News in Radstock

Options for updating the Local Plan to address urgent issues in Bath and North East Somerset are the focus of a series of webinars at which residents are invited to have their say.

Bath & North East Somerset Council launched a consultation on the Local Plan Partial Update earlier this month ahead of a full review of the Plan in 2023, to respond to critical issues including the climate and ecological emergencies, housing land supply and Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs).

Avon Fire & Rescue Service is recruiting now for full time fire fighters.

The service is hosting a virtual discovery workshop at the start of next month, where you can find out everything you need to know about the firefighter recruitment process.

The latest council meeting looked at the ambitious plans for the natural space around Haydon.

This 20-acre ex-tip site was purchased by Radstock Town Council in 2019 with the purpose of safeguarding the site for community use for generations to come.

This week, the Trade Bill returned to the Commons from the Lords who inserted an amendment on genocide into the prospective legislation.

The Lords included this stipulation following allegations about genocide being committed against the Uighur Muslim people.

Businesses and individuals across the south west are being asked to check whether they will need to pay to drive their vehicles in Bath's Clean Air Zone ahead of its launch on 15 March.

The introduction of Bath's Class C Charging Clean Air Zone means that in less than two months, drivers of most pre-euro 6 diesel and pre-euro 4 petrol vehicles will have to pay to drive in the centre of the city.

My name is James Weller. I am a trainee solicitor at local solicitors Thatcher + Hallam. Having passed both my degree and professional legal exams, before actually qualifying as a solicitor I have to undergo a two year period as a 'trainee solicitor', where I learn about the actual practicalities of legal practice.

From most people that I speak to, the majority have no idea what a trainee solicitor does, so hopefully this brief blog will clarify and will be helpful to any other young people considering a career in law.

Did you know you can have a say on how much we increase the policing part of the council tax you pay?

Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Sue Mountstevens has launched a survey seeking local people's views on an increase in the policing part of the council tax.

Police have put up an appeal for anyone who may have seen this man.

Community leaders in Peasedown St John are calling for a vaccination centre to be opened in their village.

Local Councillors, Karen Walker and Sarah Bevan, met at a virtual Zoom meeting with NHS and council chiefs last Wednesday afternoon to discuss the idea.

In a previous episode of my long and colourful life, I found myself in Libya, not, as you might suppose as a mercenary or soldier of fortune but as part of a British company looking at reafforesting local areas of the Sahara Desert to control erosion. When travelling from Tripoli to Misrata, we drove along the modern highway which links the capital with Benghazi, 1000 miles to the east. Owing perhaps to some oversight of Ghadafi's administration there was absolutely no household rubbish collection and for the first twenty kilometres the road was festooned on both sides with rubbish: domestic sacks, white goods, car tyres and a whole panoply anthropogenic dross.

These memories began to intrude whilst travelling around Radstock last week. Certainly not on the scale of Libya, but it seemed if every field gate, every woodland glade had become an unofficial reception area for rubbish. Thanks to the efforts of local groups, the centre and grassed areas of Radstock are relatively free of rubbish. It's the perimeter, the green belt which has fallen victim.