The South Glos Post

Anyone with an MP3 player can now download hundreds of audiobooks for free from a new service available through public libraries in South Gloucestershire and across the region by visiting the Libraries West website.

Choose from over 600 titles, which can be downloaded for three weeks to a PC, mobile phone or MP3 player. All titles are unabridged and available simultaneously so there are no waiting lists, and loans automatically expire after three weeks, so there are no late fees either.

Titles range from The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest by Stieg Larsson, and Twenties Girl by author Sophie Kinsella to classics like Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Jane Austen’s Emma with new titles being added each month.

All you need is your library membership card and a computer, iPod or MP3 Player to enjoy this exciting new offer.

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Source: South Gloucestershire Council

A Conservative councillor has joined local residents in welcoming the start of building work on a new footpath.

South Gloucestershire Council has started to construct the first phase of a long-awaited footpath between the villages of Alveston and Old Down.

Local residents have been requesting the footpath for a number of years. Back in 1992, Mr Arthur Webb, an Old Down resident, raised a petition of over 200 signatures to get it built. He is delighted that building work has started on the first phase.

As part of the scheme, new ‘bus borders’ are also being built at the bus stops to help those residents with mobility issues.

Local councillor, Matthew Riddle (Con, Severn), has backed the campaign. He said:

“I am really pleased that building work on the first phase of the much-needed Alveston to Old Down footway has started because Down Road is quite a busy road for a rural area.”

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Source: Conservative Group on South Gloucestershire Council

South Gloucestershire Council is continuing its fight against fly-tipping and littering – which costs taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds each year to clean up – following the successful prosecution of four individuals for committing related offences.

Following an investigation, the council brought a prosecution against John Cox, of Redfield Hill, Oldland Common after he fly-tipped six bags of waste near his home. The bags contained a combination of work-based litter and waste. Mr Cox was given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £300.

Wayne Dempsey of Casey Bottom Lane, St George fly-tipped a bed and mattress in a lane in Bitton. Mr Dempsey was fined £350 and ordered to pay costs of £600. Magistrates remarked that if Mr Dempsey had taken the bed and mattress to an appropriate civic amenity site, he could have disposed of them for free.

Also, Matthew Rees, the proprietor and director of Reece Environmental Ltd, was fined £500 and ordered to pay costs of £800, after waste was seen falling from the vehicle he was driving along the Ring Road. Mr Rees’ solicitor said in court that measures were now in place to prevent this from happening again in the future.

And Craig Manley, of Salcombe Road, Knowle was fined £365 and ordered to pay costs of £600, after waste was also seen escaping from the same vehicle that Mr Rees had been driving the previous day.

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Source: South Gloucestershire Council

A new man has taken charge of South Gloucestershire CID.

Detective Chief Inspector Ian Norrie is the permanent replacement for DCI Stephen Tunks, who retired in 2010.

Policing is in DCI Norrie’s blood, as both his father and grandfather served in the Metropolitan police.

Ian said: “I always thought I would like to follow in their footsteps and joined Surrey police in 2000, after completing a degree in geography and some time serving in the army.”

While serving in the Surrey force he obtained a further degree, in leadership and management, and won promotion to sergeant. He transferred to Avon and Somerset police in 2003.

PS Norrie worked as an emergency response officer in South Bristol, then joined the operational planning department at police headquarters. While there he was promoted to inspector, in 2006, and worked in road policing and at Bristol International Airport.

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Source: Avon and Somerset Police