Tuesday 31 July 2007

Temporary Traffic Lights - Market Street

I guess they are necessary as the contractors have weakened the road so much when they demolished the toilet block, but because of the way they are phased traffic is often queued back to the high school. (Thank goodness it's the school holidays or I might not be able to leave home until lunchtime!)

Unfortunately for the lunatics that seem to be running the asylum at the moment, traffic flow in Tenbury is NOT consistent. We do not get 33.3% from across the brook, 33.3% from along Teme Street and 33.3% from Market Square.

We get peaks and troughs, ebbs and flows.

How long do our esteemed leaders think it will be before they can do something constructive to repair the situation. They acted with uncommon and obscene haste to destroy the toilets, perhaps they can now act with similar speed, before Tenbury is completely destroyed as a shopping centre. With much short stay and disabled parking suspended and a continuously clogged town, I would feel even without my current level paranoia and conspiracy theories that Malvern has it in for us!

Yes I am being unreasonable. Yes I am very pissed off.

"Malvern Hills DC, we make a crisis out of a drama!"

Friday 27 July 2007

Destruction of Tenbury Wells Toilets

I see that a R C Martin has commented on my story in the Shropshire Star, I guess it must be Mr Mayor.

R C Martin said: Jul 26th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
These gentlemen come rather late to the party and bringing all their expertise into play they want to tell the world how they could save the toilets. Truth is, much consultation was undertaken with engineers, a lifting Company, environmental services and safety services. Those present included people with a determination to save the toilets. The situation was discussed and surveyed for several hours. In view of the perilous position of the building, propped up as it was on a single pillar of brick,it was imperative that a swift decision be reached before the building collapsed into the Kyre Brook causing a dam and yet another flood. A unanimous decision was reached. Chances of successfully lifting the building were very low. The risk of a slippage, a break up of the base, and/ or injury was quite high. The building next door, trading as Femina, was in peril from any sudden crash.We were forced to take a decision that nobody really wanted. The building, weighing about 40 tonnes, was not too heavy to lift. The problem was that the expert testimoney of the lifting Company was that they could not insert the neccessary steels under it due to the collapsed base. These are the facts to set against the wild speculation. There was no public protest at the scene, just one gentleman who would not listen to the history of how we reached a decision. A straw poll indicated that, regretfully, we did what we had to do in the given circumstances. I’m afraid the carping critics fulfill the axiom “never let the facts get in the way of a good story”.

Funny that's not what I thought I heard him say on BBC Hereford & Worcester News?
perhaps he doen't want the facts to get in the way of a good excuse.

Thursday 26 July 2007

Destruction of Tenbury Wells Toilets

I see that my story has been picked up by the Shropshire Star.

http://www.shropshirestar.co.uk/2007/07/flood-hit-toilets-demolished

Destruction of a much loved Tenbury Wells landmark

The recently refurbished historic Victorian Toilets in Tenbury Wells were destroyed this morning.

Although they have stood for a hundred years and were completely undamaged by the recent floods, they were no match for the might of Malvern Hills District Council.

Ivor Pumfrey, Head of Environmental Services, variously commented that they were too heavy to lift (wrong) they were too damaged to save (wrong) and that they had a structural engineers report that said the only option was to demolish. This document is not yet in the public domain and I wonder how independent it is.

Demolition started early this morning, there was no prior announcement to stop public protest.

Many people watching the demolition (once news got out) were very annoyed about this obscene wanton destruction of a much loved Tenbury Landmark.

Interestingly the Police used "Crime Scene - Do Not Enter" tape to cordon off the demolition area. Very appropriate!

At least the Toilets are putting up a fight. They thought they would be finished by now, but they seem to have hit a problem, although they are not saying what

Sunday 22 July 2007

Sensible Action

Just been chatting with Bob Martin, he tells me that when the Leaders of the Council called after the flash flood, he bundled them all in his car and took them for a tour of the area, to show them where the water came from. I think that was an inspired idea. After all I drove down Oldwood Road from Oldwood Common some time after the rain had passed and it was still more like driving down a river than a road.

The damage in Market Street was the result of the problem, but not the cause.

I think it's time to invest in some medieval technology like ditches and catch ponds and not to rely too heavily on narrow underground pipes.

Friday 20 July 2007

Blocked Drains : 4

Surprise, Surprise,

Now that the town has been wrecked by a flash flood, the council cleaned our drains this morning at about 7.30 am.

Well they cleaned the sumps, but the connecting pipes still appear to be blocked.

Wednesday 18 July 2007

Blocked Drains : 3

Reported today on BBC website

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hereford/worcs/6904501.stm

However a spokesman for Worcestershire County Council said the levels of rain in recent weeks had been unprecedented and impossible to predict.

He said: "Some of the water (on Tuesday) was raw sewage and Severn Trent are responsible for that, not the county council.

"Because of the floods three weeks ago all the drains in Tenbury were cleared then," he added.

Oh no they weren't!!!!!!

Sunday 15 July 2007

Blocked Drains : 2

Amazing this email stuff.

I only complained about the blocked drains 20 minutes ago and I have already got a reply from my local councillor.

Not bad for a sunday!

Blocked Drains

I've just walked my daughter to Sunday school, in what has become the regular weather this summer, heavy drizzle.

I was amazed that even this little rain was causing water to rush down the road in a stream over 18" wide. On further investigation I found that most of the drains are blocked. I wonder what would happen if it really rained hard?

I think this is one for our District Councillor.