David Brown

Welcome to the new Bearwood Co-op and Pharmacy

davidbrown — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 01:50:56 +0000

The new Co-op store in Bearwood opened its doors in November after taking over from Somerfield. This is great news for Bearwood as it has secured the jobs of the current staff and Co-op have already recruited many more staff from the local area.

The new manager, Darren, and his team have met with Cllr Brown and are getting heavily involved in community life, already having supported the Community Centre, Social Club, local schools, local Police and the local newsletter.

Following feedback from the community, the Co-op were quick to establish a new Pharmacy in Bearwood which has hugely benefited local people, especially older residents who have always had to travel to Kinson or West Howe for prescriptions or rely on delivery services.

Your Merley & Bearwood councillors had held discussions with several pharmacies over the past few years to try to get one established in the area, but have had problems finding appropriate premises.

Cllr David Brown concluded “I am very impressed with the Co-op’s enthusiasm to get involved in the local community. It is also to be congratulated for making space available so that we now have a Pharmacy on our doorstep and opposite the Doctors Surgery for the first time.”

Demolition of Garage Block on King John Avenue

davidbrown — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 01:46:36 +0000

Two blocks of 22 garages on King John Avenue have been demolished by Poole Housing Partnership.

This is following severe problems with vandalism, graffiti and recent fires which had made them unsafe and unusable. The ground has been left for car parking spaces but we are keen to hear from residents with their views on how they would like to see this space used.

Traffic Lights at Willett Arms junction

davidbrown — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 01:45:11 +0000

At the last Area Meeting an agreement was reached for the installation of traffic lights and a right turn from Oakley Lane onto Oakley Hill.

This will ease traffic flow out of Oakley Lane and will reduce u-turns at the nearby A31 roundabout.

The aim is that this will also speed up the bus connections to Wimborne, and will be implemented during the Canford Bridge closure.

Action on Merley Litter

davidbrown — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 01:43:45 +0000

Your local Lib Dem Councillors and Poole Council were pleased to support The Lantern Church for a community Action Day litter pick, part of ‘Hope 2008’ a community scheme to donate 1000 hours of kindness.

An overwhelming number of people of all ages turned out to clean up the local area in Merley with dozens of bags of litter collected.

We hugely enjoyed the day and the sense of community achieved from such an event.

Canford Bridge Closed

davidbrown — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 01:42:27 +0000

Don’t forget Canford Bridge is now closed to traffic until mid October. The bridge will be open to pedestrians and cyclists only during this period.

Cllr Maiden and Cllr Brown visited the site on 14th July with Council engineers and transportation officers to inspect the progress being made.

There is a lot of difficult work to be carried out to repair and strengthen the bridge after over 200 years. Progress by the contractors so far is good and they are confident that the work will be completed on schedule.

Merley First School Safety Zone

davidbrown — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 01:38:05 +0000

There was overwhelming support from your local councillors at the last Area Meeting for there to be a 20mph. zone around Merley First School. A large part of Harrier Drive, Oakley Straight and Sopwith Crescent will have parking restrictions within this zone, and there will be zone warning signs installed.

These signs will be large enough for the children at the school to design interesting artworks. So children – get busy.

Your Ward Councillors will be holding a consultation review at 6pm on Wednesday 25th July at The Lantern Lounge in Merley.

Speed Limit Reductions on Arrowsmith Road, Magna Road and Gravel Hill

davidbrown — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 01:35:01 +0000

After much pressure from your local ward councillors, the MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, and the residents of Arrowsmith Road to reduce the speed limit approaching the dwellings to 30 mph, the review of speed limits for local roads was put before the Council’s Transport Advisory Group recently.

The police explained that they did not have sufficient resources to monitor speed limits below 40 mph in this area and would oppose the motion. The group considered that to have various speed limits along that road would confuse motorists.

The outcome was that the statutory speed limit for the Gravel Hill end of Arrowsmith Road would be 40 mph. The rest of Arrowsmith Road will now be 30 mph.

Magna Road

At the same Transport Advisory Group an extension of the 30 mph speed limit from the Bearcross roundabout to just past the Bearwood post office was approved due to the volume of traffic along Magna Road.

Lower Gravel Hill

The group also approved an extension of the 40 mph speed limit from the roundabout at Darby’s Corner to just past the roundabout at the crematorium, due to the volume and speed of traffic along the lower Gravel Hill.

Please therefore be aware that new signs will appear on these roads in the very near future.

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS – Working for Bearwood all year round

davidbrown — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 23:43:16 +0000

Since Cllr David Brown, Cllr Daphne Long and Cllr Peter Maiden were elected in the May local elections, the local Lib Dem team have been listening to residents and working to ensure that Bearwood is no longer forgotten and gets a fair share of services from the Council and other bodies. In recent months we are pleased to have reported numerous improvements to make life in Bearwood better for all residents.

NEW Police Community Support Officers start work and deliver a much higher uniform presence
NEW Mobile Library Van arrives with more books and more stops in Bearwood
NEW Bridge Youth Centre opens offering better activities and clubs for young people
NEW Children’s Centre services start at Bearwood School and soon at Bearwood Community Centre
Refurbishment of Bearwood Community Centre continues with many more groups now running
Better play facilities soon to be delivered after Poole Council agrees funding for improvements

PLAY AREA TO GET LONG AWAITED INVESTMENT

davidbrown — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:00:47 +0000

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.

CHILDREN’S CENTRE SERVICES START IN BEARWOOD

davidbrown — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 22:00:05 +0000

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”.