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A message from the green party

I attended the consultation day (6.6.09) and spoke with officers attending & some other visitors.

My overall feeling is that Stowmarket having suffered from years of no real vision or overall development strategy and disconnected 'planning agreements', is now suffering a reactive overkill proposal. I am aware of government directives and the district-wide target set for new homes; it seems that Stowmarket must bear much of that target.

Those I spoke to today seem to fall into two distinct camps - enthusiastic officers & residents who were apprehensive. suspicious or plainly in opposition. The Online Poll records: 'largely support the overall vision 47% largely disagree with the overall vision 53% '; hardly overwhelming support from those affected.

It has been suggested that Cedars Park has been a catalogue of errors from which we should learn; mistakes that residents now have to live with. These include the much delayed bridge connecting the development with the town centre, the continuing lack of sports and social facilities, inadequate parking, being a one shop development, no available mapping (until recently), a complete hotch-potch of street names (all those named after finches distributed across the estate, sea birds, birds of prey, ducks, one American & one mythological bird shuffled together, suggesting a total lack of ornithological knowledge), the list goes on.

I was amazed to learn that houses are being built with already inadequate parking (@ 1.5 car spaces per property) with no future-proofing, made worse by the disconnection with the town centre causing many families to increase vehicle ownership. I hear that these problems are causing some residents to move out.

I was astonished to witness the genuine surprise on one officer's face when I reported that Birse managers said the bridge was at least two feet narrower than standard.

The lessons must be learned, but nothing I heard today suggested that any were. New Chilton Hall residents will be 'educated' to take the bus into town (one every three minutes was cited in conversation, not mieread from a script), yet the income to provide those buses will come from developers and indirectly from the new residents and the bus service will not be introduced until there is sufficient demand. That is contradictory and a classic chicken & egg situation. This despite an under-spend on public transport provision.

When I asked about free parking in Council car parks (for one hour) I was told that experience elsewhere demonstrated that people come into town for no longer than the period that was free, that 'we' need people to stay longer and therefore that no more than 30 minutes was likely. Again that is massively contradictory. If you want a quick turn-around you limit free parking time, if you want visitors to stay longer you extend that period. The staffing cost argument was put forward; the solution is simple - pay on exit machines.

Yet again I am forced to the conclusion that these proposals are too much too late & with inadequate consideration of the consequences. I am not qualified in town planning issues but I see the connections between all parking issues. adequate buses, provision of adequate roads into the town (not to routes away from it), the need to convince businesses that opening a store in Stowmarket is a viable proposition because we have a population (fast approaching 20,000) that shops locally, etc. Sadly, I see no evidence that the planners have greater 'vision' than I, and must 'largely disagree' with that proposed.

If you want to discuss anything said here, please do so via this medium or contact me at nigelgreenparty@aol.com

Please note that these comments do not represent the official views of the Cedars Park Residents Association