Archive for category Politics

Cheltenham Council Cuts Are Extracting The Urine

Posted by Darren Moore on Tuesday, 19 April, 2011

Toilet Closure Concerns – Cheltenham Gloucestershire

Toilet Facilities Closed in Cheltenham Parks

Are Cheltenham Council Taking The ........

Another beautiful spring day, people out walking around the Cotswold town of Cheltenham – lapping up the sunshine, enjoying the walks in the gorgeous parks when suddenly that cry from a child; “I need the toilet!!!”

Well, it is happening right now in Sanford Park – just behind the Lido, where the council have a perfectly set out play area for children with swings and slides, climbing frames and a toilet facility which is “CLOSED” to the public. Yes, I appreciate that facilities need to be maintained, yes they have to be closed in the winter because of lack of use, but come on CBC, we have had two staggering weeks of sunshine and you still haven’t opened them.

Here is the problem: “We as a family use the facilities in Sandford Park on a regular basis, and I can’t remember once over the last 3 weeks when we have visited the play area with our son (who is 4 years old) and not found less than 8 or 10 children playing in the childrens area.

And hand on heart, I have seen on more than one occasion – parents having to suspend children in mid flight over shrubs and bushed area’s so they can relieve themselves. And please, don’t tell me “they can hold it till they get home!”

We contacted Cheltenham Borough Council and advised that the toilets were undergoing refurbishment, and would re-open on the weekend 16th/17th April – 2011. We arrived at the play area on Saturday to find them still “CLOSED” – so made another call this morning.

This time, we were given the number of John Reece who is in charge of the Council Public Amenities – he advised that there was a “blockage” issue, and that they had notified Severn Trent to investigate. In the mean time, he also mentioned that due to council cut backs, that there was no guarantee this facility would be opened in the future, and should we wish the take this further – to speak with Roger Whybourn MP.

We have now spoken to Roger Whybourn, who advised that this is not the only block of toilets to be closed – with Coxs’ Meadow having been closed as of the 1st April 2011.

At what point will these cut backs stop – do we need children to start playing in other childrens’ excretion, do they have to fall i’ll and cost the NHS more money for medical assistance, drugs and follow up checks… ???

The only way to get this heard is to stand up, bring the point to the table and see how long it takes the council to find alternative funding to keep health risk at a minimum – and remove some of those useless traffic wardens from the town centre, who find extremely long spells talking to taxi drivers parked in Royal Well, where they should not be parked anyway. (Yes, I got a ticket recently… fair cop.)

Tell us what you think, and let us get some steam up and give the council what for.

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Beware of Board Council Officials in Cheltenham

Posted by Ian Carmichael on Wednesday, 3 November, 2010
Royal Well Parking Problem

Traffic Warden Chatting With Taxi Drivers for 30 Minutes

Whilst many big businesses are struggling to make ends meet, the ‘one-man-band’ local shops and establishments are finding things even tougher, thanks to a local council’s bureaucratic stupor and Cheltenham Borough Council and their Highways Safety team.

For me, a brisk walk into Cheltenham town centre is a weekly ritual, dropping in at the barbers on my way round to grab a quick hair cut. And it’s not because I enjoy the walk or fresh air – oh no, more to do with the fact I can’t park my car near the barbers due to the amount of local private hire taxi’s parked outside their office.

And today was no exception, but when you arrive in ‘Royal Well’ to see the local traffic warden standing around and joking with the drivers of the taxi’s, it makes you slightly angry, especially when he was there from 11:05am till nearly 11:40am.

Is this what we pay our rates for, so that the traffic warden can pass jokes with drivers who are obviously parked illegally, yet for some strange reason he never issued a fixed penalty ticket which made me ask the question “are they exempt?”

And if that wasn’t enough to get the blood warm, what happened next just placed the icing on the cake…

Sitting patiently waiting to get my hair cut in Royal Well Barbers, and in walked an official looking person with a high visibility jacket on. He approached the barber and asked if he could step outside for a minute. Now, I know that wasn’t the strange part, but what struck me as slightly odd was no formal introduction or reason ‘WHY’ he wanted the barber to go outside and talk.

He finished his haircut, popped outside and then the next thing was like ‘World War III’ was about to start with the barrage of words between the guy in the green jacket and the barber.

The barber walked back in and told us that the official looking guy was infact a Cheltenham Council Official who requested he removed his sign from outside the shop as he ‘did not’ have permission to put it there and it was causing an obstruction.

Just out of curiosity, I asked the Council Official what was the problem with him having an ‘A’ Board outside his shop? “We are presently investigating complaints of ‘A’ Boards which are causing problems in the town centre” said Clive Evans, Street Safety Officer for Cheltenham Borough Council. “But I can’t see what it has to do with you, nor why you are getting involved?”

A fair point, but when you report for a News website – you have a vested interest in letting others know when something isn’t how it should be.

OK, I can understand that people do get a little upset from time to time about the size of ‘A’ Boards and how they are situated outside of business premises – but this was just outragous, a normal size ‘A’ Board outside a Barber’s Shop which measured 600mm wide x 900mm tall – tight against the wall with 2 clear metres to pass on the pavement.

Anyway, understanding that Gary Monnier (the barber) was a little annoyed with the way Mr Evans approached the situation would be an understatement, but witnessing the whole fiasco myself, I can see his point. Who does Mr Evans think he is walking into a business with customers waiting to be served, and asking the owner to step outside for a minute without an introduction?

Royal Barbers in Royal Well, Cheltenham

Business Without Offending 'A' Board

Thinking that it was all over and I could get my hair cut finished, in walked Mr Evans with a clear envelope in his hand with some A4 documents inside – outlining the ‘Objects on the Highway’ current fee’s for 2010/11 for Cheltenham Town Centre.

So I have two questions for the council, which are:

  1. “If someone reports a business for having a sign outside, does it make it better if you pay the council £175.00 administration fee (non-refundable) and £125.00 per year to keep it there?”
  2. “Are Private Hire Taxi’s exempt from being issued with a parking ticket?”

Well, we approached Cheltenham Borough Council on both counts, and so far we have not received a response after 2 hours of waiting. (Shame we can’t issue them with a ticket for exceeding normal waiting times!)

The owner of Royal Well Barabers’ point was that he needs a sign outside so people know when he is open, because his shop can’t be seen from the road due to the amont of vehicles parked outside.

Whilst we were there, we witnessed 7 private hire taxi’s parked up like they were on a ‘rank’ and littered on the kerbs on both sides – and the spaces outside Mr Monnier’s shop which are supposed to be for customer parking being hogged by 2 more.

Makes you wonder of the council have an account at the taxi company with special rates?

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Moving The Clocks Forward By 1 Hour

Posted by John Winterbottom on Saturday, 30 October, 2010

Scotland GMT+2 Standard Time

Will Scotland Get The Go Ahead To Increase GMT+2 Hours?

Scottish Minister Say’s NO to GMT+2 as standard time zone for UK and Scotland.

A question has been raised this week due to case study which was carried out by the Policies Study Institute, would Scotland benefit from having the clocks pushed forward one extra hour?

Crazy as it may seem, there are many benefits from doing something which is only the case of turning forward the clock.

These are:

  • Gaining up to 200 hours of extra useable daylight hours
  • Prevention of around 30 accidents
  • 300 extra working hours for adults
  • £300 million boost for tourism
  • A £15 million saving on energy bills
  • Reduction in carbon emissions by nearly 450,000 tonnes

The biggest part which appealed to the Scotts’ was th epotential reduction in crime due to less darker hours and more light.

The report which was conducted by Hayer Hillman explains how it would not only benefit the Scottish people, but also the English folks too.

Hillman is the person we need to thank for the decades of GMT +1 hour and GMT+2 hours which we have all been part of, and is leading the way forward to increase the margin between the UK and it’s European counterparts.

For thos who are not geographically aware, Scotland is the last section of the UK in the north, which means they are actually closer to being part of Icelandic time zones than they are to Cornwall, which is the furthest point south of the UK.

The Scottish Enviroment Secretary, Richard Lochhead claimed that he was completely against the thought of changing the time zone due to the huge problems it could cause for Scottish people. His theory was based on the figures being used were out of date, and the impact it would have on the rural communities in the borders.

This may go on for some time, so keep watching these pages for more information.

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Washington Subway Terrorist Plotter Charged

Posted by John Winterbottom on Thursday, 28 October, 2010

Today, a Pakistani born American was arrested and charged over the attempted terrorist bomb plot in the Washington Subway system.

Farooque Ahmed lived only a short distance away from Washington, and was today captured by American FBI agents in a clever sting operation where by Ahmed thought he was dealing with al-Qiada when it was in fact undecover officers.

Ahmed who is 34 and born in Pakistan, was arrested and accused of attempting to supply bomb making equipment to support the movement of al-Qiada, whilst at the same time as American FBi agents were gathering information to prove that he was involved in the plotting of the subway bombing attack, which could have claimed hundreds of lives should it have been set up to work.

Even though the offence was supposed to have happened in the Washington area, Ahmed was driven back by Police escort to the local Police station where he would be questioned over the allegations to plot and bomb the metro subway.

Although the attacks were not supposed to happen till early next year, there was no time like the present to move in and take the situation by the ears and get it to the court vehicle.

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Christine O’Donnell’s Republican Win With The Tea Party

Posted by John Winterbottom on Thursday, 16 September, 2010

Christine O'DonnellThe Tea Party Movement have scored yet another amazing home run on Tuesday, to launch the Republican Candidate Christine O’Donnell firmly into the race for the United States Senate, leaving Michael Castle standing in her dust.

Over the last four decades, Michael Castle has been winning elections whilst serving in his post for the Republican Party, having actively opposed what Christine O’Donnell stood for.

Ms O’Donnell spoke after the win and said; “This outcome has complicated the party’s chances of winning control of the senate.

This primary election drew nearly 57,000 voters with Christine O’Donnell holding 53 percent and Miichael Castle 47 percent, which makes the 6 percent swing only consist of a few thousand voters.

Ms O’Donnell, who had previously failed in her attempts to take the position, last night received endorsementsfrom both Senator Jim DeMint and Sarah Palin, as well as many other “Conservative” leaders in the Republican stable.

Whilst addressing supporters who had gathered in Wilmington, Mr Castle spoke shortly after the win was announced and said; “The Republican Voters in the primary election have spoken, and I have to respect their decision.”

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