Problems with noisy youths at Bailey’s Court resumed on Friday, according to a resident writing on The Bradley Stoke Examiner’s forum.

According to the correspondent about 40 people congregated in the car park next to the activity centre and were “making loads of noise, shouting, wheel spinning, screaming.. at gone 10pm”.

Our contributor says the problem with noise is “causing no end of stress”.

Bailey’s Court has been the flashpoint for fights involving up to 100 people in the past year, and has been one of the causes of the recent police dispersal zone in the town.

Tesco DID go back on its promise to involve the community in the new name for the town centre, The Bradley Stoke Examiner can reveal.

The supermarket giant has named the new town centre The Brooks Centre without any consultation - a move which has angered Bradley Stoke Town Council.

In a press release issued by Tesco, which was issued on 30 November, 2007, and seen by the Examiner, a spokesman for the firm, Felix Gummer, is quoted as saying: “We now have to find a new name for the town centre and will be launching a competition to find that name in association with the town council early in the new year.”

The town council has criticised Tesco saying the new name was too similar to that of the Brook Way Activity Centre and said the proposed signage was too much like South Gloucestershire Council’s logo.

Speaking on BBC Radio Bristol this morning, Tesco spokesman Dan Bramwell said the idea of a competition to name the site was discussed but “never promised”.

“It was suggested but it was never promised at at planning meeting. A piece appeared in the local paper the following morning and the town council and myself sent a letter to the paper correcting them saying there were no promises.”

Mr Bramwell also suggested on-air that a competition to name the centre would “delay building”.

The new town centre should not be called The Brooks Centre, the town council has told supermarket giant Tesco.

The new name was revealed several weeks ago after slipping out in promotional material aimed at shops looking to open in the centre.

The objection came to light following a meeting on Wednesday where councillors said the name had been picked “without any consultation with local residents or the town council”.

Councillors also pointed out the proposed logo was too similar to that of South Gloucestershire Council and that there were too many similarities in the new name to to the Brook Way Activity Centre.

Tesco had been due to hold a competition to name the centre but a spokesman told the Examiner several weeks ago that “time had overtaken them” so they settled on the Brooks Centre.

Councillor John Ashe said: “I am extremely disappointed to hear that Tesco have chosen a name without consultation with the Bradley Stoke public, particularly in light of their promise to hold a competition for local children to gather ideas for a name.”

The new town centre is due to fully open in 2009 with around 15 retail units alongside a rebuilt Tesco which is due to open this Autumn.

The row between Northavon Bowls Club and Bradley Stoke Town Council has featured in the national press on Wednesday - here’s a round-up of some of the articles.

The story has also attracted interest from overseas media outlets with this website getting calls from establishments such as American news channel CNN!

Police have been accused of heavy-handedness after sending in seven officers to deal with a group of pensioners who broke in to their own bowling green.

Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 23 April

PENSIONERS who were enjoying a quiet game of bowls were evicted by seven police officers.

Daily Express, Wednesday 23 April

As pitch invasions go, it was pretty sedate.

But when police were called to deal with pensioners on a bowling green without permission, they left nothing to chance.

Daily Mail, Wednesday 23 April

… an official complaint was to be lodged about the “heavy handed” police presence.

BBC News, Wednesday 23 April

Fifty pensioners were raided by police during a relaxing Sunday morning game of bowls.

Daily Mirror, Wednesday 23 April

We are delighted to announce that The Bradley Stoke Examiner has been nominated for Website of the Year in the prestigious EDF Energy South West Media Awards.

Previous winners of this catagory have included thisiswiltshire.co.uk and thisisexeter.co.uk from The Express and Echo newspaper.

The winner is due to be announced at an awards ceremony at the Steam railway museum, Swindon, in June.

The Bradley Stoke Examiner is the town’s number one news website and with more than 3,000 unique users coming to the site each month.

Editor Chris Kelly said: “We are over the moon to be nominated - for a site that is only two years old to feature in these awards is a real honour.”

Update: For this interested a full list of nominated websites can be found here.

Lobbying for a new sixth form and a dental surgery in the town are included in Bradley Stoke Town Council’s Strategic Performance Plan for the next three years.

The authority has launched a consultation on its blueprint for the town until 2010 and now wants your views.

Among the objectives are plans to act as a “local democratic voice representing everyone in Bradley Stoke” and ensuring “high quality, cost effective facilities” are “provided for all ages of the community”.

Another action point is to take action on anti-social behavior in Bradley Stoke, a problem which has seen a recent police dispersal order put in place.

Also in the plan, the council says it wants to lobby for action on traffic congestion and add floral displays on roundabouts.

You can read the full document here - we would be interested to hear what you make of their ideas, good or bad. Hit the comments and let us know.

Bradley Stoke Bowls Club has written to South Gloucestershire Council to ask for help in its row with Bradley Stoke Town Council over a new rental agreement.

The letter accused the town council of expecting the club to “sign it [the new deal] without question” and of “bullying tactics”.

We’ve included a full copy of the letter below.

BSTC are still spreading their propaganda. They say negotiations have been going on for over one year. Untrue. They didn’t meet with us or reply to letters for one year. They gave us a draft new agreement in the first week of March and expected us to sign it without question. This was just a continuation of their bullying tactics - leave everything until the bowling season was about to start.

They don’t understand the difference between, subsidise, profit and loss. We are prepared to sign an agreement that will give them full recovery of the costs associated with our occupation of the building and as we pay in full for the maintenance of the green, there is no subsidy. Yet they say we are the most subsidised user. The cricket club will be paying between £4k and £5k and the maintenance of the cricket field and square alone costs between £15k and £20k per annum. Now that is subsidy and BSTC has entered into an agreement with the cricket club on this basis.

It is not our problem if the Bailey’s Court centre is run at a loss at they make little effort to find users, as they prefer to offer their other sites to customers. And, of course they cannot make a profit on our occupation under the terms of their lease with South Glos.

They built an extension costing £775k with no business plan for a return on that investment (the only regular user is the youth club which has been given a peppercorn rent) and effectively want a contribution from us when we don’t enjoy any of the new facilities.

Any help you can give in resolving this will be appreciated.