121 Bus - good news.

The 121 bus is not being cut after all, thanks to all those bus users, and the Parish Council, who responded to the consultation in the Summer. The timetable will be the same as at present but the new contract operating from 1st April for 3 years will be with Bakers Dolphin instead of Wessex Connect.

Bakers are getting new buses similar to those used by Wessex Connect. North Somerset Council is still cutting 40% of its funding to subsidised bus routes, with reductions to some evening and Sunday services in and around Weston-super-Mare and also Blagdon, Clevedon, Nailsea and Portishead. Further details are at <http://www.nsomerset.gov.uk/Your+Council/Committees+meetings+and+decisions/Decisions/decisionsem201201.htm>.

One paragraph from the consultation report states, "There was a high level of feedback in support for services in the rural areas of the district, particularly areas where there are no alternative services available. This has demonstrated a high level of support for the 121 service, particularly from villages between Wrington and Bristol where no other services are available. Other services that
had a high level of support included the 83 and 85 services in Weston-super-Mare and the 660 and 692 country services. "

Waste Collections

North Somerset's waste management is contacting all residents who have assisted collections to see whether they are still necessary. Residents who have assisted collections have their waste and recycling collected from their door instead of the pavement, and they qualify if there is no one living at the property capable of moving recycling, garden or rubbish containers to their normal collection point.

The requests for assisted collections increased when the new contract came in, probably because large wheelie bins are more difficult to handle than plastic bags. If you have an assisted collection it is important to reply to the letter from NSC, as they will stop the assisted collections in March if you ignore the letter. There is a middle way - if you could manage on your own with a small wheelie bin or a plastic sack instead of the large wheelie bin, then reply to say if you would prefer that. NSC is trying to save money
in these difficult times, but if you really need an assisted collection then you will still have it. Please contact me if you have any problems.

Clinical collections for incontinence waste

I was recently made aware of problems with incontinence waste, now that rubbish collections are fortnightly instead of weekly. NSC's Waste Management team accepts that it is now not acceptable to dispose of large amounts of adult incontinence waste with the fortnightly rubbish and will arrange for weekly clinical waste collections in special purpose yellow sacks. Anyone who needs
such a clinical collection should fax a request on headed paper from your doctor or other health professional. The fax number is 01934 426422