A36 Closure

Crowe Hill and Crowe lane are taking the brunt of the A36 closure. I have witnessed lorries taking this route when we were assured that no lorries, except those delivering locally would be allowed through. How is it that a French lorry has been photographed today 16th May 2008. I have already seen one of these lorries taking this route. today the lorry realised that it had taken the wrong turning and had to do a three point turn to go back the way it had come Microsoft Autoroute does not show Crowe Hill - Crowe lane as a through route and I have not reported that it is, naturally! Whether other SATNAV devices show the lanes as a through route is another matter. How did this lorry get through the gatehouse at Bath?

Update: Freshford Village Shop Location Videos

Bath & North East Somerset Planning Department have upset villagers once again by objecting to the proposed new village shop's location: I read many of the letters of support that B&NES planning department has recieved in favour of the proposed shop and its location. I didn't notice any letters objecting to the proposal.  Please note what follows are my opinions. Please use the forum if you wish to support or argue the issues. and phone me if your are new to computer forums and need some help gettting started: 723184

CONSULTATIONS AND REPRESENTATIONS:

 HIGHWAY DEVELOPMENT OFFICER: Raises concerns that the development located remote from services, employment opportunities and being unlikely to be well served by public transport is contrary to the key aims of PPG 13 to reduce the growth in the length and number of motorised journeys.!!!  He also advises that were the Case Officer or planning committee to support the application that a S106 legal agreement should be entered into to secure the long term usage of the village hall car park for the parking needs of the development.

 LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: Raises concerns that the building will appear incongruous in this location. Noting that it would not easily be read as a barn. She suggests that the use may be better accommodated within the existing village hall and that the only way that it may be acceptable in the field is if the western boundary of the field were altered.

Photograph of the Memorial Hall from the High Street -would the proposed shop be incongrous?
and would the shop have an impact on the open character of the landscape?

 CONSERVATION OFFICER: Objects to the application noting that the site forms an important undeveloped space acting as a break between settlements. Advises that a building of this size in this location cannot fail to have an impact upon the open character of this area.

Freshford Village Shop Objections & Support

I will contribute my observations on the above comments on the Village Forum and hope that others will do so also. But what is most surprising, is the comments of the Conservation Officer. My videos from ten locations do not support that statement. In fact, even in Winter, when the ability of trees and hedgerows to obscure human settlements is at its least, the site of the proposed shop and the visibility of the existing Freshford Memorial Hall is shown to NOT support those comments. Unless of course the viewer is either directly in front of the proposed location of the shop or looking down from higher up Galleries field (which is not accessible to the general public anyway) The proposed shop location is also visible from lower down Freshford Lane, but only because for some reason or other the hedgerow has been removed. If that section of the lower boundary of Galleries field were to be replanted as a hedge  then neither the location of the proposed village shop or the existing village hall would be visible. The fact that the replanting of a hedge can obscure a building does not suggest to me that the building has any great impact on the landscape.

The opinion of the landscape architect is also subject to the same observations except that as far as I am aware the Freshford Memorial Hall could not be built today as it would not meet the current requirements. I would agree that it should be removed and a new hall built in its place, but even so maybe some guidance could be provided as to how the spatial requirements of a village shop could be incorporated into the new village hall and whether money can be provided?

The comments from the  Highways Development Officer do not seem to be based on a grasp of the reality of the community of Freshford which includes the village centre and the hamlets of  Sharpstone, Park Corner, Woodside and Staples Hill.

 'Unlikely to be well served by public transport'  this is obvious, as only routes that are radial in relation to city centres will be well served (although they are often not!) by public transport systems. The notion that public transport within a village like Freshford is possible, is a no brainer. but it is possible to imagine a delivery service and one has operated in the past. The new village shop would actually reduce the need for motorised journeys as shoppers would otherwise, as at present, have to go elsewhere for their provisions. The number of trips to Bradford on Avon (the nearest supermarket) would therefore be reduced by the opening of a village shop.

 I would agree that some agreement to the use of the Memorial Hall car park might need to be made.  However, the provision of parking in Freshford has not been properly addressed in the past. for example:

There are only a few places for public parking vehicles off-road: the Freshford Memorial Hall, the railway station, and the Inn. (the school car park is a special example and is too small to accomodate visitors and service vehicles)

What is missing is:

parking  for shoppers (in the past for the post office/shop) as it was in the wrong place

parking for worshippers at St Peters church who might be unable to walk there

parking for visitors, especially at weekends

parking for those attending a funeral

One can hardly reject the application for a village shop because there is not enough parking at the memorial hall site unless authorities are prepared to use compulsory purchase to secure more land for parking.

The Highways officer: 'Raises concerns that the development located remote from services, employment opportunities. . .' what is being proposed is a village shop that will be staffed mainly by volunteers. What does located remote from services mean? And what is remote in Bath and North East Somerset? When I offered bed and breakfast some years ago (not in B&NES) one couple who were USA citizens told me that they had to travel over 60 miles (one way) to their nearest town for provisions. From this perspective the highway officers concerns are trivial. Perhaps, he can suggest an alternative solution to where a village shop could be located, other than the Memorial Hall to those who live here and do not have cars?

Freshford in the Twenty First Century

The village is reduced to one public house The Inn, a fine ancient building serving food and real ale, wine and  tea and coffee both in the morning and throughout the day. The Inn (which is not an Inn) is located close to the river Frome and is very popular but not so much with the natives who whilst berating the loss of village services are not regular visitors to their last public house. 

The last remaining shop was actually the post office and with changes to the business that post offices offer; initiated by the government, has like many other rural post offices closed as being unviable. The shop/post office was too small and although located centrally had no parking for passing trade, but was situated opposite the school and should have been convenient for parents. The post office and village shop also provided some banking services.

A temporary post office is now open for part of the week. A location for a replacement village shop has to be decided.  The village is served by a bus service -that is mainly empty, that does NOT go to the nearest town -Bradford On Avon  and by a railway that has an infrequent service especially at weekends.  The nearest garage that sells fuel needs a round trip of 6 miles.

Freshford is  a really a nice place for commuters to live who travel to Bath and Bristol and further afield to work. As such it should, surely, be preserved as a typical English village rather than be subject to further unnecessary development.  There is a doctors surgery that is not available for most of the week. The village hall is deteriorating and probably has asbestos in its construction, it is poorly insulated and poorly located.

The charm of the village lies in its location close to both the river Frome and its meeting with the Avon, and its vernacular construction of local stone settling in to the undulating hilly countryside. Every lane in Freshford could quite easily be called a hill