Former Herman Miller building Lower Bristol Road

We have been pressing the council hard to get the opposite end of the Herman Miller Building from Lidl developed.

So far planning permission has not been granted for this part of the building due to several hurdles that needed to be resolved, these included a shopping impact assessment that we understand is now completed and being assessed.

Our understanding is that it seems close to a decision being made on this site that may give the go ahead for the final stages of development.

Local residents have been constantly telling us that they are fed up with this building not being completed and we are hopeful that this will soon be resolved.

Bath Press Site - Planning Application

Sarah Moore and Sharon Ball outside existing site

Tesco's have finally submitted their new planning application for the former Bath Press site on the Lower Bristol Road.  This site has been left derelict for a considerable length of time and we are keen to see it re-developed.

The application is for the demolition of existing buildings and redevelopment of the site to provide a residential-led mixed-use development comprising 244 dwellings (Use Class C3) and 1,485.2 square metres (GIA) flexible employment space (Use Class B1), basement car park, associated landscaping and access

The proposed housing is made up of:

Market Housing

1 bed flats/maisonette - 55
2 bed flats/maisonette - 104
3 bed flats/maisonette - 21
3 bed houses - 10
4+ bed houses - 20

Social Rented Housing

1 bed flats/maisonette - 5
2 bed flats/maisonette - 14
3 bed flats/maisonette - 6

Intermediate Housing

1 bed flats/maisonette - 3
2 bed flats/maisonette - 6

The remaining space would be used for offices and an underground car park for 207 vehicles and cycle storage for 301 bikes would be put in place.

The application number is 15/02162/EFUL and can be viewed here on the BANES website, comments can be submitted up to 17/06/2015, with a proposed decision date of 31/08/2015.

Sarah and Sharon would welcome residents views on the application and look forward to hearing from you.

by
Sarah Moore

Resurfacing of Lower Bristol Road

Bath & North East Somerset Council are planning to resurface the Lower Bristol Road from its Junction of Twerton High Street to its Junction with Newbridge Road.

The planned dates for resurfacing are for three nights from 25th March to 28th March midnight to 6am in the morning.

The full order is for 33 days but only the 3 night specified above should be enough.

Alternative route if you need one at that time of night is:

A4 Newbridge Road – A4 Upper Bristol Road - A3604 Windsor Bridge Road – A36 Lower Bristol Road and vice versa.

Clean up continues

Sharon and Sarah at site before work was done

It was also nice to catch up with James this morning, who said he is really pleased with the work we have been doing to tackle the graffiti and mess around the area and get one of the main routes into Bath look more welcoming.

It was really good to see the panels on the other half of the Lidl site finally being painted yesterday, covering up all the graffiti and making the site look a lot better.

Lidl Opening delayed

We are disappointed to report that Lidl have informed us that they are unable to open their new store at the Former Herman Miller site on the Lower Bristol Road on 19th February.

Although the store is virtually finished and even has food and goods going on the shelves they will not be able to open on that date through no fault of their own.

Lidl had arranged as far back as last August for BT to carry out works to move one of their connection boxes that form part of the new entrance to the car park and even paid in advance for the work to be carried out.

BT for their part arrived on site last week after the intervention of the Council in assisting Lidl who could not get commitment from BT when they we going to carry out the required work.

BT state that the work could take 3 more weeks and that is what the delay is. We are sure that BT knew that the works would take this long when they were first approached by Lidl and if so why have they failed to organise themselves to meet their obligations.

It seems ironic that it is the same BT that delayed the opening of the new Sainsbury's store in Keynsham not so long ago.

We await the apology from BT to all our local residents who have waited so long for this store to open but this is with baited breath.

As to the date of the opening of Lidl we will keep residents informed.

New Lidl Store on target

Councillor Sharon Ball and Local Activist Sarah Moore at Lidl Site

During our walk around Westmoreland at the weekend, Councillor Sharon Ball and I visited the Lidl site to check on progress.

As you can see windows and cladding have been put in, the boarding has been taken down and work is moving at a great pace and whilst talking with workers on the site we can confirm they are on target for their scheduled opening on Thursday 19th February.

Following the advice and assistance provided to Lidl to overcome difficult planning issues that were encountered, Councillors Sharon Ball and Paul Crossley have been asked to officially open the store at 8am on the day.

by
Sarah Moore

Roseberry Place - Redevelopment

Councillor Sharon Ball and I attended the initial consultation meeting at Roseberry Place yesterday afternoon to see the presentation and listen to plans for the redevelopment of a key area along the Lower Bristol Road.

The initial plans look very promising, with a mixture of one and two bedroom flats, small amount of local needs retail and an area for flexible employment opportunities.

There has been a large amount of time spent on the planning and research for this redevelopment and it is hoped we will see a formal planning application put forward to BANES Council during the Spring 2015. 

We will keep you informed of progress with this project and hope this will result in more of the derelict areas of our community being brought back to life and benefiting local residents.

Police in new accomodation

We know that the rumours are rife in the community regarding the Police relocating part of their operations to the Lower Bristol Road after selling their Police headquarters at Manvers Street to the University of Bath.

We are trying to get confirmation from various sources of the Police taking on the other half of the Former Herman Miller building next door to the new Lidl that is being developed.

We would be pleased as would many of the residents in the community if the Police were to take on this part of the building and would be keen to support the Police in such a move.

We will of course publish any information that we receive confirming this news.

It would be good to get this whole site cleared up and leave a nice clean acceptable entrance to our world Heritage site.

by Sarah Moore

Bath Press site public consultation

We know that local residents are aware that there is a potential planning application pending for the Bath Press site on the Lower Bristol Road.

The process has been so far that the owners of the site have had pre-application talks with the Council including local councillors being asked their opinion.

The owners of the site are now about to engage with local residents neighbouring the site on their plans for any development.

This will be followed by a public exhibition on 29th October from 2pm to 8pm at Oldfield Park Baptist Church.

A flyer that will be distributed to the community by the site owners is reproduced below.

Lidl at last ( The Final steps )

The work on Lidl is at last starting and will soon be very obvious to residents that live nearby; a protective wooden fence has already gone up around the site, and development of the building starts today.

It was good to meet with senior Lidl staff last week to review progress to date and to learn that the potential opening date was for February 2015, both the Leader of the Council Paul Crossley and Cabinet member Homes and planning Tim Ball were also present.

The asbestos and scrappy sides of the building are to be transformed but the very special roof that is the reason the building is listed are being cleaned and repaired and will be a special feature of the store.

Lidl are delighted with the help we gave them in resolving the impass with the other landowner - Sharon Ball for giving the idea to transport access to the site and Tim Ball for determining that Lidl could clad just their part of the store and leave the rest to the other owner to repair.

Lidl Site issues - resolved

We are pleased to confirm that, due to the prompt action by Councillor Sharon Ball and Lidl, the travellers that moved onto the site on Friday evening were moved off this morning, taking less than 48 hours from when we first became aware of their presence.

Lidl will take further action to ensure the site is secure to prevent any more travellers gaining access to the car park area at the rear of the store.

by 
Sarah Moore

Issues on Lidl Site

Overnight last night several travellers gained access to the car park area at the rear of the Lidl site via the eastern end of the site that is not owned by Lidl themselves.

We have been in contact with both the police and Lidl this morning who have promised to send representatives over to the site as soon as possible to get this resolved.

We will update you further as soon as we have more details.

by
Sarah Moore

BREAKING NEWS: Bath Press Site

We have become aware of a pending planning application on the Bath Press Site for 300 flats and 30,000 square feet of office employment space.

We are led to believe the the front facade is to remain and that all residential accommodation will be at the rear with all parking underground.

We are aware that some of this will alarm some residents so will post full information on line at www.sharonball.org.uk including a residents consultation.

We will also deliver a paper copy to all affected residents within the next two weeks.

Bus Shelters and Recycling bins

It is good to see the new bus shelters going in along the Lower Bristol Road. These are much better that the previous ones and all have seats.

We have arranged to complemement these arranged to have a new litter bin and two recycling bins placed by the bus stop outside of the former Herman Miller building.

This we hope will help keep down the litter in the area.

Former Unigate yard Rosebery Place

We are led to believe that there are proposals being worked up for a planning application for the former Unigate yard that has been left abandoned at Rosebery place on the Lower Bristol Road.

It seems that after a lull in activity, there is suddenly a lot of interest in all properties along the lower Bristol Road, we are not sure what the latest proposals are for this yard but we will publish details as soon as they are available.

The over riding issue is that it is better that this land is used than left abandoned as it has been.

New Toucan Crossing operational

The new Toucan crossing on the Lower Bristol Road opposite the former Herman Miller Building is now fully operational and allows both pedestrians an cyclists to cross the Lower Bristol Road in relative safety.

The installation of the new crossing has also included works to make several shared footpaths for both pedestrians and cyclists linking the Linear way to the Riverside Cycle route.

We will monitor the new crossing to ensure that it is being correctly used and also that the shared footpath is not being abused.

Lower Bristol road

We have a planning application for the Installation of new bus shelter along the A36 Lower Bristol Road (between Jews Lane and Burnham Road), incorporating advertisement posters which will be illuminated from dusk to dawn.

Application reference: 13/05461/AR received on 17/12/2013

Planning Portal reference: PP-03069815

If you would like to make a comment on this application or view the plans then please follow this link.

Street Record, Lower Bristol Road, Westmoreland, Bath, Bath And North East Somerset

Westmoreland Bus Stops

Following recent requests from residents we are pleased to see the Bus Stop opposite Vernon Terrace is finally being altered.  As part of the new bus stop installations throughout the area, the raised pavement is being moved next to the bus shelter, meaning that the queue under the shelter will be in the correct direction, alleviating the confusion over where the front of the queue should be.

We have also asked that the bus stop opposite Argyle Terrace is replaced as soon as possible.  When the pavement alterations were carried out recently, the old bus shelter was removed and the raised pavement has been put in a little further down the road.  

However, the new shelter has not yet been put in place and therefore no sign has been put up to show where the bus stop is.  This has resulted in a number buses not stopping there and residents left not knowing if they have to go to a different stop.

We have requested if a full installation is not possible at the moment that a temporary bus stop sign is put in place urgently to ensure residents are confident the buses will stop to pick them up.

by
Sarah Moore

LIDL - Success at Last

After almost 6 years of waiting  for the former Herman Miller Factory site to be developed, Bath and North East Somerset Council's planning officers have today approved a planning application for Lidl to redevelop the site on the Lower Bristol Road.  This will see the area of the site owned by Lidl transformed over the coming months.

Westmoreland Councillor Sharon Ball (lib dem) said "this is great news for the local area, I have worked closely with representatives from Lidl over the past few years and am delighted this site will finally be developed.

Residents have been wanting this store for a long time and have become increasingly disappointed by the delays. It will not only mean a badly neglected site being cleaned up, but more local jobs being created."

Lidl are expected to start work immediately, with a view to the store being operational by mid 2014.

We are still awaiting news on what will happen with the other part of the site owned by Acornford Hampshire and will keep you updated as soon as we hear any more news.

by Sarah Moore

Bellotts Road safety

Councillor Sharon Ball and I are pleased to be able to confirm, following recent discussions and meetings, work will be starting shortly on the old footbridge over the railway line at the top of Bellotts Road to continue the two tunnels route, with a view to this being open before Christmas.

This will mean cyclists and walkers will be able to continue their journey along the route without having to travel the wrong way up the top end of Bellotts Road.

By
Sarah Moore