Monthly Archives: August 2017

All change on the rubbish front.

All change on the rubbish front.

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Bathonians are being asked to look out for leaflets that will be posted to homes during the week beginning August 28th explaining how rubbish collections are changing from November 6th.

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In a press release B&NES explains that this four page leaflet will

  • tell you more about what is changing and why
  • suggest how best to sort your recycling boxes to make space in your wheeled bin or re-usable rubbish bag
  • include some frequently asked questions
  • list additional services we offer to help you.

What is changing and why?

From 6 November Bath & North East Somerset Council will be collecting rubbish every other week in wheeled bins or re-usable bags for the majority of residents. Recycling, including food waste will continue to be collected weekly. The chargeable garden waste collections will remain every other week.  The changes will help to keep the streets cleaner, increase recycling and make the services more affordable.

Find out your container allocation

In March we sent a letter out with the Council Tax bill to let you know what container you had been allocated. To check your allocation, enter your address at www.bathnes.gov.uk/recycle  or contact Council Connect.

If you have a query with your allocation please contact Council Connect.  Where households have 2 or more children in nappies, 6 or more people in their household or a clear medical need they may be able to apply for a larger bin.

If you need to change your allocation, please contact Council Connect waste enquiry line on 01225 39 40 00. They will talk through your needs, and then if appropriate pass on your request for change of container. We will contact you to let you know the outcome of your request.  In the meantime, your original allocated container will be delivered to you before the start of the new collection.  If we agree to issue an alternative container, we will arrange to replace your original with your changed container.

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What happens next?

From 25 September to early November– we will deliver the wheeled bins or re-usable rubbish bags to 78,000 households. The bins will be delivered to the front edge of your property or your re-usable rubbish bag will be delivered to your door.

Please:

  • do not put out your new bin/bag for collection until 6 November
  • continue to put out your rubbish as you normally do until the new collection starts
  • put out your rubbish for collection in your new bin/bag on your correct collection day from 6 November

Your bin or re-usable rubbish bag will be delivered with a welcome pack which will include further information about the new collection service including how to use your new wheeled bin or re-usable rubbish bag collection, your 2017-2018 collection calendar (please check to see if your collection day will change from 6 November) and  Christmas collection information.

Getting ready for the new service

  • Please make sure you recycle all you can, including your food waste. You can order extra free recycling containers atwww.bathnes.gov.uk/orderacontainer
  • If you prefer, you can collect recycling containers at one of the three Recycling Centres, rather than wait for one to be delivered.
  • Check our website for the latest updates. Check to see if your query is answered in over 30 FAQs we have on our website www.bathnes.gov.uk/recycle
  • Visit one of our roadshows to see the new containers and find out more. Go to www.bathnes.gov.uk/roadshows for details and check on our website to find out where our display wheeled bins are.
  • We are promoting re-usable nappies to help reduce waste.  We are selling packs of Bambino Mio re-usable nappies for £150 (£100 less than the retail price) www.bathnes.gov.uk/realnappies
  • Resident’s packs – we are developing website materials you can download for free to help share messages with neighbours to advise them how to set out their waste etc. The website will explain this further and include a leaflet and tick-card to post to neighbours explaining how to use the service properly when the new service starts.
  • Like our Facebook page www.facebook.com/recycleforbathnes to receive updates and tips.

 

A helping hand for Bath’s heritage.

A helping hand for Bath’s heritage.

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The scaffolding that has been fronting Hales the Chemist in Bath’s Argyle Street will be coming down in the next few days.

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Scaffolding in place outside Hale’s the Chemist for the conservators to start work on the royal coat of arms.

It has been supporting members of the Cliveden Conservation team who have been working on a restoration project involving stripping, repainting and gilding a royal coat of arms belonging to Queen Charlotte.

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Freelance conservators Joanna Pucci and Teresa Llewellyn at work on the royal coat of arms.

You can find the story of its restoration in greater detail elsewhere on this website but l want to move on to feature the local organisation that has helped fund the work and which each year puts money into many other projects that ensure Bath’s heritage is being looked after.

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Job done and looking good!

I am talking about the Bath World Heritage Enhancement Fund which – since being established seven years ago – has made a real difference to the Bath World Heritage Site.

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Ainslie Ensom pictured beside the newly gilded lion.

With work still underway on the coat of arms behind us – and a lot of rainwater to be got rid of in the protective canopy spread out above the workers – l was able to talk to Ainslie Ensom who is the Administrator of the Fund. What did she think of the coat of arms restoration.

You can check out the Enhancement Fund’s website via  https://www.bathworldheritage.org.uk/enhancement-fund

Bath’s ‘Stone Age’ attraction.

Bath’s ‘Stone Age’ attraction.

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We get something like four and a half million visitors a year in Bath but how many of them will see anything other than Roman remains and Georgian terraces and crescents.

There has been a lot of talk recently about trying to spread the load a bit and persuade our visitors – a very important part of local commerce – to expand their horizons to some of the attractions further out of the centre.

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The canal towpath through Bath’s Sydney Gardens.

Everything from Beckford’s Tower to Prior Park Gardens with other areas of interest including things like the Kennet and Avon Canal, the American Museum and Museum of Bath at Work.

One rather modest museum that tells a major story you can find half way around the number 2 First Bus route which climbs the hill to Combe Down.

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The CornerStone museum at Combe Down.

The Ralph Allen CornerStone Interpretation Centre –  on Rock Hall Lane – opened in 2014 and is described as a community history centre.

Combe Down is the main site of Ralph Allen’s stone quarries – the stone that built the World Heritage City of Bath.

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The abandoned workings were in-filled with an innovative £155 million restoration project, completed in 2010. 

The village, now secure, has lost much of the physical evidence of its stone-quarrying heritage. Hence the need for a museum that tells the story of its industrial past and the men who worked underground.

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Interior of the stone museum

But – outside its doors – there are now plans to uncover and preserve what remains of the top of one of the shafts through which stone would have been brought to the surface and transported on Ralph Allen’s tram system down the hill to the river.

It’s on former mining land – and now a public space known as Firs Field. A group of young local people have also got involved in preparatory  survey and excavation work to see exactly what is left just below the surface of the ground.

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Preliminary dig in Firs Field

The idea will be to conserve what is left of the wall and construct a low bench as a memorial to ‘the mines, those who worked them, the community of Combe Down and the wider City of Bath.’

I had a chance to speak to Val Lyon who is the Director of the Firs Field Project. I asked her to tell me first about the Ralph Allen CornerStone museum.

Three of the youngsters   – involved in the project –  have contributed to a blog (led by Bert Nash) which tells what they have been doing and its importance to Bath’s World Heritage status.

Bert’s blog can be viewed at:

http://firsfieldmineshaft.weebly.com

Check out the Ralph Allen CornerStone Museum at http://www.ralphallencornerstone.org.uk/

 

 

 

 

Cleveland Bridge reopens.

Cleveland Bridge reopens.

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The A4 Cleveland Bridge in Bath has been fully reopened following yesterday’s accident which damaged one of the toll lodges on the bridge.

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Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Property Services team have carried out emergency work to make the structure safe.

The lane closure has now been lifted and temporary signals removed.

The Council would like to thank drivers for their patience yesterday.

 

While the bridge itself remains structurally sound, significant damage was caused to one of the toll lodges on the bridge.

Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Building Control and Property Services are currently liaising with the tenant of the toll house regarding the necessary works to make the structure safe.

 

 

Don’t move the library.

Don’t move the library.

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The following was sent by email from a ‘BRSLI member’

‘The Bath Central Library is under threat of closure, with just a part of the service being still available, at Manvers Street.

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Possible view of the new library set up.

This will mean not just the loss of a library in which to sit and read (the reading room will go), but the loss of a space for Bath residents living on the North side (BA1) in which they are able to browse and look at books physically since the shelf space will also be drastically reduced.

It is up to the residents of Bath to fight for their library and have it stay in its current central and accessible place, so please leave your comments on the feedback forms available in the library.’

Bath’s new hotel opens for business

Bath’s new hotel opens for business

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The new Apex City of Bath Hotel has had what you might call a ‘soft opening’ with forty odd rooms now taking paying guests.

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The signage going up on the Apex City of Bath Hotel

The reception and downstair bar areas are also in business. I am told facilities like the gym and pool will be coming on line in a month or so.

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A temporary entrance to the City of Bath Apex Hotel.

Apex said the hotel would open in August and are true to their word. Work continues around guests but doesn’t seem to be interfering with their stay.

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An interior view inside the newly opened hotel.

The hotel will be Bath’s largest hotel both in terms of conference and events spaces and number of bedrooms.

The hotel’s conference room will hold up to 400 delegates which will be the largest in Bath and the four-star hotel itself will have 177 contemporary bedrooms including family rooms and suites, some of which include balconies.

Good to see also that the Highways Department has painted in the zebra crossing outside the Odeon complex. The whole thing was getting illegible.

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The crossing before re-painting.

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The crossing after a new coat of paint!

Roadworks around the Saw Close area – which is being re-modelled – have revealed some of the original stone setts under the tarmac in Upper Borough Walls.

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Roadworks have uncovered the underlying stone setts.

Talking of stone setts – our proud symbol of World Heritage Status – outside the side entrance to the Pump Room – could do with some attention. Not exactly the best way of promoting the city’s standing as a major tourist centre.

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The UNESCO symbol for a site of World Heritage status – with missing stone setts.

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A closer look at missing stones.

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Yet another missing stone.

Coming home along the canal l noticed workmen are starting to take down the lighting that was installed in one of the long tunnels at one end of the Sydney Gardens stretch of the Kennet and Avon Canal.

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Workmen starting to remove the lighting installed in the tunnel under Cleveland House.

B&NES did not agree with the developer of the property above – Cleveland House –  that the installation was a good idea and have obviously refused retrospective planning permission.

Check out the story about the tunnel and the lights elsewhere on the site. Just enter ‘Cleveland House’ into the ‘search’ box.

Raising a glass to Thomas.

Raising a glass to Thomas.

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Exactly what was quenching the thirst of the people of Bath in the summer of  1856.   Turns out beverages sold by Thomas Steele (1805-1859) – a chemist at 6 Milsom Street in the city were hitting the right spot 160 years ago. Flavours that included gooseberry and mulberry.

This little snippet of social history comes via Bath Abbey’s Footprint Project – a multi-million pound scheme of works to make the Abbey floor safe and improve facilities in the church.

As part of the work volunteers are researching the hundreds of historic memorial stones in the building which will have to be lifted to allow the structural work to take place.

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Thomas Steele’s memorial stone.

Thanks to one of them, it’s been discovered that Thomas – one of thousands of people granted burial under the floor – once placed a notice in the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette on 31 July 1856 advertising all types of flavours and included various ways on how these could be used to flavour tarts, jellies and spirits.

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He is one of the hundreds of Bathonians commemorated in the Abbey and researched for the Bath Abbey ledger stone project as part of #Footprintproject.

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You can visit the blog site of Abbey archivist, Anna Riggs to check out the advert: https://bathabbeyheritage.wordpress.com