1st March news update
from Weston Central Ward Councillors Mike Bell, Robert Payne and Caroline Reynolds
Hello everyone - welcome to issue 85 of our regular local email newsletter
Lots of good news in this edition with investment in the Tropicana and at Weston Hospital, Weston’s RNLI being honoured for their service to our town and progress on the floral clock.
As always, please don’t hesitate to get in touch any time if we can help with any local issue or answer a question.
Best wishes
Mike Bell, Robert Payne and Caroline Reynolds
Your Liberal Democrat councillors for Weston-super-Mare Central Ward
North Somerset budget
North Somerset Council passed its budget for 2024/25 last month - and it was supported unanimously by councillors of all parties and none.
Councillors agreed a council tax increase of 2.99% to support the council’s general services and a 2% increase as an adult social care precept. This equates to an average band D property paying £1708.50 for 2024/25. The equivalent figure for this year was £1,627.38. The actual bill you receive will be higher as sums for the police, fire authority and town/parish councils are added.
Highlights include:
Investment in highway improvements including repairs to roads and pavements
Supporting affordable housing delivery and more homes for local people
£250 million in funding for local schools, and completing delivery of new school buildings in Locking Parklands, Clevedon and Churchill
Promoting public health and helping deliver new GP practices
Delivering our capital programme including Portishead rail, restoring Birnbeck Pier and investing in the Tropicana
This has been another incredibly tough year to achieve a balanced budget. As well as the inflationary pressures on our costs, we have continued to see growth in demand for services, particularly the statutory social care services for children and adults, and in-year pressures that we have had to act on to mitigate.
Together with a poor local government grant settlement that sees North Somerset robbed of £37 million in government grants compared to the average English council, and it is plain to see that we have the perfect storm of financial vulnerability.
Our partnership administration and our council officials have worked hard to deliver a balanced budget that continues to support core services for our community and deliver long-term investments.
We are doing the right things to plan for the future, but the system of local government finance is broken. We do not have access to the tools we need to do the job, either in the form of powers to generate income or in a fair national funding system to share the nation’s wealth.
We have continued to lobby government and the opposition front benches on the need for reform, proper devolution of powers and long-term change to financing and taxation models. Without that change from future governments, local services will continue a slow death and local government will see further collapse.
Save support for local families
We’ve renewed my call to the government to extend a crucial financial support scheme for struggling households in North Somerset. Click the link to show your support too for my campaign with The Children's Society.
Organisations including The Children’s Society, Trussell Trust, Barnardo’s, the Local Government Association, and other councils across the country are calling on the Government to extend the Household Support Fund, which is due to end on 31 March. The fund enables councils to provide emergency support suited to the needs of their communities, whether that is so families can buy essentials such as food, energy or help with providing white goods or furniture.
Families in North Somerset have received over 41,000 different crisis support payments directly from the Household Support Fund – around £2.6million per annum of vital financial assistance.
The Household Support Fund has been vital in helping thousands of residents as costs rise. The fund has enabled councils like ours to provide financial support suited to the needs of our communities, whether that’s through a cash payment so families can buy the essentials they need, advice to help people access the financial support they are entitled to or through the direct provision of furniture and white goods. We want this vital support to continue.
You can support the campaign here.
Tropicana investment planned
Securing the future of the Tropicana takes its next step at a full council meeting this month when North Somerset Council’s appointment of architecture practice RCKa, and proposals to seek a commercial operator will be discussed.
The Tropicana doesn’t currently cover its operational costs and needs significant repair to be fit for the future. The works and a new operator will help to make the Trop a multi-use entertainment space and help to attract higher profile acts, culture and events to Weston’s seafront.
The building is set to receive £8 million in investment to repair and upgrade facilities, increase capacity and elevate its status as a nationally significant multi-use entertainment space.
This project is part of North Somerset Council’s placemaking vision for the town, made possible thanks to the authority’s successful bid for £20 million from the UK government’s Levelling Up Fund.
The report going before councillors next week sets out the process to find a long-term operator to manage the Tropicana following completion of refurbishment. This follows 14 expressions of interest from local, regional and national operators as a result of a soft market testing exercise that took place between April and September 2023.
It is planned for the Tropicana, which is currently run in-house by the council, to remain open in its current form until early September 2024.
The Tropicana will then close temporarily to allow construction and refurbishment work to take place. Recently completed building surveys highlighted priority areas including roofing, heating, lighting, ventilation systems, wall and flooring repairs, drainage, and upgrading toilet facilities.
Work is currently scheduled to finish by August 2025, so depending on what councillors decide next week, a new operator could be appointed to then start fit out and reopen the Tropicana shortly afterwards.
Floral clock progress
Great to see the brilliant progress getting the floral clock ready for planting! Next steps are to come up with a planting design and a plan for long term maintenance.
Well done to the council teams involved, our contractors Glendale and my colleague Mike Solomon for the hard work to make progress.
It’s important to remember that without the past support of the Lions Club and many volunteers there would be no floral clock. We’re sure that with continued support and working together we can make sure it has a bright future.
RNLI Freedom Parade
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) Weston-super-Mare will parade along Weston Sea Front on Sunday 10th of March 2024 at 4:30pm. This event is a celebration of the Honorary Freedom of the Town recently granted to the RNLI Weston-super-Mare, coinciding with the RNLI’s 200th-anniversary celebrations.
The motion to grant Honorary Freedom of the Town was passed at the Full Town Council Meeting on November 20th, 2023, acknowledging the exceptional contribution made by generations of local crews to saving life in the Bristol Channel.
Led by the Sea Cadet Band, the parade will depart from the lifeboat station on Knightstone Plaza and proceed along the seafront to the Grand Pier where Rear Admiral Ian Moncrieff, Deputy Lieutenant of Somerset, Robert Drewett, High Sheriff of Somerset, Councillor Ciaran Cronnelly, Mayor and Councillor John Crockford-Hawley, Deputy Mayor will take the salute by the pier entrance. All welcome.
Hospital improvements continue
Everyone knows somebody who has reason to be thankful to Weston General Hospital and its brilliant staff. It was good to hear about the progress and successes of some of the work at the hospital through the Healthy Weston programme including:
The same day emergency care service which is helping people to be rapidly assessed, diagnosed, and treated, without being admitted to a ward. This has been so successful that further expansion of this service is planned following an announcement of nearly £5 million in funding from NHS England.
The impact of improvements to the Geriatric Emergency Medicine service and Older People’s Assessment Unit, which together have helped to minimise hospital stays for older people – getting them the right care and back home as quickly as possible.
Further investment in hospital discharge arrangements, working with NHS, council social care and community services to make sure that people ready to go home can do so quickly and with the right support in place.
A new Community Diagnostic Centre is being set up at the For All Healthy Living Centre and is on track to open in April. This will improve access to scanning and diagnostic capacity locally to speed up treatment and reduce waiting times.
Our NHS services are under almost constant pressure with growing demand for services. There is a lot more to do to improve healthcare for local people, including ensuring that GP and dental services are available to support people with early intervention, diagnosis and ongoing care needs.
Join Weston-super-Mare Youth Council
The Youth Council are looking for motivated, energetic, passionate young people who would contribute to and benefit from being a part of the Youth Council.
Weston-super-Mare Youth Council enables young people aged 11-21 who either live or attend school in Weston-super-Mare to have a voice and represent their peers' views on subjects that matter to young people. Youth Councillors are encouraged to use their energy to affect change in a way that they believe in and build their confidence and capability as a group and as individuals.
Weston-super-Mare Youth Council is managed by YMCA Dulverton Group from YMCA Weston-super-Mare and is supported by the Town Council. The Youth Council was established by the Town Council in 2000 and has had some high-profile successes.
If you would like any further information on becoming a member of the Youth Council, please contact: Alli.Waller@ymca-dg.org
Get in touch
Contact Councillor Mike Bell on 07881 320 279 or email mike.bell@n-somerset.gov.uk or follow him on Facebook or Twitter. Mike serves on North Somerset Council and Weston Town Council.
Contact Councillor Robert Payne on 07904 026 096 or email robert.payne@n-somerset.gov.uk or follow him on Facebook or Twitter. Robert serves on North Somerset Council and Weston Town Council.
Contact Councillor Caroline Reynolds by emailing caroline.reynolds@wsm-tc.gov.uk. Caroline serves on Weston Town Council.