Stoke Gifford Journal

1st Little Stoke Scouts are celebrating their 60th anniversary this year and invited local MP Jack Lopresti to help them celebrate.

Mr Lopresti’s visit took place during a week in which Scouts across the country are undertaking voluntary work in their local area.

The well-known ‘Bob-a-Job Week’ of old was re-launched as ‘Scout Community Week’ this year after a seventeen year break and Scouts in Filton and Bradley Stoke will be taking part.

Scout Community Week (14th – 20th May) will see Scouts from across the UK taking part in an array of tasks and projects to make a positive impact on the lives of local people. The Scout Association wants your help in bringing these benefits to our community.

Mr Lopresti said:

“Scout Community Week is taking place this week across the UK and I am proud to support it, particularly as scout groups in the Filton and Bradley Stoke area are heavily involved. Organisations such as the Scouts play an important role in our communities and do wonderful work with so many young people. I was lucky enough to visit the Avon Scouts Annual General Meeting last year and saw firsthand the positive impact Scouts have on our local area.”

“On Tuesday evening, I visited the 1st Little Stoke Scouts to help them celebrate their 60th anniversary. I was lucky enough to be made an honorary Scout and I will be upholding the Scouts Code! Anyone can get involved in the Scout Community Week and I encourage anyone so minded to have a look on the Scouts website.”

Source: Press release from the office of Jack Loprest MP

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Police have issued an appeal for help to trace a missing teenager from South Gloucestershire.

Lauren Walker, aged 15, from Stoke Gifford, was last seen at 10:30am yesterday morning (Sunday 13th  May). She later contacted relatives to say she was in St Pauls in Bristol.

Lauren is described as a white teenager, about 5ft 6ins tall of medium build with short distinctive coloured purple hair. She has a slight scar under her right eye and has a tattoo with the name Grandad on her right wrist.

When she went missing, Lauren was wearing a black jacket over a blue coloured top. She was wearing black leggings with the image of the face of a tiger on one of the legs.

Police believe that Lauren could still be in Bristol or may have travelled further afield to South Wales or possibly Berkshire.

They are keen to contact Lauren and have appealed to anyone spotting her, or for Lauren herself, to contact them to confirm she is safe and well.

Anyone able to help is asked to contact South Gloucestershire CID on the force number 101.

A photograph of Lauren can be viewed here on the Avon and Somerset Police website.

UPDATE (Wednesday 16th May 2012):

Police say they are now also looking for information about a man the missing teenager  may be with.

Officers believe she is with Jason Stephens, aged 28 [photo].

Jason is described as a white man, of a slim build, around 5ft 8inches tall with dark short hair.

He is asked to come forward and advise police of his and Lauren’s whereabouts as there are concerns for both of them.

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Traffic congestion and on-street parking in residential areas remain top of the list of concerns following a meeting of Councillors today at the site of the proposed new Bristol Rovers stadium in Stoke Gifford [map].

Local residents in the adjoining Cheswick Village housing development have said they fear that traffic entering and leaving the stadium on match days will cause gridlock on the nearby Abbey Wood Roundabout and Avon Ring Road, blocking access to their estate.

They also predict that what they see as “inadequate” parking provision within the stadium site will lead to fans parking on residential roads and blocking drives.

A Transport Engineer from South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) told the meeting that the applicants (Bristol Rovers and UWE) have submitted a Transport Assessment that examines the impact of match day and week day usage of the stadium and its ancillary facilities. Council officers have examined the traffic analysis contained in the document and have asked for more information on certain points, he added.

The meeting was told that already-implemented and planned improvements to cycling and walking routes in the area together with new public transport infrastructure, such as the Cheswick Bus Link (currently under construction) and the planned Romney Avenue Bus Link would “also work well for the stadium”.

More: Stadium owners will contribute to cost of traffic wardens »

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The Concord Medical Practice in Braydon Avenue, Little Stoke, has submitted a planning application for an extension that will see its floorspace more than double in size.

Management at the 12,300 patient GP practice have been exploring options for expansion for a number of years and an initial planning application was submitted in December 2008, only to be later withdrawn after officials at South Gloucestershire Council deemed it unacceptable on the grounds of “massing and architectural style”.

The scheme proposed in the original application incorporated four residential apartments, a number reduced to two when the application was resubmitted in March 2009. That scheme was approved by SGC in May 2009 but has never been implemented and its three year validity will expire next week.

The latest proposals, which don’t include any residential apartments, would see the gross internal floorspace of the GP practice increased from 533sqm to 1519sqm, while the tenanted pharmacy would increase in size from 67sqm to 104sqm.

The bulk of the new floorspace will be in an L-shaped three-story extension to the north-west of the existing building, consuming a staff car and landscaped areas.

The existing car park at the front of the building will be enlarged to increase the total number of spaces available from 22 to 31.

More: Concerns over on-street parking and traffic calming »

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