At Thursday’s Town Council meeting Paul Harrison of the Sports Association and Paul Burrell of Pegasus Planning Group introduced the plans they are about to submit to NWDC for the Sports Hub Project. I particularly asked about the problems of youngsters getting to an edge of town site and Paul Harrison said they would be running a mini-bus service to pick children up for fixtures. They had already explained that they would be constructing a footpath back from the new entrance to the bus stop, and having a toucan crossing (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toucan_crossing) The plan for the Sports Hub looks good, but residents near the Rylands Field won’t like the site being redeveloped for housing. They should look at the plans and put their views. The development will be for 164 dwelling units, 30% of which will be affordable housing, bringing some new housing very accessible to the town centre. A green space of .2 hectares next to Rylands Way is proposed.
The main topic at the meeting was time restrictions on High Street parking. NWDC are asking about a questionnaire they intend to send out to businesses and residents. It was the feeling of the meeting that the residents were the main ones who needed to be consulted – Brian Taylor had earlier spoken for the Chamber of Commerce unequivocally calling for 2 free hours limited parking on the High Street. It was felt that the Council should just get on with this, at the same time working out a scheme for residents parking, and the implications for nearby roads. It didn’t seem as though our District Councillors had had any input to the consultation plans.
The meeting had a police report from Sergeant Andy Fortune. He reported that a number of people had been identified for graffiti painting and prosecutions were pending. When I asked about this he said he hoped word of this would get round and discourage others. He is also working with the school and youth club.
