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> We want a Splash Pad!, NTC's version of austerity.
On the edge
post Mar 3 2016, 06:40 PM
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So, the Splash pad us Newbury Town Council voters demanded at the last election is now going to be delivered. Hooray!

It's going to be paid for by grants and not NTC. Some from Greenham Common Trust (£30,000) and some from West Berkshire Council, who are coughing up some £55,000.

So what's all this nonsense about WBC having no money and is even making people redundant and closing libraries?



This doesn't just stink, it reeks.


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je suis Charlie
post Mar 3 2016, 07:03 PM
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QUOTE (On the edge @ Mar 3 2016, 06:40 PM) *
So, the Splash pad us Newbury Town Council voters demanded at the last election is now going to be delivered. Hooray!

It's going to be paid for by grants and not NTC. Some from Greenham Common Trust (£30,000) and some from West Berkshire Council, who are coughing up some £55,000.

So what's all this nonsense about WBC having no money and is even making people redundant and closing libraries?



This doesn't just stink, it reeks.

Yeah but I will look nice next to the 750k coffee shop, managed to find the cash for that down the back of the sofa I expect.
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Andy Capp
post Mar 3 2016, 08:24 PM
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QUOTE (On the edge @ Mar 3 2016, 06:40 PM) *
So, the Splash pad us Newbury Town Council voters demanded at the last election is now going to be delivered. Hooray!

It's going to be paid for by grants and not NTC. Some from Greenham Common Trust (£30,000) and some from West Berkshire Council, who are coughing up some £55,000.

So what's all this nonsense about WBC having no money and is even making people redundant and closing libraries?



This doesn't just stink, it reeks.

We've got to keep up with all the other councils that have one; it goes with the crazy paving* and all the other default former market town look and feel styles.


*if we want to talk about stink, just remember how much was paid for the new road surface in town that was not needed: ~2,000,000 quid!!! And back then £2,000,000.00 was a lot of money.
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Cognosco
post Mar 3 2016, 09:35 PM
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Care homes closing,libraries closing but we can have a lovely new splash pad in Vicky park that may be used for a few weeks in summer,providing we get some sun of course!
I can just hear a care in the home assistant explaining to some poor old soul who should be in care home but none available that they could take them to Vicky park to see the nice new splash pad though but again they can't as it would take longer than the fifteen minutes allowed to get them out of bed washed, dressed and fed let alone a shower in the park! angry.gif


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user23
post Mar 3 2016, 10:23 PM
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Should leisure facilities like a splash pad be provided by solely by the private sector, and only when it is profitable to do so?
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On the edge
post Mar 3 2016, 10:38 PM
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[quote name='user23' post='108578' date='Mar 3 2016, 10:23 PM']Should leisure facilities like a splash pad be provided by solely by the private sector, and only when it is profitable to do so?[/n

A very good point, I certainly feel local communities should provide leisure facilities. In fact, this type of facility when properly designed and incorporated into a development can actually be considered artistic. Just buying one of 'Council Kit r Us' isn't quite the same!

Additionally, the main issue here isn't the rightness or otherwise of having one, more our ability to pay for it.

WBC is claiming dire poverty right now. Desperation time, making people redundant, cutting what are seen as essential services, shutting core cultural functions like libraries. So can we really afford another 'nice to have' expensive bit of kit for kids to play on during the summer?

In simple terms, if I suffered a significant pay cut and if the landlord increased my rent significantly, my ten year old car needed an MOT and the shed needed a new roof - I think I'd forgo the foreign holiday.

What amazes me here, is that some Town Councillors also sit on WBC. Can't they see their credibility is shot. Search as much as I can, I can't see a splash pad even being mentioned in the election manifesto, let alone hearing any public demand.


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Turin Machine
post Mar 4 2016, 11:38 AM
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New motto for Newbury,
"Fur coat and no knickers"


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user23
post Mar 4 2016, 08:06 PM
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QUOTE (user23 @ Mar 3 2016, 10:23 PM) *
Additionally, the main issue here isn't the rightness or otherwise of having one, more our ability to pay for it
So should leisure facilities like a splash pad be provided by solely by the private sector, and only when it is profitable to do so?
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Cognosco
post Mar 4 2016, 08:36 PM
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QUOTE (user23 @ Mar 4 2016, 08:06 PM) *
So should leisure facilities like a splash pad be provided by solely by the private sector, and only when it is profitable to do so?


The clue to the answer you are asking is that when essential services are being drastically reduced then ratepayer money should not be spent on luxury projects especially when with our climate they will only probably be used a very short time in the year! If it was being entirely funded from private sponsors and no ratepayer money involved that would be an entirely different discussion of course!


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Turin Machine
post Mar 4 2016, 08:38 PM
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QUOTE (Cognosco @ Mar 4 2016, 08:36 PM) *
The clue to the answer you are asking is that when essential services are being drastically reduced then ratepayer money should not be spent on luxury projects especially when with our climate they will only probably be used a very short time in the year! If it was being entirely funded from private sponsors and no ratepayer money involved that would be an entirely different discussion of course!

But it's a vanity project, money no object.


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Simon Kirby
post Mar 4 2016, 09:15 PM
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QUOTE (user23 @ Mar 3 2016, 10:23 PM) *
Should leisure facilities like a splash pad be provided by solely by the private sector, and only when it is profitable to do so?

It's the wrong project at the wrong time, what Newbury really needs now is a monorail.


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Andy Capp
post Mar 4 2016, 09:35 PM
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QUOTE (Simon Kirby @ Mar 4 2016, 09:15 PM) *
It's the wrong project at the wrong time, what Newbury really needs now is a monorail.

In your joke lies a truth at the moment (if you were to believe TomTom's traffic report for Newbury).
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Cognosco
post Mar 4 2016, 09:44 PM
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QUOTE (Simon Kirby @ Mar 4 2016, 09:15 PM) *
It's the wrong project at the wrong time, what Newbury really needs now is a monorail.


Yes but what would be even more preferable would be some Councillors who have lived in the real world and with some common sense! rolleyes.gif


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user23
post Mar 4 2016, 09:59 PM
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QUOTE (Simon Kirby @ Mar 4 2016, 09:15 PM) *
It's the wrong project at the wrong time, what Newbury really needs now is a monorail.
Some sort of cross-town roller coaster incorporating the boating lake in Victoria Park should meet both pressing needs, for a splash pad and a monorail.
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On the edge
post Mar 4 2016, 10:03 PM
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QUOTE (user23 @ Mar 4 2016, 09:59 PM) *
Some sort of cross-town roller coaster incorporating the boating lake in Victoria Park should meet both pressing needs, for a splash pad and a monorail.


Perfect; I hope the design includes a pair of flagpoles at each stop!


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newres
post Mar 5 2016, 07:19 AM
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QUOTE (user23 @ Mar 4 2016, 08:06 PM) *
So should leisure facilities like a splash pad be provided by solely by the private sector, and only when it is profitable to do so?

When the council provide them they tend to be poorly planned and managed. Northcroft, skatepark, Victoria Park playground and so on.
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Simon Kirby
post Mar 5 2016, 08:06 AM
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It's the usual issues with Newbury Town Council:
1. Everything they do, they do for the vanity of it. Whether it's planting trees in Goldwell Park to commemorate the town's ceremonial moyors, or installing a kiddies' playground, it's all about the glory of the council and not about serving the town.
2. There is no meaningful public consultation. I would quite like to have a bark-park - a doggie agility course - at Wash Common, and I've asked for it, but the idea is rejected out of hand because it wasn't something that the council itself thought of.
3. Newbury Town Council is utterly incapable of taking criticism, acknowledging fault, or learning from their mistakes. They build a platground in Victoria Park and neglect to put a fence round it, and despite several thousand residents demanding it be fence they defend their flawed decision.


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user23
post Mar 5 2016, 10:08 AM
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QUOTE (newres @ Mar 5 2016, 07:19 AM) *
When the council provide them they tend to be poorly planned and managed. Northcroft, skatepark, Victoria Park playground and so on.
Northcroft is managed by a private company.

What's wrong with the skatepark? It always seems to be well used whenever I walk or drive past.
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Simon Kirby
post Mar 5 2016, 12:25 PM
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QUOTE (user23 @ Mar 5 2016, 10:08 AM) *
Northcroft is managed by a private company.

What's wrong with the skatepark? It always seems to be well used whenever I walk or drive past.

I seem to remember the Town Council making a right song and dance in the local paper about some graffiti on the skate park and engaging the services of a specialised steam-cleaning company which then got their vehicles bogged down in Tha Marsh (and the clue is in the name) when any normal organisation would have just bought twenty quid's worth of graffiti remover and washed the stuff off in less time than it took to belly-ache to the press about it - and the thing that was most notable about the story which was apparent from the press coverage was the leaf litter on the skating surface which had clearly accumulated over weeks and had made the skate park unusable, and they hadn't even swept up for the press photos. So in terms of their management of the skate park which itself is quite fabulous,, the Town Council's management of it is hopeless.


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newres
post Mar 5 2016, 03:37 PM
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QUOTE (user23 @ Mar 5 2016, 10:08 AM) *
Northcroft is managed by a private company.

What's wrong with the skatepark? It always seems to be well used whenever I walk or drive past.

It's managed for the council though and therefore its standards are "council" standards - poor customer service. Weren't there small children disappearing from the summer school recently? The skatepark is rife with teenage drinking and weed smoking. Visit a privately run skatepark and see if that happens there.
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