With Radio Bristol, Somerset and Breeze Fm 22/09/11
on economic corridor, Sustainability, transport
Interview Notes – Economic Corridor/ Bath Riverside
- We want to connect Bath, Keynsham, and Bristol together to progress economic regeneration for the benefit of local people;
- Bath is internationally recognised as a centre of academic excellent and a world leader in a range of sectors, including digital and creative industries, as well as science and technological innovation;
- The Council wants to build upon this strong foundation to create a destination at the Bath City Riverside Enterprise Area where this type of business can locate and expand creating up to 2,000 jobs for local people;
- To do this, we need to establish the right environment for business to start here, through improving infrastructure – like access to broadband and better transport, increasing the supply of homes and modern office space, and providing a strong voice into Government to attract further investment.
- The starting point is Bath Riverside where the first homes are starting to go on the market over the weekend. There will be eventually 2,000 on the site – many of these will be affordable homes, both for rent and shared ownership;
- This will help address the city’s housing shortage and tackle the problem we have of our children and University graduates who are educated here having to move away to find home and work;
- With the developments the Council, private sector, and public sector are bring forward, Bath’s business credentials are on the up and the main beneficiaries will be local people.
Sustainability Network
- The Council has launched a new, free online forum to connect people across the area to take lead in cutting their carbon footprint and reduce household costs on energy bills;
- More than 100 people have already joined the forum and are already discussing environmental news, events, ideas, and projects;
- In moments, you can find out about the latest money saving green ideas, activities happening locally, and local information about climate change;
£500,000 extra in public transport
- Through the planning process for the Sainsbury’s store at Odd Down, the Council secured £500,000 of funding from Sainsbury’s to improve Bath’s public transport that otherwise would not be taking place;
- He 146,000 bus passengers who use the 20A/C service will notice an improvement with three new low, floor buses serving the route and more frequent services for the next three years at least;
- Despite the Council having limited powers to control the commercial bus sector, we are always looking for opportunities to boost the appeal to local people of sustainable methods of transport, like using the planning system to support infrastructure improvements when needed.