7:30pm to 9:30pm at the Brook Way Activity Centre.

Together with its two Beaver Colonies, two Cub Packs and two Scout Troops, the local Scout Group can now offer activities for young people across the full 6 to 18 age range.

Since January, all sections of the group have relocated to the Brook Way Activity Centre, which became vacant after Bradley Stoke Town Council and South Gloucestershire Council cut funding for the youth club that had previously been run there by Southern Brooks Community Partnership.

Mark Gollop, Group Scout Leader, said:

“We look forward to the new Bradley Stoke Explorer Scout Unit growing in strength and numbers as our new Cub Pack and Scout Troop did last year.”

The group says it currently has around 150 names on its ‘want to join’ list. In order to accommodate more young people, the group is seeking to recruit new adult volunteers. Anyone interested is asked to get in touch through the 1st Bradley Stoke Scout Group website.

Related link: Youth organisations in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

A 30-year-old man from the Oaktree Crescent area of Bradley Stoke has appeared before Northavon Magistrates charged with indecent exposure and burglary in connection with offences in Mautravers Close and Courtlands on Friday 20th January 2012.

He was released on court bail to live at an address outside of South Gloucestershire with conditions including an 18-hour curfew between 6pm and midday.

This court appearance follows the arrest of a man in Saxon Way, Bradley Stoke, on Thursday 26th January.

Police have not said whether the arrested man is suspected of being connected with reports of an early morning prowler in Elm Close (Little Stoke) and Oaktree Crescent on Wednesday 18th January.

South Gloucestershire Council is asking local people for their views on parking arrangements for new housing developments.

The consultation has been started in response to complaints from residents and Councillors that the number of parking spaces provided for new homes and flat conversions is not always adequate.

The Council also says that some residents have complained that parking spaces allocated to houses/flats are not close enough to their properties.

The net result is that residents sometimes park in places that cause problems for bus and emergency vehicles, lead to neighbour disputes, block pavements and negatively impact the quality of life in an area.

On the other hand, parking spaces take up land, so to provide more might reduce the number of homes that can be built and lead to greater pressure to make more land available for development.

Government guidelines imposing a minimum parking provision of 1.5 spaces per dwelling were scrapped in 2006 and since then South Gloucestershire’s Local Plan has imposed maximum limits of one space per single bedroomed property,  1.5 spaces for a two bedroom property, two spaces for a three bedroom property and three spaces for larger properties.

More recently, the Coalition Government has dropped the requirement for local authorities to set maximum parking limits, allowing them instead to define their own parking ‘standards’.

In its consultation questionnaire, the Council also asks if residents feel that the parking spaces provided on a development should be ‘allocated’, i.e. clearly dedicated to a particular property or ‘unallocated’ (available for residents and visitors to share alike).

Within Bradley Stoke, although many properties incorporate an integral garage that counts as ‘allocated’ parking space, the garage space is often used for other purposes, e.g. storage. Planning applications to convert integral garages into living accommodation are generally approved providing that at least some off-street parking remains and the loss of parking space “would not create or exacerbate an existing congestion or safety issue”.

The consultation. which can be completed online or by post,  runs until Friday 2nd March 2012.

South Gloucestershire Council is running a second consultation on its proposed road safety improvements for Bradley Stoke Way, in the vicinity of the Willow Brook Centre.

The latest consultation, which runs until Wednesday 8th February, invites comments on the new toucan crossing that is proposed to replace two uncontrolled crossing points that were the sites of two serious road traffic accidents during 2011.

The new light-controlled crossing will be situated approximately midway between the two existing crossing points and new guardrails will be installed to deter pedestrians from crossing the carriageway away from the new toucan crossing.

There is still no news on the outcome of the first consultation on the overall scheme, which ran from 20th December 2011 to 8th January 2012. The Journal has learned that “seven or eight” responses were received but the Council has so far not found the time to give personal replies or publish an analysis of the results on its website.

Cllr Brian Allinson, SGC’s executive member for planning and transport, said last year that work on the new measures would start in March 2012 but that schedule now appears to have slipped by at least a month, with the Council now saying:

“Depending on the results of the public consultation and advertisement, the scheme is programmed to be designed in this financial year (2011/12) with a view for implementation in 2012/13.”

Last February’s accident left a 10-year-old cyclist with life changing injuries after he was in collision with a car on one of the two uncontrolled crossing that would be replaced by the new toucan crossing.

The second serious accident, in September, saw a 13-year-old boy crossing the road on a mini-scooter struck by a motorcyclist. The boy suffered serious head, abdomen, arm and leg injuries and a recent update in the newsletter of Bradley Stoke Community School (where he is a student) reported that he is “still very unwell and not yet able to communicate”.

Research by The Journal has revealed that a speed monitoring exercise that the Council’s Highways Department agreed to undertake in response to the February accident began more than seven months later at 9:30am on Friday 30th September 2011 – the day of the second accident.

It has also come to light that Cllr Allinson was apparently unaware of the February accident that officials in his own Highways Department were responding to. Speaking during a discussion on pedestrian crossings at a recent meeting of Patchway Town Council, Cllr Brian Hopkinson, who is also a Bradley Stoke Town Councillor, said of the two Bradley Stoke accidents:

“Brian Allinson said that if the first accident had been pointed out to him (because it wasn’t) … something may well have happened then.”

Photo: Cllr Brian Allinson (right) inspects the scene of the second accident with Bradley Stoke Councillors.

Police investigating multiple reports of a prowler in Bradley Stoke and Little Stoke say they have arrested a man.

A statement posted today on the Avon and Somerset Police website reads:

“A 30-year-old man from Bradley Stoke was arrested shortly after 8pm last night, Thursday 26th January, by neighbourhood PC Claire Fletcher.”

“He remains in police custody today, Friday 27th January.”

The move comes after police said they had been called to investigate two separate reports of an early morning prowler in Elm Close (Little Stoke) and Oaktree Crescent on Wednesday 18th January.

Local police have said they arrested a man in connection with a similar incident in Bradley Stoke in November 2011 but following further enquiries he was released without charge.

An article in the The Bristol Evening Post earlier this week claimed a prowler was scared off after he was seen “trying to peer into a house” in the vicinity of Brook Way.

Two Bradley Stoke Judo Club players have won the top two medals in their categories at the prestigious 2012 Commonwealth Judo Championships, held yesterday (Tuesday 24th January) at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff.

The players, Steph Walker and Lele Nairne (both just 14 years of age), won first the silver medal and then Lele bagged the gold and title of ‘Commonwealth Judo Champion’.

Commenting on their performance, Club Coach Pete Douglas said:

“The selection process for this championship started months ago when the best players England had to offer gathered to fight it out to distinguish the top athletes to represent England in this truly international event.”

“These two players proved themselves to be true titans in judo and right at the very top of their game. They are a credit to the club and South West and I know will shortly be going on to represent England again at other internationals at the very highest level.”

Lele and Steph are both members of the elite England judo squad and Bradley Stoke Judo Club now has more ETD (England Talent Development) judo squad members than any other club in the country.

Later this year the club will be taking all of their players to Venray in Holland to compete in high level competition and in 2013 will be taking their top players to compete in the US Open.

Five times British Champion Pete Douglas had his own taste of success in November last year when he achieved the prestigious 5th Dan grade at the Samurai High Grades and Masters Competition in Kidderminster.

Photo (L-R): Lele Nairne, Pete Douglas (Club Coach), Steph Walker.

An article in today’s Bristol Evening Post claims shoppers have been put off from using Bradley Stoke’s Willow Brook Centre following the installation of speed humps back in November last year.

The humps on the approach road to the centre are said to be giving customers “too much of a jolt” and the obstacles are alleged to be causing traffic congestion because vehicles have to “virtually stop before driving over them”.

The story will be familiar to Journal readers as we covered it two months ago when the humps were first installed.

The paper quotes Bradley Stoke Town Councillor Keith Cranney as saying:

“… the centre should be doing everything it could to encourage customers in times of economic austerity – not put them off.”

“I’ve had a lot of complaints about this and it was raised at a recent forum meeting where someone said they wouldn’t be shopping there again.”

Members of the Bradley Stoke Police Beat Team which has a base at the centre, however, expressed different views in a presentation to a Town Council meeting last Wednesday.

PCSO Paul Baxter said he believed the humps were actually “helping the cause”, adding:

“Before they went in, every day we were viewing CCTV images of people sliding off from the bend at the end [of the access road] and writing their cars off.”

“They needed to slow down. I understand that it’s a pain but I do believe it’s better than having nothing there at all.”

Beat manager PC Claire Fletcher had earlier told the meeting that she encounters “someone driving at me [down the centre of the road] every time I arrive or leave”, adding:

“On two occasions I’ve had to swerve to avoid someone and have immediately gone up to inspect the CCTV in the centre’s control room to get the registration numbers.”

The errant drivers were dealt with under Section 59 of the Road Traffic Act (Vehicles used in manner causing alarm, distress or annoyance), she reported.

Willow Brook Centre Manager Scott Lahive is quoted as saying:

“It would be very regrettable if these measures were discouraging people from visiting the centre.”

“The introduction of speed bumps were a last resort following nearly 50 accidents on the approach road due to speeding vehicles.”

Read more: Shoppers in Bradley Stoke “put off by steep speed humps”

Commenting on the freeze, Cllr Roger Avenin (Con, Baileys Court), Chair of the Finance Committee, said:

“We continue to find ourselves in uncertain economic times and many residents’ household budgets are under pressure. As a Council we’re here to support the community and it simply wouldn’t be right to ask hard working families to pay any more this year.”

Councillors are also keen to point out that services aren’t under threat with Town Mayor Cllr Ben Walker commenting:

“We’re not making cuts, we’re still providing for the community; we’re just focusing very hard on doing everything we can as efficiently as possible. Our youth budget for example has been maintained but it has been opened up to a wider variety of organisations than ever before, so we can support a diverse range of activities for young people of all ages.”

The Town Council precept typically represents less than 10% of the total Council Tax bill. The largest proportion, around 80%, is taken by South Gloucestershire Council (SGC), with the police and fire services making up the remainder.

SGC is yet to set it tax requirement for the coming  financial year – a decision is expected to be made at its Full Council meeting on Wednesday 22nd February.

The Government is offering a sweetener grant equivalent to a 2.5% increase for Local Authorities that impose a Council Tax freeze but the BBC recently reported that a number of Councils have already announced increases of up to 3.5%.

Footnote: Cllr Walker’s claim that the Town Council’s “youth budget … has been maintained” is at odds with an analysis presented in a recent Journal article. Cllr Walker has been invited to justify his statement.

Photo: Bradley Stoke Town Council in action (May 2011)

Police are urging people living in Bradley Stoke and Little Stoke to make sure doors and windows are secured after reports of an early-morning prowler.

Officers were called to two incidents yesterday morning (Wednesday 18th January) in which householders spotted a man in their gardens.

A man was seen in a garden in Elm Close, Little Stoke, at about 6:45am. He made off when the householder shouted at him.

A second, similar, incident happened in Oaktree Crescent, Bradley Stoke, at about 8:50am.

Neighbourhood PC Steve Palmer said:

“Officers have carried out house-to-house enquiries and patrols in response to these reports. At the moment it’s not certain the incidents are linked, but we are keeping an open mind.”

“There has been no attempt to get into any home, but I’d ask people to be vigilant, make sure side gates are secured and keep doors and windows locked.”

“Don’t leave the door unlocked when you leave for work or to take children to school, even though another family member is still at home.”

PC Palmer said police had a arrested a man in connection with a similar incident in Bradley Stoke in November but following further enquiries he had been released without charge.

Officers are increasing their patrols of the area at the relevant times and are circulating a warning through Neighbourhood Watch.

The man seen in Elm Close was described as white, aged 30 to 40, about 5ft 11ins tall, of medium build. He wore jeans, a blue top, black jacket and a balaclava.

The description of the man in Oaktree Crescent was of a man wearing a dark hoodie.

The man seen in the incident in November was said to be white, in his late 20s or early 30s, about 5ft 11ins, of muscular build, wearing a raised hooded top to cover his face.

Anyone with any information which could help police enquiries is asked to contact Filton Police Station on 101. Alternatively call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Jobs could be lost at the Bradley Stoke branch of Peacocks after the national retailer confirmed it had entered administration after failing to secure its debts.

A spokesperson for administrators KPMG has told the BBC that there will “inevitably” be redundancies and store closures across the group.

The company’s Chief Executive Richard Kirk said:

“This is a hugely sad development for all of our stakeholders, especially our employees who have shown total commitment to the business over an uncertain and difficult period.”

The Peacocks store at the Willow Brook Centre opened on 3rd June 2010 and it is believed that around 15 people are employed there.

Staff at the store said on Tuesday that they had been instructed not to talk to the media.

Read more: Clothing firm’s staff braced for job losses (BBC)

Related link: Jobs in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

Bradley Stoke Town Councillors are to decide at a meeting on Wednesday whether a private company should be permitted to stage a beer festival at one of the Council’s three activity centres.

Brizzle Beer Festivals, a company based in Bradley Stoke that organises “community” beer festivals in the Bristol area, has asked to use one of the centres and is promising to donate a proportion of takings/profits to charity.

Council officers have referred the request to Councillors because “it does not fall within the normal type of hire”.

The Brook Way Activity Centre, recently refurbished after the Council withdrew funding for the resident youth club, is identified as the most appropriate venue for the event, due to its capacity and ability to accommodate the hog roast that seems to be a regular feature of the applicant’s festivals.

The venue would be available from 8am to 11pm, “due to the proximity of nearby households”.

The festival organisers have offered to stage the event in partnership with the Council, with no charge being made for the venue and 30% of profits going to a charity of the Council’s choosing. Alternatively, the firm says it will pay for the venue and donate 30% of proceeds, less the hire charge, to a charity of its own choosing.

In view of the promised charitable donation, Councillors will also be asked to decide if the firm should be charged the ‘standard’ (commercial) room hire rate or the lower ‘private’ rate. The former would come in at £852 with the lower rate amounting to £628.50 for the 15-hour session.

According to the Brizzle Beer Festival website, the company has so far arranged to stage eight festivals in the Bristol area during 2012, with five of these being in community or parish halls. The Patchway Journal recently reported the firm’s plan to stage a festival at Patchway Community Centre on Saturday 21st April.

Jess Stone, joint proprietor of Brizzle Beer Festivals, told The Journal:

“Having canvassed Bradley Stoke’s residents and been given a thumbs up, we feel a beer festival would be a brilliant addition to Bradley Stoke’s calendar.”

“We know the people of Bradley Stoke would support an event like this and help to raise some money for the local community whilst enjoying the fine ales and ciders, good company and entertainment.”

“Brizzle Beer Festivals operates from Bradley Stoke and as we see our community as a vibrant area, we have every confidence that a festival would be a rip-roaring success!”

Photo: Brook Way Activity Centre, Bradley Stoke [map].

Local residents are being offered the chance to get active and do their bit for the environment by learning the country craft of hedge-laying.

Free training courses are being held in the grounds of Wheatfield Primary School on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th January (advance booking is essential).

The courses, organised by local resident John Morris, Environmental Projects and Partnerships Officer at South Gloucestershire Council, are suitable for beginners and those with some experience.

Wheatfield Headteacher Chris Dursley said:

“I’m really grateful to John Morris for organising the hedge laying workshops. This is a great opportunity for members of the local community to learn a new skill, as well as support Wheatfield’s wildlife and school grounds development projects.”

“Like many properties in the town Wheatfield School is lucky to benefit from its boundaries being made up of old hedgerows that provide shelter and food for wildlife. It’s amazing to see just how much wildlife these habitats support. Hedgehogs, robins, blackbirds, blue tits, bullfinches and sparrowhawks make good use of these green corridors and are often seen in the school grounds.”

“As you walk the pathways around the town you often see hedgerow after hedgerow that are in need of management – they have become too tall and gappy at the bottom. They are turning into a row of trees rather than a nice thick bushy hedge, that provide a much better habitat for wildlife to live in.”

Ms Dursley continued:

“Our hedges in the school grounds are just the same, so that’s why we have organised two days worth of hedge-laying training. Thanks to our year long project Wheatfield’s Wild about Nature, funded by the Big Lottery Fund, we’re offering two days training to local residents on how to traditionally manage a hedgerow. Training and tools are being provided to help participants learn the country craft of hedge-laying. No experience is needed just a willingness to get stuck in!”

The courses are being held from 10:30am to 2:30pm on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th January 2012. You can attend one or both days. Anyone interested in booking a free place should call the school on 01454 868610.

Photo: Jubilee Pond in the grounds of Wheatfield Primary School, Bradley Stoke.

Spending on youth provision by Bradley Stoke Town Council (BSTC) looks set to be slashed by 39% from April if draft budget plans are approved at a meeting next week.

The news comes as young people await the outcome of a two month consultation into ‘youth needs’ in the town that was run by South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) during November and December last year.

The Town Council agreed a budget of £61,500 for ‘youth funding’ in 2011/2012 – with all of this amount being paid to Southern Brooks Community Partnership (SBCP), the organisation contracted to run the town’s sole youth club at the Brook Way Activity Centre.

In July 2011, the two Councils decided they weren’t happy with the way the club was being run and SBCP’s contract was terminated, leading to 13 youth workers being issued with redundancy notices.

The youth club was closed towards the end of October and since then SGC youth workers have been providing an interim programme of youth activities, including ‘detached’ work to engage young people on the streets.

The Town Council’s budget for ‘youth funding’ in the coming financial year has now been set, subject to final approval, at a similar figure of £60,000.

But it appears that the Council has quietly “absorbed” the costs of other youth-related budget items into the ‘youth funding’ category, leaving just £37,455 available for whatever the two Councils decide should replace the axed youth club.

The “absorbed” items include £8,400 paid to a security firm to lock the gates of the Skate Park every night (a requirement of the lease), £4,000 to fund the lease and running costs of a minibus (purchased jointly with BSCS in February last year year) to ferry young people to the now defunct Brook Way Youth Club, £5,000 paid into reserves for future repairs of the Skate Park and £1,200 for youth activities at the Bradley Stoke Community Festival.

The Council also plans to fund a new £10,000 ‘youth service level agreement budget’ and a new £5,000 ‘youth grant budget’ out of the £60,000 but £3,945 of the former is to be used to fund agreements with Bradley Stoke Youth FC and Freespace (a summer holiday activity scheme) – expenditure previously outside of the ‘youth funding budget’.

The net result, using a ‘like-with-like’ comparison, is a reduction in funding of £24,045, i.e. 39% of the previous year’s budget.

Young people hoping for a possible re-opening of a traditional youth club in the town are likely to be disappointed. On 21st October 2011, before the much vaunted youth needs’ consultation had even begun, a special meeting of the Town Council agreed to lease the main rooms at Brook Way Activity Centre to the 1st Bradley Stoke Scout Group, with effect from 7th November and lasting until 31st March 2013.

The idea of moving the Scout Group into Brook Way had been first proposed by Cllr Ben Walker at a Full Council meeting on 21st September, where he suggested that the group (one of his mayoral charities for 2011/2012) be offered a rent set at 50% of what they were currently paying to hire rooms at Holy Trinity Church and Bradley Stoke Community School. The only voice of dissent came from Cllr Rob Jones, who warned that offering such a heavily subsidised rent to the Scouts would set a “dangerous precedent” that might lead to other hirers demanding similar terms.

Inspiration for the Council’s swing towards supporting uniformed youth groups looks to have come from Cllr Walker’s political companion Jack Lopresti MP, who advocated membership of groups like the Scouts and St John Ambulance in a press release put out following a parliamentary debate on the response to the summer riots.

Representatives of those two youth organisations were duly wheeled in to give presentations to the November meeting of the Bradley Stoke Safer and Stronger Communities Group, which is now chaired by a Conservative Town Councillor after SBCP’s Julie Close, who had led the group for many years, declined to seek re-election.

Photo: Mayor Ben Walker officially opens a new Cub pack and Scout troop at Bradley Stoke Community School in April 2011.

Footnote: The BSTC 2nd Draft Budget for 2012/2013 can be viewed in Appendix A of the draft minutes of a meeting of the BSTC Finance Committee held on 21st December 2011. Item 5078 contains a breakdown of ‘youth funding’.

The M4 will be closed westbound between junctions 19 and 22 from 10pm tonight (Thursday 12th January), re-opening at 6am on Friday morning.

The overnight westbound closure will be repeated between the same times on Friday (13th January).

The Highways Agency says the published closure times represent a worst case scenario and the period of closure could be shorter, dependent on traffic levels.

Westbound traffic will be directed onto the M32, leaving at junction 1 and along the A4174 (Avon Ring Road) and A38 (Gloucester Road) to junction 16 of the M5 (Aztec West). Onward traffic will then travel south to M5 junction 18, take the Avonmouth link roads and join the M49 to travel in a northerly direction to rejoin the M4 at junction 22.

The eastbound carriageway will be fully closed between the same junctions on Saturday night (14th January), when the diversionary route will operate in the reverse direction.

The closures are part of an £88.6m project to create a ‘managed motorway’ scheme around the M4/M5 interchange, in which speed limits are dynamically controlled and traffic is permitted to use the hard shoulder at peak times.

Work on the M4 is expected to be completed by December 2012 with the M5 portion of the scheme scheduled for completion in spring 2013.

More info: Impact on your journey (Highways Agency)

Local youth group South West Winterguard Academy is staging a ‘community showcase’ event this Saturday (14th January) at Thornbury Leisure Centre.

The aim of the event is to demonstrate to the people of South Gloucestershire the diverse range of sport, dance and arts activities available to them.

Acts so far confirmed for the event include majorettes, street dancers, colourguard, marching bands, karate and ballet.

The event runs from 12 noon to 4:30pm and admission costs £3 for adults and £1.50 for children/concessions.

Bradley Stoke Town Council recently awarded South West Winterguard Academy a grant of £500, to be used jointly for part-funding Saturday’s event and purchasing a storage container for the club’s equipment. The container will be sited in the grounds of Meadowbrook Primary School, where the club holds its training sessions.

The club’s Core Director, Ken Burrows, says the event is being held in Thornbury because Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre doesn’t have the necessary facilities or size.

The South West Winterguard Academy promotes a dance-based activity called ‘colourguard’ – using flags and other equipment to perform a routine to music.

The mission of the Academy is:

“To inspire young people through Colourguard to achieve an immediate and lasting change in themselves, their families and the community.”

Photo: Demonstration by the South West Winterguard Academy at the 2010 Severnvale Community Showcase in Bradley Stoke’s Town Square.