The new University term is well underway and I recently wrote to all student residents to extend a warm welcome to the area and explain the range of services delivered by the council.
During the summer, the annual Student Moving Out campaign encouraged students to drop off their good quality, preloved items at British Heart Foundation donation points across the city. The annual Student Move In Campaign, led by the Student Community Partnership (SCP), sees officers from our waste team and the Clean & Green Project joining SCP and student volunteers, knocking on doors to give advice to students. My thanks to everyone involved.
Keeping with the “Clean and Green” theme, Bath has secured a prestigious Southwest in Bloom gold award in the small city category and has been awarded the Southwest in Bloom Tourism Trophy Cup as part of the accolade. My congratulations also to Radstock in Bloom, who won gold in the “Champion of Champions” class, as well as a rash of ‘outstanding’ awards in the It’s Your Neighbourhood section, and to Westfield in Bloom, with their first-time entry in the Ayre Cup section.
My congratulations also to Keynsham for its special awards. Volunteers alongside our parks teams, town councils and the Bath BID put in such a lot of hard work to make our towns and city bloom.
As you know, one of our key priorities is securing “the right homes in the right places”.
This year the first general needs homes owned directly by the council were prioritised for NHS staff working in the electoral ward of Newbridge. The seven apartments at Newbridge Hill are the start of a pipeline of nearly 200 properties which will be delivered through the council’s ‘B&NES Homes’ programme with an initial £12m provided to develop another 50 council houses for rent.
Bath City Council was in fact an early adopter of powers to build council homes and Bath Record Office has now made available- thanks to funding from the Wellcome Trust- fascinating records relating to slum clearance, council housing and renovation of ‘unfit’ properties in the city between 1890 and 1995.
These include plans and photographs relating to the redevelopment of the Snow Hill area and the rebuilding at Lampards Buildings and Dolemeads. Records also show the development of council housing in the city in the twentieth century, temporary housing after1945 and demolition and clearance of bomb-damaged sites. More information can be found at https://www.batharchives.co.uk/imagine-hundred-years-homes-bath-funded-wellcome-trust
You can contact the project team at Bath Record Office – email [email protected] or by calling 01225 477421. You can also book an appointment to visit and consult the collection.
Finally, I must refer to the current terrible and heart-breaking events in Israel and Gaza.
My first reaction, and I am sure this is shared by many residents, is to try and do what we can to help in what the British Red Cross describe as a “devastating humanitarian crisis.”
They have launched an emergency appeal and I would urge people to give to it, if they can- the details can be found on the British Red Cross website.