The South Glos Post

Police and South Gloucestershire Council targeted pubs in an under-age alcohol test-purchase operation for the first time on Friday 10th December 10.

Two 16-year-old girls volunteered to try to buy alcohol at six pubs – two in Emersons Green and the rest in Kingswood, Longwell Green, Pucklechurch and Soundwell.

Neighbourhood Inspector Kevin Thatcher said: “I’m delighted that these clearly under-age girls were unable to buy alcohol at any of the pubs we visited.”

“We regularly work with Trading Standards running this sort of operation to see if off-licences will sell drink to under-18s. This is the first time we’ve run the operation at pubs in South Gloucestershire.”

“I understand that people may have concerns about under-age girls going into a pub environment, but there were plain clothes police officers inside the premises as the girls went in and they were followed in by Trading Standards officers.”

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Source: Avon and Somerset Police

Roadworks in place during the construction of a scheme to tackle traffic congestion and improve safety at the Kingsfield roundabout on the A4174 ring road at Longwell Green (near Asda) have been cleared to keep the traffic moving during the lead up to Christmas.

Works to provide extra lanes and new traffic lights on the roundabout have been on-going for the past 15 weeks, but all major construction works have been completed on time and traffic is now flowing again at this busy junction.

In order to minimise disruption and ensure that all lanes would be open for Christmas, South Gloucestershire Council arranged for longer working days for contractors, combined with overnight and weekend working wherever possible.

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Source: South Gloucestershire Council

Two men have been charged after police searched a house in Kingswood on Tuesday September 28th 2010 and recovered a motorbike stolen in Longwell Green the day before.

Officers from the Neighbourhood Team and the South Gloucestershire Priority Crime Team also recovered two bicycles stolen from Kingswood and Bridgeyate in the search.

Six young men aged between 15 and 18 were arrested from the house.

An 18-year-old man from Kingswood has been charged with two counts of theft and one of handling stolen goods.

A 17-year-old Bristol man has been charged with two counts of theft.

Both were due to appear before Northavon Magistrates Court on Wednesday 29th September.

Four other teenage men have been bailed pending further enquiries.

Neighbourhood Sergeant Rachael Hodges said: “Thieves have been targeting bicycles and motorbikes, stealing them from sheds and garages, gardens and driveways. We have been working hard, targeting uniformed and plain-clothes patrols in hotspot areas to tackle the problem.”

Source: Avon and Somerset Police

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