Tuesday, 2 October 2012
St Marks Church Hall - Closing?
A possible extension to the New Church Hall hasnt mollified concerned parents and users of the Old Hall. Quotes have been gathered for renovations - including a new heating system to replace the creaking old warm air unit - to see if it is feasible to keep the Hall going. It does seem odd that the Hall is apparently unable to pay its way. The loss of so many other Halls in and around Bournemouth over the last decade or so has made such places as rare as hens teeth!
Should the Church decide to offer the Hall for sale it does seem likely that Dave Wells is going to see the site as another golden opportunity to squeeze in too many small flats with no parking in an already crowded location. Local residents can look forward not only to the loss of a valuable indoor space but the subsequent loss of parking space in nearby roads. Its a lose - lose situation all round then.
A Bit of an Update....
As far as development goes, well.....the Secretary if State has 'called in' the proposed development behind the University. The severed gardens adjacent to Alton Road remain undeveloped and the top horse paddock behind the graveyard, is, I am assured, absolutely safe from any development. I called the Planning Dept at Bournemouth Town Hall and was advised that a 'Local Plan' precluded any development of the paddock but did allow some other sites.
Savilles Proposed Development Sites in the Historic Talbot Village Area
Daily Echo - 1st Challenge to University Housing Development
Secretary of States Refusal - 2012
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Badgers?
Saturday, 19 June 2010
NIMBY?
I wonder how many of the nimbys who are objecting to the dwellings on Talbot Heath green fields have actualy been homeless, or lived in B&B with a couple of children because of the lack of affordable housing?
All the guff about councillors doing this or doing that, traffic problems and so on is just an excuse.
Whatever councillors are in power will not make any difference to the fact that certain people put green fields, trees, insects, birds, other creatures and their back yards before the lives of people that dare to upset them by wanting somewhere to live.
Many years ago Talbot Village was just that – a village.
I bet they did not moan when their houses were built – which, incidently, I was involved in.
I never saw any protesters when I was working on those houses. Bournemouth and Poole have not been rural areas for many many years. If that is what people want then move!
Ken Cole, Moorside Road, Kinson
I think that the term 'affordable housing' needs to be clarified somewhat. In Bournemouth and Poole it seems to mean a block of 2 bedroomed flats with inadequate parking and little or no garden to be let out via Housing Association to the unemployed.
I am all for affordable housing if it means a 3 or 4 bedroomed house with a generous garden and parking for at least 2 cars at a price that an average hardworking couple with kids could afford to buy. I find the notion of a 'shared ownership' scheme with the Trust rather attractive.
Whatever 'Affordable Housing' means in the context of the massive development to the south of Wallisdown Road I'm concerned that the reality will be a dull, soulless and lonely place to live. With no attempt to create any kind of social centre for the inhabitants to meet each other they will continue to drive to school, supermarket, and work, sealed in their cars and utterly divorced from any feeling of 'neighbourhood'.
Apart from the increase in congestion that this will inflict upon the area, the result is likely to be small pockets of ugly flats with no space shoehorned into unattractive plots between resentful wealthy neighbours. This is already the reality on the New Talbot Village Estate and I see nothing in the Planners preliminary outlines that indicates anything better.
I welcome some aspects of the plans. I support student accommodation on campus and would not object to a larger number of student units. I also support the expansion of the faculty. I also support efforts to create affordable housing (as long as it is decent, spacious, high spec and different from the thousands of 2 bed flats already available via Dave Wells). I welcome suitable development in my 'back yard'. What I dont want is a vast tangle of narrow cul-de-sacs of executive homes with absolutely no realistic improvement to infrastructure that in no way fills the needs of the local community.