Bradley Stoke is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, situated north-northeast of Bristol city centre.OS Explorer Map, Bristol and Bath, Keynsham & Marshfield. Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey B4 edition (2013). The town is the northernmost part of the Bristol built-up area.
Planned in the late-1970s, building works began in 1987. Bradley Stoke was Europe's largest new town built with private investment. It is named after two local streams, the Bradley Brook and Stoke Brook.
Bradley Stoke is part of the North Fringe of Bristol, an extensive area of housing and employment developed during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. It is bordered by Patchway to the west and Stoke Gifford to the south, but unlike these neighbours, Bradley Stoke has fewer major employers and is primarily a residential suburb, being 40% detached housing. The M5 and M4 motorways form its northern and eastern boundaries, beyond which is the Avon Green Belt.
History The area that is now Bradley Stoke was once farmland north of the village of Stoke Gifford near Bristol city. The land was divided amongst the civil parishes of Stoke Gifford, Almondsbury, Patchway and Winterbourne. The area consisted of a number of farms, Bailey's Court and Watch Elm Farm in the south, Bowsland Farm and Manor Farm in the north and Webb's Farm in the middle. Some of the lands were used as pasture. A number of woods also existed, Sherbourne's Brake, Webb's Wood and the large Savage's Wood have all been preserved. Fiddlers Wood, the name of which lives on in Fiddlers Wood Lane was all but obliterated by the M4 motorway. Baileys Court Farmhouse is the only original building that still remains and was used as offices by the town's developers before becoming the Bailey's Court Inn. Watch Elm Farm was named after the Watch Elm, an elm of a legendary size that blew down in the mid 18th century. The Stoke Brook flows through the middle of Bradley Stoke.
During its development, the new settlement faced some problems in the wake of a national recession. At the time, Bradley Stoke was reputed to be one of Europe's largest private housing developments and did struggle to develop at first to establish itself as an identifiable town unlike other earlier new towns which were supported by a development corporation, as the settlement relied principally on private investment within a restricted statutory framework of the local authority Northavon District Council within the Avon County Council area. A combination of private housebuilders led the development and with only limited input from commercial businesses and the consequent recession resulted in the new town gaining a reputation for being a soulless housing estate with only limited facilities and no town centre, with the exception of a Tesco supermarket. High interest rates during the early 1990s soon led to the collapse of the property market in the area with many new homes falling into negative equity. This led to the branding of the new town as 'Sadly Broke' until property values and the development market began to recover. Since 1987, the residents of the area were demanding the establishment of a separate town council to coordinate the community's civic life and in 1991 formation of the town council was in principle approved. On 1 April 1992, the newly elected town council took charge.
Governance Bradley Stoke has a local town council, is part of the South Gloucestershire unitary authority, and is in the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) region.
On South Gloucestershire Council, the town is represented by seven councillors elected from three electoral wards, namely Bradley Stoke North, Bradley Stoke South and Stoke Gifford (Stoke Brook).
Bradley Stoke is part of the Filton and Bradley Stoke parliamentary constituency.
The area is situated within the historic and ceremonial county of Gloucestershire. Following the creation of county councils in 1889 and urban and rural districts in 1894, it was administered by Gloucestershire county council and Thornbury rural district council until local government reorganisation in the early 1970s. From 1974 until 1996, Bradley Stoke was part of the Northavon district of the non-metropolitan county of Avon. Since the abolition of Avon and its replacement by unitary authorities in 1996, the area has been administered by South Gloucestershire council (formed from the merger of Northavon district and Kingswood borough councils).
Town council Bradley Stoke has a town council made up of 15 councillors elected from five wards. The town council is chaired by the town mayor and assisted by a deputy mayor, with four standing committees for finance, planning and environment, leisure, youth and amenities, and staffing.
Facilities Many of the facilities in the town were to be funded by the housing developers from housing sales, via 'Section 106' planning agreements. When house building and sales slowed for a time in the late 80s, there was a significant slowdown in facility completion. This included the late provision of the road joining the north and south sides of the town, and also the completion of the doctors' surgery.
The new town centre 'Willow Brook' was named by an anonymous resident as part of a competition run by Bradley Stoke Town Council in partnership with Tesco. The centre is situated on the original Tesco supermarket site, and the redevelopment was approved by South Gloucestershire Council on 13 November 2006.
Council The Bradley Stoke Town Council operates three activity centres located at The Bradley Stoke Jubilee Centre on Savages Wood Road, Baileys Court Activity Centre on Baileys Court Road and Brook Way Activity Centre on Brook Way. Each activity centre offers rooms and facilities to hire, and the provision of sports activities such as bowls, football pitches and hardball courts.
Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre and library
The Active leisure centre near the town centre provides access to a 25 metre swimming pool and a public library. Additional services at the leisure centre include a gym, beauty salon, Soho Coffee and a skate park. The leisure centre and library are host to many in house and local activity groups.
In 2018, renovations reduced the sports hall in size and introduced a small climbing centre (amongst other changes).
The Soho coffee shop was established in June 2013 and was renovated in 2017.
Employment Employment opportunities are found along Great Stoke Way to the south, Woodlands Business Park and Almondsbury Business Park to the north, and at the Aztec West development. The town is served by the nearby Bristol Parkway railway station in Stoke Gifford and is a short distance from the Ministry of Defence, the Aviva Centre and the Abbeywood Retail Park. Situated in the surrounding business parks are companies including RAC, Paragon, DHL, Greencore, Pukka Herbs, EE, GE Capital, HSS Hire, Zuken Technology Centre, and various hotels, production factories, courier services, warehouses and offices.
The further developments of the Willow Brook Centre and the addition of larger high street chains have increased the number of jobs available for local residents as well as boosted trade within Bradley Stoke. Businesses continue to be interested in the further development of the town centre, such as the planning application to build drive-through commercial units adjacent to Bradley Stoke Way.
Bradley Stoke attracts custom through passing trade from those exiting and joining the motorways and commuting, however since the expansion of the Willow Brook Centre both business owners and potential employees are attracted to the area. Despite the available employment opportunities, many residents commute from Bradley Stoke to central Bristol, The Mall in Cribbs Causeway or via the nearby motorway junction for work.
Education
The town has seven primary schools:
Saint Marys Catholic Primary School Bailey's Court Primary School Wheatfield Primary School Meadowbrook Primary School Holy Trinity Primary School Bowsland Green Primary School Bradley Stoke Community Primary School
The town has a comprehensive secondary school, Bradley Stoke Community School, which opened in September 2005 with capacity for 1,120 students. A post-16 centre at the school was completed in Summer 2010, and a primary school extension was completed in 2015.
Transport
Bradley Stoke is served by Bristol Parkway railway station to the south and Patchway railway station to the west, both operated by Great Western Railway.
Bus services are operated by First West of England and Stagecoach West offering transport links to Aztec West, Thornbury, Cribbs Causeway, Bristol Parkway railway Station, Bristol city centre and the University of the West of England, Bristol. A new MetroBus service was introduced by Bristol Community Transport under contract by FirstGroup.
Bradley Stoke borders the M5 to the north, the M4 to the east and the M32 to the south. Main transport routes are via Aztec West and via the Stoke Gifford bypass to the south.
Community The Bradley Stoke Community Festival has been running since 2004 and is held over a weekend in June. The festival hosts a variety of activities and events primarily aimed at young children and families involving live music, performances, sports and games.
A Bradley Stoke Community Carnival event took place in 2014, 2015 and 2017. The carnival hosted stilt walkers, a brass band, performers dressed in costumes, competitions and prizes and live music.
Similarly to the Bradley Stoke Community Festival, Wheatfest is an annual event hosted by a local group Friends of Wheatfield Primary School. The event on the grounds of Wheatfield Primary School is primarily aimed at young children and families. The 2019 event raised over £6000.
The Willow Brook Centre provides a summer beach in the town centre. Primarily aimed at young children and families, the centre features a 38-tonne sandpit, dozens of deck chairs, and suspended decorations.
The town council operates an annual fireworks display in early November to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night, in 2018 raising over £2000 in support of West of England MS Therapy Centre and the Stroke Association.
Since 2016, the Willow Brook Centre has hosted the annual Stars of the Stokes Awards to recognise the local heroes in the community featuring special guest celebrities. Awards are issued to a champion carer, a parent in a million, coach of the year, high achievement, a young person of the year and teacher of the year.
Each year the town is adorned with lights to celebrate Christmas. Along with an annual Christmas tree and decorations in the town centre, courtesy of the Willow Brook Centre, one property in Elm Close raises funds each year for St Peters Hospice by decorating their home in 30,000 lights. In 2018, over £3000 was raised.
Remembrance service and war memorial