Services
There are a number of services in Bradley Stoke; retail services are a large part of these. Only 60% of the planned range of small shops has actually been built, at present there are no plans to build any more. There is a Tescos superstore already open and a Kwiksave store currently under construction. Planning permission has been given for a District Centre for Bradley Stoke but as yet none of the planned shops are under construction. A student’s survey of Bradley Stoke’s shopping facilities shows that 60% feel that the facilities are poor, 30% average, 10% good and no one feels that the shopping facilities are excellent.
There were plans for a large sports complex including a cinema but the complex was abandoned due to lack of funds. There is however a new leisure complex being built but it does not include a swimming pool or cinema. The plans to build football fields, playing fields and tennis courts have been carried out as well as a cricket pavilion and Bowling Green. No more plans have been made for outdoor facilities and leisure areas. Bradley Stoke has its own community building along with a number of pubs, restaurants and fast food take away facilities.
The same student survey shows that for sports facilities 70% think that they are poor, 20% think that it is average, 10% good and no one feels that the facilities are excellent. Residences commented that “the tennis courts were always full” and that “they had to go into Bristol for a swim”. The survey for Leisure facilities showed that 70% think that the facilities are poor, 30% think that the facilities are average and no one thinks that the facilities are excellent or even good. Although there are more plans to build leisure facilities to cater for adults, children and teenagers, such resident’s comments as “there aren’t many community facilities and there’s no community spirit”, “there’s nothing for young people to do” and “there’s no entertainment facilities” show that the facilities in Bradley Stoke are very limited.
There is an extensive road network in Bradley Stoke with more plans to build new roads to service new housing areas. Regular bus services run through the area, which have been more regular since public request but it is found that the bus routs are long due to the nature of the road set-up in Bradley Stoke. There are plans to introduce more bus services for the area. The student survey shows that 20% think that the bus services are poor, 40% think that it is average and no one thinks that is excellent, whilst the views on the road network are that 10% think that the road network is poor, 20% think that it is average, 70% think that it is good but no one thinks that the network is excellent. Resident’s views on the motorway network at Bradley Stoke vary with some residents feeling that “It’s very handy for the motorway” and others feeling that “The noise from the motorway is terrible”.
The majority of the planned cycle paths and pathways have been completed and the remainder are to be completed in the future. Residents appear to be happy with these facilities and have been quoted as saying “It’s nice to be able to walk or cycle through all open spaces”. The students’ views on these facilities show that they too are happy with 10% feeling that the feelings are poor, 20% feel they are average, 70% good but no one sees these facilities as excellent.
Although Savage Wood has been completed there are further plans to extend it. Webb’s wood, Sherbourne’s Brake and Wood New Wood have also been completed and although a lake has been created at Bradley Brook with future plans to landscape the area by Bradley Stoke way many people would like to see more trees and open spaces. Resident’s on the whole are happy with the landscape though with people being quoted as saying “we are very near to lovely countryside”.
The biggest complaint that the residents of Bradley Stoke have is the lack of suitable schools in the area. Whilst there are plans to build more primary schools and possibly a secondary school, at present the number of schools is completely inadequate and the original plans for 6 primary schools and 1 comprehensive school has been reduced considerably. Residents’ views on the subject range from “our Children have to travel miles to the nearest secondary school” to “There is only one primary school”.
Plans into practice.
There were many plans for Bradley Stoke that were not followed through or are still waiting to be undertaken like more schools, housing, shops and leisure facilities. Some of the plans have been changed drastically from the originals. Originally people who were attracted to Bradley Stoke bought their houses when house prices were relatively high and were still rising. This was OK whilst house prices still rose, as people were happy to have a profit in their homes. When house prices started to fall people began to realise that they actually owed more money to the banks etc than their houses were worth, this left many people in the situation were they were completely unable to sell their homes as they would not raise enough to pay off the loans they had taken out to buy their homes in the first place. As people had less money to spend in the shops and restaurants, businesses began to close as profits dropped and owners could no longer afford to keep them open. Crime in Bradley Stoke began to rise 1 resident told us that there were lots of ram raiders and burglars. It had been the intention to attract groups of people from all age ranges to live in Bradley Stoke but the population is predominantly between the ages of 25 – 34 and 0 – 4 years. This predominance was not catered for in the original plans and is possibly why the facilities such as leisure and schools are so limited.
Whatever the future plans for Bradley Stoke are, many residents are very unhappy now. An article in the Evening Post entitled “Nothing for the young in scrawling town” airs the views of those unhappy residents. Complaints about the lack of things to do for the children of Bradley Stoke are common. Children themselves were asked to comment on the facilities available to them, the children point out that there are no facilities for them. Some children describe how they are treated like outsiders when they travel to youth clubs simply because these clubs are outside their own area. Others tell of how the only out door play equipment available is in a pub garden, which they are not strictly supposed to use. Children feel that if they had more schools in Bradley Stoke that they would be able to use its facilities such as the playing fields. The children describe how they have to play football in a pub car park. I feel that the planners got it very wrong when they designed the lay out of Bradley Stoke; they completely under estimated the number of young families that would be attracted to the area. Although the setting is lovely, and this is possibly the reason why so many young couples moved there in the first place, this obviously does nothing to help the families who are finding it difficult to afford their houses and have no hope of moving out of them and who’s children have no facilities to keep them occupied.
My questions about Bradley Stoke.
My initial questions were: -
- Where on earth is Bradley Stoke?
- Do they have any Internet cafes?
- Does it have any good shops?
- Is it all it’s cracked up to be?
Conclusion
I now know exactly were Bradley Stoke and how too get there, not that I would want to because it sounds more remote than I am used to and from what I have read its not a very exciting place to live. I also know that they have hardly any facilities so Internet cafes are out of the question. Instead of asking if they have good shops I should ask if they have any at all. Is Bradley Stoke Heven or hell? I think it is hell because Bradley Stoke is supposed to have lots of facilities for families but in fact it has very few. Instead of it being a quite picturesque place to live it is a noisy town sandwiched between 2 busy motorways.
