Olveston Parish Council

LATEST NEWS

Here is a selection of news, newsletters and websites which the Parish Council thinks may be of interest to parish residents:

Do you belong to or run a voluntary or community group that aims to promote health and wellbeing? If so, you have a chance to influence the planning of future local services. Find out here how you can attend a focus group in June 2012 to make your views known.
One of the highlights of the Olveston and Aust Parishes Diamond Jubilee Celebrations on Monday 4 June, will be a SOAP BOX DERBY, a competition for locally-built soap box cars. The deadline for entries is 14th May. There will be prizes for the fastest and for the most innovative/craziest design. You can download all the instructions here. Make sure your soapbox meets the specifications! Details of all the Diamond Jubilee fun on offer on that Monday Bank Holiday can be seen on the Events listing for 4 June.

A May 2012 Bulletin detailing current and upcoming road works around the M4/M5 interchange is available here.

Olveston Parish Council issued a statement on 13 March 2012 concerning its recent parish questionnaire about the proposed wind farm at Ingst. You can read the statement here.
South Gloucestershire Council is committed to supporting the independence and well-being of older people and other vulnerable adults in the area. They aim to help people live independently and, where possible, in their own homes and they provide some online guidance about the assessments and services provided. You can see the range of information available here.
Here is the Severnside Police Report for March 2012.
You can view a poster here about Carers Groups in South Gloucestershire. There 4 different kinds of groups now: All Carers groups, Dementia groups, Learning Difficulties groups and Mental Health groups. No need to book. You can just turn up. It's a chance for carers to have a cup of tea and a chat and to pick up some information. Check out the poster to discover how to find your local groups. You might also be interested in South Gloucestershire's Disability Action Group newsletter for March 2012.
The South Gloucestershire LINk works to encourage and support people to get involved in shaping local health and care services; from helping to decide what services should be commissioned, to influencing how they are run. It approaches all relevant sections of the community for their views and experiences of local health and care services. It has powers to tell those who commission, run and scrutinise local care services, what local people have recommended, to help improve services and hold them to account. The March 2012 e-bulletin contains information about the LINk, LINk events and meetings (all of which are open to anyone to attend), news and information about the planning, commissioning and delivery of health and social care services in and around S.Glos, plus relevant regional and national information.
The South Gloucestershire Family Placement Team is keen to find local people who could act, on a regular basis, as carers offering short-term breaks for children or young people, especially children on the autistic spectrum. Share the Care allows people to establish long-term relationships with the children and their families but may involve as little as one weekend per month. To read more about what is involved and to discover how you can find out more, click here.
The Severnside Safer Stronger Community Group met in Aust on 11 January 2012. You can access the minutes of the meeting here. And you can access more information about Safer Stronger Community Groups here.
The Olveston branch of Almondsbury Surgery will close on 1st April 2012. All services will be concentrated at Almondsbury.
From 1 January 2012, there are new arrangements for the local registration of births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships. To read about the arrangements and to find the opening times of your nearest register office, click here.
The Council has been informed of some recent or upcoming changes to bus services. You can also check out a wide range of bus times on the South Gloucestershire Council website. If you are interested in the 622 route, times are available here.
Olveston Parish Council has received a letter dated 7 September 2011 giving an update on plans for future NHS services in Thornbury, including plans for the Thornbury Hospital site. Read the letter here.
The Parish Council has learned of a new website called Well Aware, which gives information about health, well-being and community services for everyone in South Gloucestershire, Bristol, and Bath & NE Somerset. The website, which is run by The Care Forum (a not-for-profit voluntary organisation and charity), gives information about 1000s of groups, organisations, activities and services. It has a user-friendly format which makes it easy to find support for a friend, family member - or for yourself.
The Parish Council has received news of an Emergency Carers Service, provided by South Gloucestershire Council, which it thinks local residents would be interested to know about. You can find out about the service here.

Councillors

Chair - June Lyons	632239
Vice Chair - Irene Reid	613461
Allen Cogram	614821
Tony Heming	416908
Val Hudspeth	614984
John Spratt	619962
Jane Webb	201640
John Hughes	613754
Adrian Baxter	617108

Clerk to the Council:
Richard Rogers, 8 Orchard Rise, Olveston BS35 4DY	07780 572594
email: olvestonpc@googlemail.com


Chairs of Committees:
Leisure and Recreation	John Hughes
Projects	Val Hudspeth
Planning	Irene Reid

Footpaths Warden:	Rod Williams 612850

Primary Contacts for various parish organisations & interest groups:
Sports & Social Club …	vacancy
Tennis Club …	Ms Hudspeth
Parish Hall Management Committee …	Ms Hudspeth
Pre-School …	Ms Hudspeth
Bowls Club …	Mr Hughes
Olveston CEVC …	Valerie Tutin (co-opted)
Religious Groups …	Mr Heming
Footpath Warden …	Rod Williams (co-opted)
Football Club …	vacancy
Meeting Point …	vacancy
Olveston Scouts/Guides/ Endeavour Explorers …	Mr Hughes
Woodhouse Park …	Mrs Webb
Allotments …	Mr Hughes
Health & Care …	Mrs Reid / Mrs Webb

Council Meetings

Parishioners are welcome to attend Parish Council meetings. These are generally held on the 4th Tuesday of each month. Check out the Events page on this website for dates and times of meetings. Please contact the Clerk if you plan to attend.

You can read the most recently approved minutes of Olveston Parish Council here and the most recently approved minutes of the Council's Recreation and Leisure Committee here (November 2011 and January 2012). (These minutes are put on the website once they have been approved and signed as an accurate record at the subsequent meeting of each committee.)

Our Parish Matters

Reports on parish matters are often included in Meeting Point, our local community magazine. Printed below is the most recent report:

Further to the report in last month’s Meeting Point, the Parish Council would again like to thank all the parishioners who answered the recent Wind Farm Questionnaire. A staggering 772 replies were received, which represents an unprecedented 46% response. Of the returns accepted, 107 (14%) were in favour of the Wind Farm and 662 (86%) were against. This result will give the Parish Council a clear steer when the planning application is submitted, and South Gloucestershire Council will be made aware of parishioners’ views.

Since last summer there have been an increasing number of complaints about dog fouling in the play area at Vicarage Lane, and recently along the Street and around the Stores. It is very sad that a small minority of dog owners should be so inconsiderate, especially as, apart from the visual impact, smell and general unpleasantness, there is evidence that dog faeces carry e.coli and hepatitis. Additionally 100 people each year (mainly children) have eye diseases caught by swallowing the Toxocara egg, which can lead to blindness.

Toxocariasis is an infestation of humans with the larvae of Toxocara canis, a small threadlike parasitic worm that resides in a dog's intestine. A dog harbouring the small round worm causes large numbers of worm eggs (each about 0.07mm diameter) in its faeces which can contaminate the soil. Children who play with contaminated soil can then inadvertently put their fingers in their mouths and swallow some of the worm eggs. The swallowed eggs hatch in the intestine of the child to liberate larvae, which then travel towards the liver, lungs, brain and eyes. Here they can trigger off allergic reactions such as asthma, and they also have more serious affects such as loss of vision.

The Parish Council would urge all people out walking or exercising their dogs to take plastic bags with them so that they can clean up as they go. ‘Dog poo’ bins have already been provided around the parish that are regularly emptied, and more warning notices have been erected. The South Gloucestershire Council Dog Warden is happy to contact dog owners to make them aware of the regulations concerning dog fouling and if necessary issue a £50 fixed penalty notice. He can be contacted on 01454 868000 or via email to streetcare@southglos.gov.uk. However to be effective, the dog warden will need to know a description of the dog and the owner, where the dog is regularly exercised, and if possible details about discrete incidents. Given the increased use of all three Play Areas in the parish as spring approaches, it would be wonderful to ensure that they are suitably safe.

With the coming of spring it also time for the Annual Parish Assembly. This year it is to be held at Olveston Parish Hall on Thursday 26th April starting at 7:30, with tea and coffee available beforehand. Please come along to meet your councillors, to hear what has been done in the last financial year, and to air any concerns that you may have. There will also be opportunities to get first hand knowledge on Localism and the Parish Plan.

Increasingly, information is being sent to the Parish Council via email and through website links. Topics that could affect the parish (like updates on the M4/M5 roadworks, or opportunities to discuss or get involved in local Health issues, etc) are regularly being passed to the website manager for inclusion on the council pages at www.olveston.com, so if you have access to the internet it is well worth a look.

Annual Parish Assembly

The minutes of the 2011 Annual Parish Assembly took place on 28th April 2011. You can read the unconfirmed minutes of that meeting here. The minutes will be confirmed at the 2012 Annual Assembly.

The Council's Vision Statement

Read the Council's Vision Statement here.

Council Policy on its Donations to Charities

You can read the Council's policy here. For details of any decisions about donations, you can check the minutes each month.