Pictured (L-R): Town clerk David Chandler, Willow Brook Centre manager Scott Lahive, Georgie Bigg from the NACC, Mayor Robert Jones and Councillor Julian Barge.
The laptop and a further £50 was donated by supermarket Tesco and the management of the new town centre.
Georgie Bigg from the NACC said the new laptop would be “worth more than the cash value” as it would allow the group, and invited guests at meetings, to show Powerpoint presentations.
Tesco has been granted planning permission for a new cash machine and more than 800 signs within the Willow Brook Centre.
The cash machine will be built between the petrol station kiosk and the town centre access road and and is described by the supermarket giant as a “pod”.
Tesco says the new cash machine would help “ease the pressure” on others within the Willow Brook Centre.
The supermarket has also been given permission to errect more than 800 signs within the town centre.
The list of signage includes several gantry signs, 10 internally illuminated fascia signs and two pole-mounted signs.
Plans for a walking route to the town centre from Manor Farm Crescent have been dropped after management said the proposal would cost £20,000.
Councillor Jon Williams has been arguing for a pedestrian crossing to be installed after road safety fears were raised as a concern at a Safer, Stronger South Gloucestershire meeting.
At the meeting several options were discussed, Cllr Williams says, including a walking route along the acoustic fence on the perimeter of the site and a pedestrian crossing on the access road.
But centre manager Scott Lahive revealed the cost for a crossing be excessive and would require them to submit a request for planning permission.
“By the time we submit an application the new store would be open so it is a non-starter,” he told The Bradley Stoke Examiner.
He added they hope to make safety alterations in the area by adding barriers to “sections of the car park to stop people walking down there.”
The changes would leave people walking to the centre needing to walk around to the Bradley Stoke Way entrance.
Bradley Stoke’s new town centre is due to open this autumn with a new Tesco Extra store and new shops along a new indoor mall.
We’ve been talking to the manager of The Willow Brook Centre, Scott Lahive, about what you can expect from the new facility.
We started by asking him about the new Tesco where the shell of the store is complete and some of the shelving is already going up ready for opening date.
The giant supermarket will offer the usual range of groceries but also a selection of items such as electrical goods and clothing.
“It’s going to be a large store,” said Mr Lahive. “It’s certainly large enough to satisfy the needs of residents within Bradley Stoke but also to be able to provide other products such as electrical, other forms of white goods and just general non-food items that you wouldn’t expect in an average supermarket.
“So the size of the store is absolutely vast. It’s just slightly smaller than Asda on Patchway, however we have the addition of a mezzanine level, so of course you’re not coming into a big vast wide shop.
“You’ve actually got the opportunity to go up to the mezzanine level where you can purchase items that wouldn’t normally buy from a supermarket or you can come in and do your grocery shop without being lost amongst a big store.”
The Willow Brook Centre, Bradley Stoke’s new town centre, is beginning to take shape - and The Bradley Stoke Examiner is the first with pictures inside.
The flooring is down inside of the new Tesco store, which is only slightly smaller than Asda at Cribbs Causeway, and shelves are beginning to go up.
Alongside that, the new mall is being built with shop units almost ready to be fitted out.
Work is also progressing on the new town square and the units alongside that.
Click below for the first photos from inside the centre and watch out at the weekend for an interview with Scott Lahive, the town centre manager.
A meeting is to be held to discuss concerns raised over pedestrian access to Tesco from Manor Farm Crescent and Hedgerows.
The problems were first highlighted at a Safer, Stronger meeting and was then taken up by South Gloucestershire Councillor Jon Williams.
An exchange of emails between Cllr Williams and Tesco’s PR department saw the firm promising to “establish a safe route whilst the footpath for the access road is constructed”.
The supermarket’s solution was to station two workmen who were directing pedestrians around the site to the Bradley Stoke Way entrance - but only between 8am and 6pm.
Cllr Williams told the Examiner he has pointed out that outside of these times the area could be a potential accident blackspot and told the firm a temporary crossing would be the “sensible solution”.
He is now due to meet with Tesco and the local police at the town centre in a bid to resolve the problem.
In video: See the pedestrian route to the town centre from Manor Farm Crescent:
