Community

NS Council – Your say on the green and open spaces in Uphill

How should we protect our natural environment?

The Uphill Society would like to gather the villagers views on North Somerset’s plan for the parks, beaches, green spaces, wildlife, countryside, public rights of way and waterways. Many of which we are lucky to have in the village.

We would welcome your feed back to secretary@uphillvillagesociety.co.uk to help us gauge the overall view.

Residents and community groups are being asked for their views on North Somerset Council’s plans to protect and enhance the area’s natural environment over the next 10 years.

The council is developing a new green infrastructure strategy to help guide future decisions about the management of local green and aquatic spaces.
At its meeting yesterday (Thursday 11 February) the council’s Executive approved the draft strategy for public consultation. This consultation will start on Monday (15 February) and run for eight weeks until Friday 9 April, after which the strategy will be finalised.

The draft strategy has eight key objectives and includes an action plan with 57 short, medium and long-term actions to help deliver those objectives. This action plan will be regularly reviewed and updated.

The strategy will make a vital contribution to the council’s vision for an “open, fairer, greener North Somerset”. It will be crucial in tackling the climate and nature emergency, playing an important role in achieving the council’s target for the area to be carbon neutral by 2030. It will improve biodiversity across the area and will help create a healthier and more attractive place for residents, with better access to nature and high-quality open spaces.

“The North Somerset landscape with its parks, beaches, green spaces, wildlife, countryside, public rights of way and waterways is precious,” said Cllr Bridget Petty, the council’s executive member for environment and climate emergency.
“Since the Covid-19 crisis our appreciation of our natural environment has never been greater, but the climate and nature emergency has shown just how fragile our environment is and how careful management is needed to enable it to flourish.
“It is now more important than ever to protect and manage our open spaces to maximise the huge benefits they provide to our quality of life. This will need more co- operation and collaboration. That is why we have prepared this new green infrastructure strategy.
“We want this work to contribute to improving habitats for wildlife, enhance biodiversity and to support improved health and wellbeing for our residents.
“We want to understand whether the ambition of the strategy, its content, aims and objectives are right and, if not, what we might be missing. So please get involved in the consultation and give us your feedback.”
Anyone wanting to have their say on the strategy’s development should visit www.n-somerset.gov.uk/greeninfrastructurestrategy where there is more information including links to the draft strategy and the consultation questionnaire.

25 February 2021 Comments (0)

Weston Re-wilding

Weston Re-wilding Project
As we are now in another period of lock down we are sadly unable to restart volunteering as we would have liked/planned.  We are continuing to plant the trees with our contractors and staff, the trees from the woodland trust for the next round of planting has started to arrive.
We are really sad about this development as we were really looking forward to inviting you out with us.
Our goal now is to focus on the spring sessions, where we will be looking at the ongoing maintenance of the trees.  As explained previously the style of planting we are using, planting whips, does mean that maintenance requirements are low.  However, we will need to ensure that the trees have been mulched, weeds from around the base have been removed and  canes/spirals are still in place.  All of these things help the young trees to establish in their first few years.  We will also need to monitor the success rate to see if sites may require more planting or even thinning in the future.
In the Spring we will be looking for volunteers that may like to help us to monitor the biodiversity changes related to rewilding. So if you have an interest in botany and happy to share your experience or expertise please let us know.
Obviously all these volunteer activities are very dependent on how the current health situation develops over the coming months.  We very much hope that we are able to do this, but at this time we are unable to provide any further information, sadly, as to possible dates/work plans etc.
Kind regards

North Somerset Council Natural Environment team

 

22 January 2021 Comments (0)

Uphill Parking

As well as the off-street car parks and on-street pay and display parking, NSC  are also responsible for enforcing

  • double and single yellow lines
  • blue badge bays
  • limited waiting bays
  • taxi ranks
  • loading bays
  • parking in bus lanes and stops
  • zig-zag markings at schools (if restrictions apply) and pedestrian crossings
  • parking across dropped kerbs where there’s a crossing point, with or without tactile paving
  • double parking (parking too far from the kerb)

You can report illegal parking to the council online. It will use your report to plan future patrols.

The police will continue to be responsible for dealing with:
  • dangerously parked vehicles including where there are no parking restrictions in place such as on bends, brows of hills and junctions
  • obstruction offences – for example pavement with no parking restrictions
  • moving traffic offences including double white lines, one-way traffic, white hatched areas and box junctions

You can report these issues to the police by calling 101.

Parking across dropped kerbs where there’s a crossing point and tactile paving, double parking or parking too far from the kerb and parking on zig-zag markings at pedestrian crossings can be enforced by both us and the police.

A homeowner has no special legal right to park directly outside their property. All road users have the same right to park anywhere on the public highway as long as they do not contravene parking restrictions

Keep clear markings

These are white H shaped advisory markings that are painted in front of a driveway to draw attention to a dropped kerb and encourage people not to park across across it.

The marking is only painted across the extent of the dropped kerb, from one taper to the other. If you want the marking to go across a neighbour’s property you need to have written permission from the owner or occupier. This also applies to shared access – all properties will need to agree in writing.

Applying for a keep clear marking

To apply for a marking, contact:

  • your ward councillor if you live in Clevedon, Nailsea, Portishead or Weston-super-Mare
  • your parish council if you live elsewhere in North Somerset

They will review your application and consider whether parked cars are regularly causing an obstruction.

Markings are not normally provided if the councillor or your neighbours refuse the application, or if the location already has double yellow lines.

The councillor or parish council will explain their decision in writing. If they approve your request, you should forward their letter to NSC, with any other supporting information or necessary consents.

When NSC receive your application they will invoice you for £95 and include the marking on the next available lining works order for our contractor. The width of the H bar will be 50mm.

NSC don’t routinely maintain these markings. If you want to have a marking repainted you should apply using the same process so NSC can check that it still meets the criteria for a marking.

 

3 January 2021 Comments (0)

Uphill Traffic

Uphill Traffic

Traffic and parking issues in the village continue to be a cause of concern to local residents as recent comments on social media confirms.

Over the years the Village Society has been pro-active in trying to find a solution to these issues engaging in lengthy correspondence and meetings with council officers, the police, ward councillors and local employers.

Most recently the society has been in correspondence with Westhaven School as to the potential effect of the introduction of their policy to charge staff for parking cars on site. History shows that when this policy was introduced at the hospital there was a considerable increase in on street parking in the village which  continues to be a hazard and nuisance to nearby residents.

A copy of the school’s response is attached- Westhaven

The Village Society would encourage those effected by the increase in on street parking to provide it with any evidence they have to confirm where the vehicle owner works or is visiting. Nearby residents may find benefit in monitoring the issue during the course of a school week to identify numbers and length of stay for vehicles connect with both the school and the Hospice so that further approaches can be made to both establishments to try and find a solution to the problem.

If cars are seen to be parking dangerously this is an offence and should be reported to the police.

Comments and views on possible solutions are welcomed by the village society and should be addressed to secretary@uphillvillage.org.uk.

On the traffic front it is understood that funding has now been identified by the local authority for the introduction of a village wide 20mph speed limit. Accordingly the Society is looking to pursue the discussions and site meetings held with officers earlier this year which agreed an outline scheme requiring minimum physical barriers and signage to support the limits.

Updates on both issues will be included in the village magazine and on the village website and Facebook pages.

11 December 2020 Comments (0)

Neighbourhood Watch and latest alerts

Be a part of the Neighbourhood Watch

Watch schemes are a popular way for people of all ages and backgrounds to get involved in working together in the community.  Watch schemes operate all over the country and can:

Reduce crime and the opportunities for crime

Help and reassure vulnerable residents

Encourage good neighbourliness and closer communities

A watch scheme is a community led initiative that brings people together to address local crime and other community issues.  A successful watch scheme requires close liaison between residents, the local police and other agencies.

A watch scheme can be large covering most households on an estate, or it may involve just a few local residences.

You may already be living in an area with an active scheme, in order to find out please contact your local Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT) who will be able to tell you if there is one.

You can also use the postcode search on the National Neighbourhood and Home Watch website www.ourwatch.org.uk and if there is a group in your area listed you will be able to contact the scheme co-ordinator to find out about joining.

Click on image above to take you to latest Neighbourhood watch alerts

26 July 2020 Comments (0)

Uphill Play Area

In consultation with the Uphill Village Society, Weston Town Council is carrying out repairs and improvements to the village play area.
New fencing has been installed and the play equipment repaired.
Repairs to the soft play surfaces will be carried out in due course and the Village Society has agreed to fund additional seating and litter bins which will be installed shortly along with the restoration of the existing seats around the site.

 

 

19 July 2020 Comments (0)
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