The Co-operative Food store in North Road, Stoke Gifford (located in the former Parkway Tavern premises) is to cease trading on 31st January.

Notices announcing the closure are currently on display at the shop, with an additional message saying: “It’s been lovely serving the Stoke Gifford community”.

The North Road convenience store is one of two Co-op stores in the Bristol area that will close this month, the other being the one on Gloucester Road, Bishopston, which is set to cease trading later this week.

A spokesperson for Southern Co-op said the “difficult decision” to close the Stoke Gifford store had been made “after lengthy consideration due to challenging market conditions and a significant decline in performance over the last few years”.

Southern Co-op will still continue to operate its 13 other retail stores in and around Bristol including the one in Long Down Avenue, Cheswick Village.

Simon Eastwood, Southern Co-op’s chief operating officer for retail, said:

“Colleagues at these stores are part of the local community and have done a lot to support local causes along with our other stores in Bristol. This is just one reason why we don’t take decisions like this lightly and only close a store when we have exhausted all other options.”

“As a food business, we continue to evolve and develop our offering to meet the changing needs of our customers but unfortunately market conditions and competition has had a greater impact on these two stores than others.”

“This does not in any way reflect negatively on the hard work and commitment of our colleagues.”

More: Twelve members of staff may be offered transfers »

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A pair of controversial ‘visibility screens’ installed on the approaches to the Winterbourne Road / Hatchet Road roundabout cost over £22,000 to install, the Journal can reveal.

The purpose of the screens, which are formed of an array of metal sheets, is to obscure the view of motorists approaching the roundabout (along either the Winterbourne Road or Gipsy Patch Lane), thereby discouraging them from making an early decision as to whether to enter the roundabout or not, in the hope that this will reduce the number of collisions (see further explanation below).

However, the counter-intuitive concept of improving road safety by obscuring drivers’ views has been questioned by many Journal readers and local councillors.

The three ward councillors for Stoke Gifford, Ernie Brown, Keith Cranney and Brian Allinson have expressed “strong opposition” to the installation of the screens and have challenged the “process and action taken”, allegedly without their knowledge or consent.

However, a spokesperson for South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) denied that the work had been carried out without due consultation, saying:

“We consult with local members and town or parish councils when highways schemes such as this are proposed. Stoke Gifford Parish Council and local ward members were emailed about this particular scheme on 15th May 2019 and we received no responses.”

In response to a request to provide more details about the justifications for the scheme, the Journal received the following response from SGC:

“The site was highlighted during annual collision concentration site analysis in 2018/19, which prompted further analysis of a longer collision record.”

“In the five years between January 2013 and February 2018, the period initially considered during analysis, there were twelve collisions at the roundabout. Five of these collisions involved a vehicle entering the roundabout from either of the B4057 approaches and colliding with another vehicle on the roundabout. All five of these collisions involved either a cyclist or motorcyclist being hit by a vehicle entering the roundabout.”

More: Success claimed for screens at another location in South Glos »

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A new housing development named after a local historian has been officially opened in Little Stoke.

Housing association Bromford has completed work to its regeneration scheme in Collins Avenue, which has seen ten old properties demolished and replaced with 15 modern, energy-efficient homes. Delivered in partnership with United Living, the project, which began last year, has now been shortlisted for a prestigious Inside Housing development award.

The new road has been named Sharon Ubank Close, after the local historian, who died last year. Sharon was the editor of The Stokes Standard booklets for many years which covered topics on local history, flora and fauna. An active member of Christ the King church in Bradley Stoke, Sharon would visit local schools to take part in assemblies and loved reading stories to the children. She also wrote books about the history of the local area and had finished her final book, ‘Saxonpath’, just before she died in July 2018. It was published online by her family to coincide with the opening of the road.

Many of Sharon’s family and close friends joined staff from Bromford, United Living, South Gloucestershire Council and local residents to celebrate the official opening of the road on Friday 27th September.

Speaking at the opening of the road, her brother, Andy Stafford, said:

“We are so honoured to have the road named after Sharon; it’s quite hard to put into words what this means for us. To see something like having Sharon’s name on a street sign, it’s quite amazing to see her remembered in this way. She did an awful lot for the local community, especially anything to do with the environment.”

“It’s very unusual to have the full name on a street, but it means people can look her up and find out about her. I think she would be pleased to have a road named after her but may have wondered what all the fuss was about.”

More: Sharon’s book ‘Saxonpath’ is available for free download »

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Housebuilder Crest Nicholson has wasted no time in getting started on its new 763-home Brooklands Park development in Harry Stoke, with foundations for the first properties going in just weeks after final planning permission was granted on 19th September.

As previously reported, work on constructing a new east-west link road across the site, already approved under outline permission granted in 2007, started in earnest this July.

Two-way temporary traffic lights have been in operation on Westfield Lane since August to facilitate the tying-in of the new link road and the installation of water, gas and electric feeds for the new development.

The Brooklands Park site extends all the way down to the A4174 Ring Road (near UWE). The current activity is focussed on the northern section where 284 homes are planned.

This will be followed by the central section (206 homes).

The southern section (beyond the right edge of the photo above) will then follow, but only after the two high voltage powerlines which cross this area have been undergrounded.

Photo: Aerial image recorded on 27th October 2019, looking south-east from Westfield Lane (near The Aviva Centre). The existing Highbrook Park development of 163 homes can be seen top left. The new road linking Highbrook Park with Westfield Lane runs diagonally to the bottom right of the image. Also visible to the left of this is a new estate road leading to the location of the first foundations. [Credit: Steve Pitts]

Related links:

• More aerial images by Steve Pitts in hi-res on Google Photos
• Map showing location of Brooklands Park

This article originally appeared in the November/December 2019 issue of the Stoke Gifford Journal magazine (on page 7). The magazine is delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to over 5,000 homes in Stoke Gifford, Little Stoke and Harry Stoke. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.

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