Community group sizes up proposed development.

When the Knights Park, Tunbridge Wells complex was developed the road into the site was constructed from Longfield Road. To reach the car park serving the cinema, pubs, fitness centre etc it is necessary to make a right turn, the road straight ahead being a short stub.  This is followed by a sharp turn left into the car park and again there is a short stub straight ahead.  Clearly the two stubs were built with an eye to future development.

Now there is a proposal to build on land reached from the second stub.  See:

http://knightspark.info/

Whatever form the development takes, it will put even more traffic onto Longfield Road which already is heavily congested and prone to gridlock.

I am pleased to note that a community group, Slow Down on Sherwood & Stay Safe, is taking a very keen interest in this development and getting stuck into the consultation being undertaken by the developer.

Civic Pride

Chesterfield has an imposing town hall and residents took pride in it, as well as the corporation's bus services, swimming pools, parks and other amenities. Queen's Park was (is) the jewel in the crown. Derbyshire County Cricket Club plays matches in the park and many a journalist has observed that the ground and its environs are amongst the most pleasant in England where county cricket is played.

Matches against Yorkshire and Lancashire were always very keenly contested affairs and I remember watching Clive Lloyd, Brian Statham, Brian Close, John Hampshire, and Fred Trueman playing and getting the 'bird' from Derbyshire followers. My earliest memory is watching the West Indies team which included Weekes, Walcott and Worrall.

In the 1960s the government moved the Accountant General's Department to Chesterfield and built new premises for it in the former goods yard of the Lancashire Derbyshire and East Coast Railway (which terminated at Chesterfield at one end and on just outside Lincoln at the other!) A new housing estate was built by the Council to house civil servants from the South-east and Harrogate. There was immense civic pride in Chesterfield over these developments.

Fast forward 40 years. Is civic pride what it was then? Did the insistence of the Thatcher governments that councils tender for services and privatise lead to a loss of civic pride? I believe it did and this is reflected in the nose-dive in the number of people voting at local elections. I read recently that Suffolk County Council plans to outsource virtually all its direct delivery functions .

I recognise that municipal ownership and operation of services is not always the most efficient or cost effective way of doing things. I do think though that too often we fail to distinguish between price and value and fail to recognise hidden costs and benefits.

I await with interest the development of the Big Society and Localism concepts of the current government. Will they lead to an increase in civic pride and participation in civic life, using the term 'civic' in its broadest sense? I hope so, but I have my doubts.

Shh...don't tell anyone: it's a secret!

According to the local press, Town & Country Housing Association has major plans for the Sherwood estate in Tunbridge Wells. The plans provide for demolition of flats, new build on allotments and green spaces and a new road.

I am sure it is all very commendable. The problem is that the plans have been developed in secret and have only partly come into the public domain as a result of details being 'leaked' by councillors to residents. Apparently councillors who have copies of the plans were sworn to secrecy.

We are told by central government that there is to be 'localism' and 'community engagement', yet in this instance the last people to know about the plans are local residents! When the Labour government introduced community plans the guidance was that it was no good simply producing a plan for comment. People had to be engaged in the preparation of the plan. It is a pity Town & Country did not consult at an earlier stage, then there would have been no need for 'leaks'.

The proposals should have a positive impact, but it has to be understood that many residents on the Sherwood estate are not tenants of the housing association. Worries and concerns will have been raised by the press report. The housing association should take residents into their confidence at all stages in the process, not hide behind secret documents, however laudable the plans or the intentions behind the secrecy.

Sherwood Carnival last Saturday

A very hot day, a reasonable attendance but not many groups in the carnival procession. It was a real shame that Sherwood Primary School, St Philip's Church and Little Forest Children's Centre between them couldn't manage a single group for the procession.

It was good to see Rev'd Brian Senior and some of his flock manning a stall and also a local councillor and the MP at the event.

Sherwood Carnival: 5th June

Come along to TN2 and have some fun tomorrow. It's going to be a sunny day. Parade sets off at 12.30PM.

BLISS Cafe

BLISS is the acronym for the Better Living in Southborough Society. A small community group, it decided to make a major impact by taking the lease of an empty shop and turning it into a cafe and community resource centre.

Yesterday I visited the cafe which is on London Road opposite the junction with Yew Tree Road. I was fortunate to meet Elaine Lawrence who is the chair of BLISS. Apart from being a cafe, the premises double up as a small shop, as a meeting place for young and old and also has rooms that are used for surgeries.

The BLISS cafe is an excellent example of what a small community group can achieve.

If you are passing call in: the food is good and the coffee, well I haven't tasted better at any of the coffee chains.

Rusthall Community and Youth Project

When I was elected to Tunbridge Wells Borough Council in 1996 one of my early appointments was to attend the AGM of the Rusthall Community and Youth Project. At the meeting I was elected to the committee of the Project: my two councillor colleagues declining to be nominated.

The Project had a number of problems to contend with and came close to closing down. I became chairman and invited Mike Bassett to join the committee. Since then the Project has gone from strength to strength and when I retired as chairman Mike took over.

Recently the Project has distributed a leaflet in Rusthall setting out ideas for a new pavilion at the Southwood Road recreation ground which could double up as a community facility.

An excellent idea, but the Project has been here before. Then we were informed by the planners at Tunbridge Wells Borough Council that we could not have a building as it would be on green belt land, even though there were football pitches and allotments adjacent to the existing changing rooms. Since then two play areas have been developed close to the changing rooms.

The reason given for refusal was that a community room would not be a building incidental to use of land. Had we been building a golf course a club house would have been permitted! Logical, yes: helpful, no.

Hopefully common sense will prevail and planning permission will be granted for the proposed pavilion along with an increase in parking provision in the area.

Personalisation & Direct Payments

The Personalisation agenda puts the individual at the centre of decision making. This is explained well in the following extract from Norfolk County Council's website.

Personalisation of social care services begins with you, as an individual user of adult social care services, identifying what you want to achieve (your outcomes). It puts you at the heart of decisions about your care and promotes your independence, choice and control about how you live.

Norfolk County Council Adult Social Care Services will then work with you and, if you wish, your family, friends, carers and others to develop a plan of how you will be supported to achieve these outcomes. We will work out whether you are eligible for any public funding to help to pay for those services. We can also put you in touch with people who can provide the right services for you. This is different from the traditional way of delivering social care services, which has focused on the needs of groups of people rather than the individual.

Allied to Direct Payments and Personal Budgets this has made a significant change to the way users of adult social care services can manage their lives. There is a huge opportunity here for the voluntary sector to provide services Direct Payments' holders can purchase, as well as supporting carers. Here is an opportunity to roll back the state and put power into the hands of individuals.

Unfortunately, but understandably, many individuals and their carers are fearful of the responsibility cast upon them and the bureaucracy involved. There is the problem also that carers can focus more on securing respite than meeting the needs of the individual cared for.

Undoubtedly there are many challenges ahead for the new(ish) regime, but already there are examples of pioneering work. Recently I came across Stepping Stones where Direct payments have been used to open a cafe run by individuals in receipt of Direct Payments. Some of these individuals have secured NVQs. Stepping Stones illustrates that individuals in receipt of Direct Payments and their carers can lead fulfilling lives so long as there is collaboration with the statutory and voluntary sectors.

The BIG lunch: 18th July: Core football pitch

Want to support a lively community group or take part in an event? Have you any contacts who would like to take part?

Then the 18th July Big Lunch at the CORE football pitch in Tunbridge Wells could be just the ticket. Promises to be a great day. Click here for the link to the event's webpage

Life after 6th May?

Something for redundant labour MPs and activists to engage in then?

http://www.leftfootforward.org/2010/03/liam-byrne-local-action-network/

Cafe BLISS official opening

I have written before about Cafe BLISS and the Better Living in Southborough Society. Today the cafe had its official opening . Elaine Lawrence, the driving force behind BLISS, says on her Facebook Site that: 'even Greg Clark found time to attend'.

Congratulations to the BLISS team and may they continue to prosper.

Congratulations Elaine!

Elaine Lawrence, the driving force behind the Better Living in Southborough Society has received a civic award from Southborough Town Council for her work in bringing to fruition Cafe Bliss.

The cafe is truly a community cafe and well worth a visit if you are in Southborough. It is on London Road at the junction with Yew Tree Road.

Congratulations to Elaine and all the members of BLISS.

Down Memory Lane (2)

CORE TO THE FORE

For a number of years a successful community group known as ORCA, which stands for Oak Road Community Association, did much good work in the Oak Road area of Tunbridge Wells. Then there was a falling out between members of the committee.

A new organisation was formed by some members of the old ORCA committee. The new organisation is known as CORE: Community of Oak Road Estate. I played a very minor role, attending two of the group's early meetings, advising on opening a bank account and writing a constitution.

CORE has gone from strength to strength. It organises barbecues, sports days and fun days but it has no building apart from a very small room in an old pavilion. CORE moved into the pavilion when it was in a decrepit condition and smartened it up.

Now CORE wants larger premises so it can develop indoor activities: housing surgeries, youth club, coffee mornings and the like. To achieve this it needs to raise £165,000.

CORE is an excellent example of what a group of determined residents can do to improve life in their community.

CORE has a track record of achievement and I believe it will reach its financial target.

Cameron's Promise Today

The Tories have promised the following. Good intentions, but does the Tory High Command know how difficult it is to sustain community groups in areas of deprivation? Much more detail required.

“Neighbourhood army” of 5,000 full-time, professional community organisers who will be trained with the skills they need to identify local community leaders, bring communities together, help people start their own neighbourhood groups, and give communities the help they need to take control and tackle their problems. This plan is directly based on the successful community organising movement established by Saul Alinsky in the United States and has successfully trained generations of community organisers, including President Obama.

A Big Society Bank, funded from unclaimed bank assets, which will leverage private sector investment to provide hundreds of millions of pounds of new finance for neighbourhood groups, charities, social enterprises and other non-governmental bodies.

Neighbourhood grants for the UK’s poorest areas to encourage people to come together to form neighbourhood groups and support social enterprises and charities in these poorest areas.

Transforming the civil service into a ‘civic service’ by making regular community service a key element in civil servant staff appraisals.

Launching an annual national ‘Big Society Day’ to celebrate the work of neighbourhood groups and encourage more people to take part in social action projects.

Providing new funding to support the next generation of social entrepreneurs, and helping successful social enterprises to expand and succeed.

BLISS, perfect BLISS

BLISS is the Better Living in Southborough Society. It started as a pressure group to persuade a housing association to move tenants who were causing misery to people living in a wide area. When the tenants were moved it was bliss!

Since then BLISS has gone from strength to strength. Recently it has taken over a shop, refurbished it and re-opened as a cafe and drop-in centre. Upstairs there are meeting rooms.

The premises are open all day Monday-Saturday and as need dictates evenings as well. You can find the premises on London Road, Southborough near to the London Road/Yew Tree Road junction.

BLISS is a small community group and is to be congratulated on its vision and perseverance to bring into being a much needed community resource.