Stoke Lodge is split from Patchway to form new civil parish

Should Stoke Lodge split from Patchway?

A new civil parish has been created in north Bristol after the Stoke Lodge area was separated from Patchway following a campaign by local councillors.

The parish of Stoke Lodge and The Common, with an electorate of around 1,700, was officially created on 1st April 2015.

Until the elections in May, when councillors will be elected for the first time, the new parish council will operate in a skeleton form, with South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) acting in a caretaking role.

The development comes four years after Andy Alsop, who at the time represented the Stoke Lodge ward on Patchway Town Council, presented a 500-signature petition to a meeting of SGC’s Full Council, calling for a new parish to be formed.

Cllr Alsop’s petition stated: “We believe that continuing as part of Patchway Town Council is not appropriate for us. We are distinct from the area on the west side of the A38 and wish to run our own affairs.” It also claimed that Stoke Lodge contributed 30% of Patchway Town Council’s “rates”, but had only 20% of the seats on its council.

Receipt of the petition triggered a Community Governance Review, which in turn led to the residents of Stoke Lodge being consulted about whether they wished to form a new parish, join with a neighbouring town/parish (Bradley Stoke or Stoke Gifford) or maintain the status quo.

A total of 894 consultation leaflets were issued to Stoke Lodge households and 720 were returned and verified – an 80% response rate. And of the verified responses, more than 80% indicated a wish to have a new parish council created.

Final sign-off for the creation of a new parish was given by SGC’s Full Council in May 2013.

SGC has appointed Natalie Carr as the interim parish clerk. She can be contacted on 01454 868198. Information about forthcoming council meetings will be posted on noticeboards.

More information and related links:

This article originally appeared in the April 2015 edition of the Bradley Stoke Journal news magazine, delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to 9,500 homes in Bradley Stoke, Little Stoke and Stoke Lodge. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.

9 comments

  1. Whilst I wish the residents of Stoke Lodge all the best for the future in their New Parish, I do feel they voted for the creation of this New Parish after being given incorrect information, the Petition Councillors Alsop. Hopkinson and Pomfret championed stated that and I quote

    “Our area currently provides 30% of the precept for the whole of Patchway but due to higher bandings than Patchway west is from just 20% of the properties, Many of our residents are retired but forced to subsidise a different area not fair”

    It when on to state

    “It is important to us that we pay tax with representation rather than have it snatched away and have under representation, which we currently have due to our current inclusion in Patchway, paying 30% of the rates with just 3 Cllrs representing us the other 12 representing a completely different place”

    SGC as the lead authority have a duty to ensure any split is made with all the facts and figures available, this they have done and the result is far from the figures given in the petition,
    they are
    Patchway paid 79.22% of the precept
    Stoke Lodge paid 20.78% of the precept

    As you can see from the figures the split was almost 80/20, this is reflected in both the spend of precept and the representation on the Town Council, who have in the last 4 years paid grants to organizations in Patchway and Stoke Lodge of over £100,000 per annum.
    Stoke Lodge councillors asked SGC to pass onto Patchway Town Council that Stoke Lodge will not be a “Rich Parish” and will not be making grants in the same fashion as Patchway.

    The amount of precept collected in Stoke Lodge was overestimated by £50,000

    Stoke Lodge paid 20%, had 20% representation and had over 20% spent in the area.

    I wish stoke lodge residents all the best and hope they remember who gave them the incorrect figures on May 7th

  2. Until the election on 7th May the district councillors are running the parish Council, that would be Councillor Brian Hopkinson and Councillor Sarah Pomfret

  3. Personally I think it’s a stupid idea and I’m at a loss as to how “The Common” (AKA Patchway Common because that’s what it’s actually called) is no longer in Patchway.

    A farce.

  4. SGC have named the new Parish at the request of the residents, so the name Patchway has been dropped.

    Patchway Town council office have already been contacted by residents complaining the Dog poo bins and rubbish bins are overflowing and need emptying. They have been informed it is no longer anything to do with Patchway and have been told who to contact.

  5. I’m a Patchway resident and from what I am reading stoke lodge residents pay 20% get 20% of the services and have 20% councillor representation ,,,,, seems fair to me.

    What is good news is that “Patchway” Town councillors and employees can now concentrate on Patchway and I hope the Rodway road area will receive some attention and TLC. It has the Patchway hub, community centre, Casson centre and the town council offices, it’s the main centre for the local community and for those that travel in to Patchway to use these facilities,,, yet,,, the area is one of the most run down and poorly maintained areas in Patchway, not good advert for those that visit. Let’s hope that some of the £600,000 budget that the town council has can be used improve and maintain this central area of Patchway

  6. I moved to patchway 43years ago. At that time there was a good range of shops 2 Butchers, Hardware Shop, Bakers, Greengrocer, Grocers. The Parade also had a good range of shops. Both areas now look very rundown, paper,cans,bottles just thrown on the floor even though Waste Bins are within reach.

    I agree both areas would benifit from some TLC. I would love to be able to buy fresh food stuffs without having to visit Supermarkets. Not just Takeaways.

    I would also like to know when the Road Calming measures will be started along Coniston Road. SGC has had money from Bovis. Or install a lovely Yellow Camera maybe this would slow down the Idiots without the need for Bumps in the Road.

  7. Well said Rodders. I live on the Gloucester Road (Should I consider myself separate from Patchway too?!?) – I go to Rodway Road quite a lot and I think along with The Parade they are the two areas of Patchway that most desperately need some investment.

  8. I cant take all this seriously Patchway Common will always be just that Patchway Common it was the place that Patchway was first known for,
    is this new Parish going to be taking on some of Patchways debts also other wise that wont be fare if they didn’t

  9. It would be easy to end all the traffic calming/rat run issues in patchway Diane

    Close the last bit of highwood road between the traffic lights at the end of Coniston road and the standing stone roundabout all your speeding rat run issues over in one go.

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