1 minute read
Your Councillors say...
Never a dull moment in Ashley as a councillor. This issue we are just feeding back on a few really important issues we have been involved with. None of which are entirely to role of the council but we have been involved with, along with lots of local people. It seems like St Pauls and Ashley re continuously loosing out.
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Buses. Well, we still have one: Transpora have stepped in to provide us with the 25. Its by no means perfect but after the loss of the 5 then the 47 it is at least something. Remember that buses are entirely commercial and only run if there is enough demand (you can support franchising but that’s another story -Google bus franchising Bristol). Tim has been feeding issues raised back to Transpora but it is really important that we do use it so it continues.
Dentists. You will all be aware that the BUPA dentist in St Paul’s is closing at the end of June. The way the Dental contract is constructed nationally means this is a country wide problem. Dentists are commercial businesses with the bulk of their work through the NHS contract simply can't run profitably. This has a disproportionate effect on an area like St Paul’s where there are lots of people who can’t afford to go private. Amirah has been involved in organising a campaign and Tim has been working behind the scenes on Health Scrutiny, urging NHS bosses to urgently prioritise to try and get us a new dentist.
Schools. Very sadly, as you read this, St Barnabas School will have closed its doors. The decision was taken due to very small and falling pupil numbers. Despite a fiercely fought campaign the decision to close was taken to close. We are currently are urging the council to consider whether it can be kept in education perhaps for Special Educational Needs Provision. Its not all doom and gloom and perseverance is always worthwhile, however frustrating things are. Jude has been leading for us on the ‘Kernow building’ on Mina rd. You may recently seen in the press that the Council took the owner back to court for non compliance with an improvement order and more fines have been imposed.
