Victoria Park News, new Cafe causing disquiet at EA Options

[Andy Capp]

Why did the chicken cross the park?

I get that --- bloody c0ck crowing every morning!

If you look carefully it's not the only one.

[Simon Kirby]

The Daily Mail confirms Simon's terminology...

Drivers have been fined for parking outside bays after a bungling local authority made the spaces too short after repaint

It's generally the Newbury Town Council who I would describe as bungling and otherwise hapless, inept, abusive, unaccountable, dishonest, self-serving and arrogant. I don't have much of a problem with West Berkshire Council and can say from experience that much of it is really very professional, helpful, and competent. Whether they've bungled here I couldn't say as the major problem seems to be that bays have been marked too short rather then too narrow so I guess you'd have to be parked pretty badly to merit a ticket, and I don't have a great deal of sympathy for terrible parking.

My gripe here was just that it was unacceptably rude to attack the appearance and cleanliness of the chap who'd taken the measurements, and I also thought that WBC's response was defensive and mealy-mouthed.

[Andy Capp]

My gripe here was just that it was unacceptably rude to attack the appearance and cleanliness of the chap who'd taken the measurements, and I also thought that WBC's response was defensive and mealy-mouthed.

Since I've taken any noticed, I have felt WBC had a problem with PR (and traffic management, signage, planning, etc, ).

[On the edge]

Since I've taken any noticed, I have felt WBC had a problem with PR (and traffic management, signage, planning, etc, ).

PR is only ever sticking plaster. In reality, it comes down to attitude - if those at the top have a bad one; it will shine through the rest of the organisation. Of course there will be, and are some competent and professional people at WBC who must get as demotivated and disturbed as we are with the poor attitude and deficient leadership skills at the top.

[The Hatter]

A good boss doesn't blame the staff.

[Simon Kirby]

I met a chap from WBC today, measuring parking bays. A more courteous and professional individual you couldn't wish to meet, presenting an open, honest and likeable face of our local authority that we just don't get from the mealy-mouthed politicos.

[Cognosco]

I met a chap from WBC today, measuring parking bays. A more courteous and professional individual you couldn't wish to meet, presenting an open, honest and likeable face of our local authority that we just don't get from the mealy-mouthed politicos.

So they are not going to accept Stan's word then?

Goes to show they don't have any confidence in what size their parking bays are then?

[x2lls]

So they are not going to accept Stan's word then?

Goes to show they don't have any confidence in what size their parking bays are then?

Bit of an assumption there. They could be confirming the reported sizes.

[MontyPython]

Bit of an assumption there. They could be confirming the reported sizes.

So as said they are not certain of the sizes.

[Simon Kirby]

So they are not going to accept Stan's word then?

Goes to show they don't have any confidence in what size their parking bays are then?

Measuring the bays sounds like the right thing to do, no? I don't think I'd take on trust something that I'd read in the Hate Mail.

The accusation was that cars were being ticketed for parking outside undersized parking pays because the bays were too small to park within. I simply don't believe that to be true, and while I think WBC put their case really badly, I think the truth of it is that the CEOs do indeed use their common sense and only ticket cars that have parked really badly. It seems quite likely that some parking bays will be smaller than the recommendations (and they're recommendations, there are no regulations as such), and as spartacus has already said (so intemperately) cars are a lot bigger now than they were twenty years ago, so there is a valid criticism to be made that WBC hasn't grown the bays to accommodate our juggernautical girth, but the problem there is that we're getting our doors dinged more than we need - cars generally aren't yet so wide that they literally can't fit wholly within the marked bay, and even when a car is parked somewhat out of a bay the CEOs exercise a degree of leniency so you really need to have parked pretty badly to have got a ticket.

[blackdog]

Doesn't take a lot to set you off.

On the topic of the thread, I think it's great. I gather there's no changing rooms, but there's no football pitch either so perhaps they're not needed.

What happened to the football pitch - I understood it would return when the subsidence issue was resolved?

Changing rooms are also needed for tennis players - or are the tennis courts going as well?

A rapidly growing town like Newbury needs more sports facilities, not fewer.

[On the edge]

What happened to the football pitch - I understood it would return when the subsidence issue was resolved?

Changing rooms are also needed for tennis players - or are the tennis courts going as well?

A rapidly growing town like Newbury needs more sports facilities, not fewer.

Err, that's a bit like saying there ought to be football pitches in London's Green Park! A good few of us would actually question the need for the cafe, let alone all the other municipal junk in what is supposed to be a town centre park! Go under the bridge, there is already a nice wholly underused football pitch.

[Andy Capp]

Measuring the bays sounds like the right thing to do, no? I don't think I'd take on trust something that I'd read in the Hate Mail.

The accusation was that cars were being ticketed for parking outside undersized parking pays because the bays were too small to park within. I simply don't believe that to be true, and while I think WBC put their case really badly, I think the truth of it is that the CEOs do indeed use their common sense and only ticket cars that have parked really badly. It seems quite likely that some parking bays will be smaller than the recommendations (and they're recommendations, there are no regulations as such), and as spartacus has already said (so intemperately) cars are a lot bigger now than they were twenty years ago, so there is a valid criticism to be made that WBC hasn't grown the bays to accommodate our juggernautical girth, but the problem there is that we're getting our doors dinged more than we need - cars generally aren't yet so wide that they literally can't fit wholly within the marked bay, and even when a car is parked somewhat out of a bay the CEOs exercise a degree of leniency so you really need to have parked pretty badly to have got a ticket.

Is that a fact? The 'some will, some won't' comment doesn't really support that view.

[blackdog]

Err, that's a bit like saying there ought to be football pitches in London's Green Park! A good few of us would actually question the need for the cafe, let alone all the other municipal junk in what is supposed to be a town centre park! Go under the bridge, there is already a nice wholly underused football pitch.

There was a football pitch there for decades - until the Parkway development displaced it for their temporary use. They are no longer using it - so why has the football pitch not been re-instated. Perhaps because the toilet block that may have served as a changing room was demolished for being too unsightly for Parkway's sensitivities?

We seem to be selling off school playing fields and doing away with sporting facilities in parks - no wonder there are so many more obese youths around these days.

The NFC pitch is another story entirely - though it too is doomed.

[On the edge]

There was a football pitch there for decades - until the Parkway development displaced it for their temporary use. They are no longer using it - so why has the football pitch not been re-instated. Perhaps because the toilet block that may have served as a changing room was demolished for being too unsightly for Parkway's sensitivities?

We seem to be selling off school playing fields and doing away with sporting facilities in parks - no wonder there are so many more obese youths around these days.

The NFC pitch is another story entirely - though it too is doomed.

The real problem with amature football is that it's so very yesterday. There hasn't been any sustained objection to the loss of the pitches, which after all weren't served by changing rooms anyway. As to the Council lavatory; let's face it, at least there are two far cleaner and far better appointed facilities just across the road. Indeed, it's taken Parkway to show us how to run a lavatory. Victoria Park isn't the antidote to fat kids, there are even a couple of gyms near by. Frankly, reinstating the football pitches would make Victoria Park into even more of a semi industrial wasteland than it is at present. Still the AstroTurf adorned with plastic play kit will make a lovely unchanging landscape to look at from the cafe. windows. Real class Newbury!

[JeffG]

The real problem with amateur football is that it's so very yesterday.

Well, the pitch on City Playground is always well used, with both "proper" matches (on Sundays) and youngsters having kickabouts (most days). Doesn't seem particularly yesterday to me.

[On the edge]

Well, the pitch on City Playground is always well used, with both "proper" matches (on Sundays) and youngsters having kickabouts (most days). Doesn't seem particularly yesterday to me.

....and what about all the other pitches round the country. School playing fields were mentioned in an earlier response. Again, very under used and no real reason why they couldn't be properly exploited for the community at week ends; there would even be changing rooms.