Thursday, 24 January 2013

Read it and weep

It's all systems go for Flitt Leys - 135 houses, a school and a health centre all accessing onto the High St near Enoch's. 

In the short term, residents already beset by hot food collectors had better start getting used to construction traffic trundling down this narrow residential street. It was always going to be tough for them with 135 houses in the pipeline. But with the added school and health centre, much worse. Let's not forget that a school is a business in terms of activity and customers. You would not put a busy, customer-focused company in a residential area deliberately. But it happens in Central Beds. Read it and weep.

Last night, at Parish Council, all three Central Beds councillors acknowledged that this was unsatisfactory but supported the design brief, approved last week, because of the pledge to introduce a traffic management system before a school is built. Alternatively they argued that if the design brief was rejected the developer would successfully appeal the decision. So why traipse over to CBC HQ at Chicksands at all, as (fellow parish councillor) Roger Baker and I did? We might as well stay at home and feed the cat and do our cross-stitch for all the difference public participation makes.
  
The officers say it can all be done and that's all that needs to be said. We are setting Cranfield up for a serious case of arthritis. Nobody believes any traffic management system is going to fix this one.

There has been no indication from the Lower School whether they wish to move to the new site, use it in addition to Court Road or seek another fresh site altogether. A greenfield site would be the only get out of jail (or out of Flitt Leys) card.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"We might as well stay at home and feed the cat and do our cross-stitch for all the difference public participation makes." - was already of this opinion after the "Public Consultation" on Home Farm - seems decisions have already been made by "superior" beings and we are just given a sop as consolation ?

Unknown said...

To quote Cllr Sue Clark "I'm afraid a poor decision was made in the past ". Same difference with Lodge Road access to Home Farm. By the time we get brought in the options are reduced to ...er one. My fav CBC consultation document says something like:

Do you wish to be
A Hung?
B Drawn?
C Quartered?

You hunt for 'None of the above' in vain

Anonymous said...

Yes. What qualifications do you need to be a 'planner'? Shouldn't listening and then acting upon a majority opinion, which you've asked for, be a criteria? Home Farm. Flit Leys, Covantia Incinerator, Wind turbines, Landfill. You've asked our opinion, we don't want them. Why go ahead?! We've had enough!!