Poole Council has agreed to invest £10,000 to enhance the children’s play area between King John Avenue, Runnymede Avenue and Charter Road, known as the Charter Road Play Area. This should fund new equipment as well as improving what is already there.

Cllr Daphne Long explained “Poole Council collect contributions from property developers towards improving local amenities every time a property is built in the ward. These funds need to be used to address the chronic lack of play facilities in this area and we are delighted that this has been realised and this money will now be used to address the problems that local families have told us about. We are already working on new plans to secure further funds to provide better play areas locally.”

Cllr David Brown has been working with council staff to make sure that this play area is also kept clean and litter free so that children can use it all year round and a new bin has already been installed as a result.

A new programme to provide Children’s Centre services for young children and their families across Poole has started in Bearwood. At Bearwood Primary & Nursery School “Lets Play Together” groups are now provided each week and new speech and language therapy sessions are also on offer. On 9th January the Children’s Centre team will be starting “Wiggle Bugs” play and activity sessions for pre-school children aged 18 months to 4 years at Bearwood Community Centre every Wednesday from 10.45am to 12.45pm. Call the Health Visiting Team on 01202 577849 for information or to book a place.

Annette Brooke MP, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Children, Young People and Families, welcomed this saying: “These new services are of great benefit to local children in Bearwood and it is even better that they are being provided on their doorstep”.

After many years of hard work and fundraising, Bearwood now has its own dedicated youth facility following the opening of THE BRIDGE YOUTH CENTRE at the back of Bearwood Community Centre. At the opening ceremony on 28th October Cllr David Brown was honoured to be asked to cut the ribbon with Rev. Geoff Boland to unveil this excellent new centre to the assembled crowd.

Annette Brooke MP was on hand to watch this exciting event and commented “I know that many local people have worked for many years to see this day and it is great credit to local residents for their dedication to make this happen.”

Cllr Peter Maiden highlighted the difference across the ward saying “Merley has been fortunate with both Merley Youth Centre and the Pulse Youth Club in Canford Magna for some years, but youth provision has been patchy in Bearwood with the Church youth project filling the gap. Many youngsters have told us that they want more to do in Bearwood and this is the start of what we hope will be many more improvements.”

Cllr David Brown added “I will continue to work with the Council and all of the local groups to ensure that this is just the start of making sure that this generation of young people growing up in Bearwood will no longer be able to say that there isn’t anywhere to go or anything to do around here.”

An appeal for volunteers has been made by Merley First School, who need more volunteers to keep their walk to school programme running.

Annette Brooke MP, Liberal Democrat Childrens Spokesperson, joined the school during the International Walk to School week in October last year, which aims to encourage community safety and reduce congestion and carbon emissions by getting children and parents out of their cars.

40 Countries participated last year and this October, there is an international walk to school month. However Merley First School needs more volunteers if the programme is to keep going in the long run.

“If you are interested in helping with the activity in Merley, please contact Councillor Peter Maiden on 888608,” said Annette.

For more details visit the walk to school website http://www.walktoschool.org.uk/

Councillors Peter Maiden, Daphne Long and David Brown reported in the last Focus about parking problems around Harrier Drive. The area suffers from a lack of available spaces at school pick-up and drop off time. Local residents have complained that their drives are being obstructed and cars are parking in dangerous places when dropping off school children.

Following a petition from residents of Harrier Drive, Annette Brooke MP attended the Council’s Transport Advisory Group in July which discussed these parking problems. Aftre presentations from a resident and from Cllr David Brown, the council has decided to carry out a review of the perking and traffic situation around Merley First School. This has been prioritised for action as soon as possible during 2008/09. In the mean time, local PC Stephen Hawke will be issuing tickets for any dangerous parking in the area.

The goalposts on Lionheart playing fields had been incorrectly removed by council contractors. Local residents were quick to notify Cllr David Brown.

David, a keen football fan, was quickly on to the Council to make sure Bearwood footballers had the chance to play this summer and got the posts put back within a couple of days.