Cllrs Tom Aditya, Keith Cranney and Roger Avenin were elected Chairs of Standing Committees of the Bradley Stoke Town Council

Councillor Tom Aditya, who is the Leader of the Council’s majority Conservative Group and the Council’s Spokesperson, has been elected Chairman of the BSTC Finance Committee. Cllr Tom previously served as Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and Chair of the Planning and Environment Committee. For more than a decade, he has been a councillor and currently represents Bradley Stoke South Ward. Tom serves as the Chair of the South Gloucestershire Council’s Community Engagement Forum for the neighbourhood and helps the community to have a stronger voice.

Tom said “My approach is always to bring excellent amenities for the residents, to deliver better quality services, and to enhance the economic development whilst ensuring lower taxes, value for money, good governance, and fairness for all”. Tom has been instrumental in starting the bus transport (bus routes) connecting Bradley Stoke with Bristol Temple Meads Train Station, Southmead Hospital, University of West of England Campus, Thornbury, and Avonmouth. Furthermore, he was involved in the initiation of the Bradley Stoke in Bloom project, and raised voice on behalf of the community for desilting the Three Brooks Lake, and for beautification and ecological conservation. Tom also served as the council representative for the Avon Local Councils Association, the International Twinning Committee, the Library Committee, and the Anti-Hate-Crime Committee.

For the last two decades, Tom has been active in the West of England region’s social spectrum. He is the Chairman of Bristol Multi-Faith Forum, an equality organisation established in 2004 by the Bristol City Council for inter-faith community cohesion, inter-cultural social harmony and civic wellbeing. He conceptualised the ‘Love your Neighbour’ Award programme to recognise the unsung community heroes, and successfully organised the event at the Bristol Rovers Football Stadium. Furthermore, Tom serves as an Ambassador of the NHS Blood and Organ Donation campaign and attends the West of England Community Leaders Group. Since 2021 January, he has been hosting various community vaccination outreach clinics in the region and helped thousands of people out from the clutches of the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, he was in the forefront to provide shelter and food for the stranded international students and people trapped during the lockdown, and to safely repatriate them later.

Besides, Tom is member of the Bristol University Court and the West of England Community Transport Network Committee. He is also part of the Avon and Somerset Police Scrutiny Panel, and the Police Strategic Advisory Panel, which covers the Greater Bristol and Somerset region. While police complaints mounted up earlier, Tom was efficacious in organising community safety meetings with the police to redress grievances of the victims and to help people in their efforts to pursue a peaceful life and to protect their properties safely. Cllr Tom put up creative interventions at the national and international levels for social justice and human rights; and have a few success stories to share in those endeavours too.

Councillor Keith Cranney, the recently elected Chair of the Planning and Environment Committee has been a South Gloucestershire Councillor and Bradley Stoke Town Councillor since 2007. He represents the Stoke Brook Ward in the Council. He has been the Chair of the Planning and Environment Committee earlier. Before serving as a councillor, Keith worked within Local Government for over 35 years and has been well known as an expert adviser on planning matters. He is also the Chairman of the South Glos Council’s Community Engagement Forum for Stoke Gifford area, which takes care of community matters; empowers local people to have a greater voice and influence over local decision making and service delivery by increasing the strength, capacity and engagement of the local community; improves the quality of life of people in the local area by identifying community aspirations, needs and local priorities; and promotes pride in the local area as a safe, thriving and pleasant place to live, work and play.

Keith has lived locally for over 40 years and has supported residents living throughout the area. He is well acknowledged by local residents as a community champion. He is currently campaigning against the misuse of the e-scooters in the region and support the community to have a peaceful atmosphere to commute. He also raises voice against the delays in the metrobus extension project works at the Gypsy Patch Lane. He has been a Lead Councillor within South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) on a wide range of committees and was the Conservative Spokesperson in the SGC Licensing and Regulatory Committee, General Purposes Committee, the Communities Select Committee and the Planning and Development Control Committee. Keith used those roles well, to represent and support local residents.

Cllr Keith still serves as member of the Development Control Committee and Regulatory Committee. He previously served as a member of Avon Fire Authority and put forwarded many proposals at that time for its restructuring. Keith strongly supports the need for improved facilities for local residents and is a keen supporter of the elderly and disabled residents and has supported the youth of the area and worked hard to improve and maintain local facilities. Keith thanked councillors for electing him the Chair of the BSTC Planning and Environment Committee and expressed hope to support the community in the best way possible, especially in matters related to transportation, infrastructure development, planning and environment.

Councillor Roger Avenin who has been elected the Chair of the Leisure, Youth and Amenities Committee has been serving in that role consecutively for the last three years. As the Chair of Leisure Youth & Amenities Committee, Roger wishes to ensure that community groups and clubs should receive the resources that enable them to thrive while ensuring the Bradley Stoke is not a soft touch for outside groups. He believes that there should be a balance to maintain here. He serves as a Bradley Stoke Town Councillor since 2007 and served as Town Mayor during 2015-16. He previously served as Chair of Finance Committee for three years in a row and have continued to scrutinize expenditure due to his accountancy background with a view to maintaining value for money and a low precept.

Roger moved to Bradley Stoke in December 1990, even before Bradley Stoke Way was built. Over the years, he watched the town’s development and strongly identifies with the town. He was an accountant for the MOD at Abbey Wood, and after retirement became active in the neighbourhood related matters. Many will have seen him walking his ‘Golden Retriever’ around the town taking notice of any issues arising.

Cllr Avenin is also the South Gloucestershire (SGC) Councillor since 2015 and has been an active member of SGC Planning Development Control Committee, Environment and Community Services Committee, Regulatory Committee, Spatial Planning Committee, Strategic Sites Delivery Committee and Public Rights of Way and Commons Registration Sub-Committee. In those roles, he continues scrutiny of the South Gloucestershire planning activities that has been focus of his mind during more recent times. He fought long and hard against the development of McDonalds at the Willow Brook Centre and secured rejection of that development from the South Glos Council. Although lost on appeal later in that case, he was able to present residents view profoundly. He feels that the proposal to build houses on Woodlands Golf Course also as a negative development that encroaches the greenbelt area and is urging community members to constantly remain vigilant.

Cllr Tom Aditya, Cllr Roger Avenin and Cllr Keith Cranney along with Cllr Michael Hill and Cllr Tony Griffiths will constitute the Chairs Committee, which will look after the general administration and staffing matters of the Council. The councillors congratulated the Standing Committee Chairs and wished them a meaningful term in office.