Colin,
As the SLD Councillor representing my area and the most prominant Ulverston Councillor at Kendal, could you help me with the following questions.
1. When will the issue of the locked toilets in the Gill be resolved?
Four things prompt my question.
a) I have just talked to visitors from Cambridge, needing a pee, who were dumbfounded to find the Public Toilet locked with it's lights on. Colin Williams raised precisely this issue aver a month ago. The visitors stated that if something like this happened at home, all hell would break loose. Here, you do nothing except wait patiently.
b) I was walking home along Upper Brook Street and came across a man about forty years old peeing in the corner right next to someone's front door.
I turned and asked pointedly in a loud voice" Do you have to?" He responded "I'm bursting for a pee and there's nowhere else to go."
There was no answer that I could give as the Gill and other toilets were locked.
c) A friend who lives next to one of the alleyways leading from the Gill to Soutergate came out one morning to find human shit by the entrance to her house and garden. She had no option other than clear it up herself.
d) During the Lantern Parade and when the Fair was in full swing the Gill Toilet was again locked at dusk.
Surely this is a matter for an urgent solution and you appear to do nothing. In your position I would be livid with rage and would have immediately demanded from the officer who made this cost cutting decision that the toilets be kept open immediately. This clearly has not happened.
I am so furious with this situation where my perception is that local government has lost its senses that I plan to take action myself.
I plan to buy my own locks and lock these toilets open until common sense returns.
2. When will the Stockbridge Lane Car Park be used sensibly.
You were present with me at the consultations with Nick Raymond of CCC last year in November and December when four out of five groups rated the need for a sign to this car park at the Market Cross as a high priority. The decision by Raymond that this would "promote the use of the car" and thus place it at nearly the bottom of priorities for the county appeared to pass by the Ulverston Councillors present without reaction, yet a resident who like me, had taken the trouble to attend all three of the two hour long consultations left the final meeting with the comment "What a farce".
I am appalled that non of the councillors appears to get upset with this decision. This issue sits firmly as your responsibility as SLDC for the area.
As you will be aware, a few weeks ago, I raised this issue in the full council meeting held here in Ulverston. I received a totally unacceptable answer that "the situation is under review" and hence no action is proposed. This situation has continued for well over a year and probably several years. The fact that the situation is still "under review" speaks volumes.
If we had Councillors of the calibre of Tim Farron in our town we would have councillors leading demonstrations over many issues through the streets of Kendal, yet non of you, and you in particular, do anything.
The people of the town are looking for some dramatic leadership at a time when democracy not only at a national level but even more so here at a local level has become a laughing stock.
Having followed all the processes open to me, I am looking at more effective ways of expressing my feelings and this is a route i would prefer not to have to follow.
I can assure you that I am work with all my energy to get the vast majority of our local councillors voted out of office at the next elections in three years time.
As you will gather I am very upset and I haven't mentioned other burning issues like the need to have strong leadership to promote Tourism (close the TIC !) in the Town were we are failing dismally as is demonstrated by all our empty shops as compared with similar towns in the Newcastle area which have been forward looking and are benefiting from the weak pound in attracting European visitors. Here Car Parks, web sites, Town initiatives, Sunday closing are along letting us down. True Jayne Kendall does what she can but the councillors seem to do nothing themselves as compared with those in Grange over Sands.
I look forward to receiving a convincing reply.
Geoff Dellow
4 comments:
Do you think you will get a reply??
Talking of these so called councilors,i see in the mail tonight amanda riggs is moaning about some plans.They don't want to no half the time but because this effects her she's gone to the evening mail about it and pulling out all stops to try and stop it happening
The article in the Mail certainly conveys the impression that Amanda Rigg is most concerned about her own situation and not supporting the local residents first however she is elected to represent another area.
I would have expected that she would have been giving the local people all the support she could ever since this issue first came up and be working with Mark Wilson over this.
It was good to hear that, more and more, James Airey is coming up with constructive criticisms and has a long term view.
Again what is needed for the South Ulverston area is a thoughtful examination of all the issues and coming up with a long term plan which is backed by the whole Town Council.
The problem is that this requires a councillor to put some work in and negotiate and have a plan before issues blow up. Will the councillors now forget about this issue and area and only stir themselves when another quick decision is required.
At the moment there doesn't seem to be a single councillor who is proactive: studies and finds out what is needed and then fights for this to be accepted by the authorities. As a result most decisions are made 'on the hoof' and piecemeal to the great loss of Ulverston with Kendal calling the shots all the time.
There are two though that may start doing this - Mark Wilson and James Airey - we need to encourage them every time they put themselves out.
There are hundreds of places a male can have a pee without offending local residents. No-one objects to dogs peeing when walking the Gill footpath. Surely a few yards walk to a shady nook will not cripple a guy in desperate need. If they want to go in alleys there are drains. Likewise, whoever soiled the path by a resident's door with excrement has no excuse whatsoever. That was sheer malicious provocation. Who is likely to need a toilet in the evening? Cinema and Theatre goers have toilets to use. Likewise those in pubs and eating houses. People hanging about the streets? How far away are their homes? Would they use the toilets anyway - I guess that depends how far they would have to walk. Those who sell drink after normal shopping hours should allow their customers to use their staff toilet. (If they pour the stuff down throats - they should take care of the outflow.) Moreover, folk who are desperate could surely buy a packet of crisps, or whatever, at a pub and use their toilet.
There is something to be said for not having toilets open after a certain hour when the nights are dark (seven or an agreed time). Having visited late opening conveniences in other towns during daylight hours, I have been appalled at the state of them. Some, after changing everything to smash-proof fittings, have ceased to open after certain times.
While it is desirable to have conveniences - do we really want folk, like the one who abused someone's doorstep, decorating the toilets? Some-one has to keep them clean.
I most certainly do not wish to see our toilets closed down (and have petitioned in the past to keep them open) but pile on the expense of keeping them open at night and in good condition might prove more expensive than realised. Any unsupervised 'shelter' is open to abuse.
I suggest an agreed time, say half an hour after the shops close, (Ignoring late night booze and take-aways).
Well, that is my pennyworth used up!
I really wouldn't bother with Colin Hodgson. I've lived in his bit of Ulverston for 16 years and have never seen him nor heard from him. The only correspondence or contact he ever makes is when he is due for re-election and does the smiley rounds. I wrote to him a number of times re: the trees in the health centre but it still took two years and phone calls from me and you to get them planted. It was Colin's responsibility to check that planning conditions (tree planting) had been met, not mine or yours. He really is a waste of space. Much more concerned about his own small town tory agenda than the concerns of those he purportedly represents.
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