The SouthGlos Post

The architect of a youth bus pass scheme is encouraging local youngsters to take advantage of the scheme before the school holidays end.

Cllr Sheila Cook, Conservative Cabinet Member for Children and Young People on South Gloucestershire Council, is appealing to local youngsters to take advantage of cheaper bus fares that are available to them, thanks to the council.

The district’s youth concessionary travel scheme entitles 14-18-year-olds in full time education to half adult bus fares on evening, weekend and school holiday journeys.

The scheme was the brainchild of Cllr Cook who first proposed a council motion on the subject back in 2006. She said:

“One of the biggest issues young people raise locally is transport, particularly its cost and how that discourages greater use of public transport, and so we have been determined to do something about it.

We are proud to be one of the few councils in the country to have introduced this sort of travel concession for local youngsters and we very much want them to take it up.

With just one week left of the summer holidays, it’s an ideal time to get hold of a pass, which will help access the huge range of activities available across the local area.

We have a special website for South Gloucestershire youngsters called ‘Youth Unlimited’ and all the information they need is on there.”

Source: Conservative Group on South Gloucestershire Council

Work is about to start on a scheme to tackle traffic congestion and improve road safety at the Kingsfield roundabout in Longwell Green.

The roundabout, which provides access to the Aspects Leisure Park and to Asda, has seen a considerable increase in traffic levels and queuing during the rush hour due to the significant expansion of local retail facilities over recent years.

The scheme will include widening the ring road to three lanes on the approaches to the roundabout and a widening of the Marsham Way approach to provide an extra lane for traffic turning onto the ring road. Traffic lights will also be installedto control traffic on all the main approaches to the junction, with the exception of Leisure Road which will remain under give way operation.

Similar improvements made last year to the Deanery Road roundabout on the ring road resulted in a reduction in commuter journey times and a positive impact on road safety – reducing accident numbers by more than 30 per cent.

It is hoped that there will be a similar improvement at the Kingsfield roundabout, which is one of the district’s main accident concentration sites.

The work is starting on Monday 23rd August and will last for 15 weeks. Outside of peak hours, the ring road will be reduced to one lane on each of the approaches to the roundabout and a temporary speed limit of 30mph will be in force for the duration of the works.

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Source: South Gloucestershire Council

Local residents living on a steep Kingswood road are being encouraged to have their say on a road safety scheme to tackle speeding motorists.

South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) has begun consulting on the provision of a new footway build out, new white lining and a new dropped kerb crossing point at the junction of Champion Road and Pound Road.

The proposed scheme attempts to address residents’ concerns about the speed of downhill traffic turning left into Champion Road from Pound Road.

The aims of the proposed highway improvement are:

• to reduce the speed of traffic turning into Champion Road from Pound Road,
• to improve road safety and improve accessibility for pedestrians who wish to cross Champion Road near the Pound Road junction,
• to encourage more sustainable means of travel, and
• to provide elderly and less mobile residents with an enhanced location to cross Champion Road.

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Source: Conservative Group on South Gloucestershire Council

Huge improvements are being made to the local highway network, thanks to major investment by South Gloucestershire Council.

More than 50 miles of road were resurfaced last year – or the equivalent of travelling from Thornbury to Worcester – and plans are in place to resurface a further 35 miles this year.

Heather Goddard, executive member for communities, said: Cllr Heather Goddard, executive member for communities, said: “As a council we were determined to respond quickly and decisively to the problems that were caused to our roads following the harshest winter for many years.

“We directed extra resources to repair and patch potholes and this year’s much larger resurfacing programme is continuing at pace, following our decision over a year ago to more than double the resurfacing budget.

“Having dealt with the immediate pothole problem we are doing more work than ever, concentrating efforts on resurfacing roads.Our teams are continuing to work flat out to repair and improve the district’s highways and we hope residents are starting to notice these improvements which are an investment for the future of our highway network.”

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Source: South Gloucestershire Council

The Cycling City project has provided match funding to local charity the Kingswood Foundation to provide secure, covered cycle parking for young people and staff.

The new cycle parking facility has proved to be very popular and since completion the number of people cycling to the site has increased.

To celebrate the opening of their new cycle parking facility, the Foundation organised a launch event for cyclists that included advice and information on cycling, free bike checks and a bike breakfast.

Councillor John Calway, leader of the council, said: “Providing good cycle parking facilities is one of the ways the Cycling City project is encouraging cycling in South Gloucestershire. Being able to leave your bike close to your destination is one of the great advantages of cycling and we are pleased to see how popular the new cycle parking has been.”

Sandy Hore-Ruthven, chief executive of the Foundation said: “The Kingswood Foundation is keen to promote sustainable solutions to travel and the grant from South Gloucestershire Council matched with our own investment enabled us to provide state of the art cycle storage facilities and enabled many more of our users to cycle rather than use a car.”

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Source: South Gloucestershire Council