Tenbury AV Debate

A surprisingly large crowd turned attended this afternoons AV debate in a swelteringly hot Pump Rooms. 

The sometimes heated meeting, was ably chaired by Adrian Kibbler from the Tenbury Advertiser.

Against AV was Harriett Baldwin MP, and WCC Cllr Dr Ken Pollock, and for AV Neville Farmer (Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson, Wyre Forest) and Dr Miles Weaver (Senior Lecturer in Strategic Management at De Montfort University & former Tenbury Resident.)

I'm not sure that any of the arguments put forward will have changed many minds, but it was interesting see see how the speakers thought.

Harriett Baldwin wondered whether the people who voted for the Bus Pass Elvis Party (Do visit their website) should really be able to have six choices and perhaps hold the balance of power.

With first past the post, you knew who you voted for and which manifesto.

Neville Farmer wondered if the existing MP for Wyre Forest should be in Parliament when he only polled 36% of the vote.  He also felt that under AV you could vote for who you wanted for and not feel that your vote would be wasted and so should vote tactically.

Miles Weaver, felt that AV wasn't the best system, but was a better option than the existing one.

Ken Pollock, felt that AV would lead to endless confusion and a lower turnout, with more people becoming disconnected from the political system.

Of course, all this would make no change in this constituency where there was a 74% turnout and where Harriett Balwin took over 50% of the vote. 

Cattle Market Car Park Opens

The unofficial Old Cattle Market Car Park is once again open for parking.

It seems that it wasn't a U-Turn by the owners, but by virtue of the barrier being damaged by a reversing vehicle.

In other news, the Public Realm works are now likely to be started mid 2012 not 2011.

The Bridge works are to be given priority, followed by new drains and then finally roads & pavements.

Malvern Hills struggles to identify Tenbury.

Malvern Hills District Council is pleased to announce the launch of its brand new Visit the Malverns website that is full of useful information about the area. It has been developed by Hughes Media of Stanford Bridge in conjunction with Malvern TIC staff.

So far so good?  According to this "brand new website" "The cattle / sheep market is held on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

It's so good that despite Tenbury being the home of no less than 4 Malvern Hills District Council Councillors including the leader of the Council, when it comes to Tourist & Visitor information there is such poor quality information being published. Even the website designers live quite close.

Perhaps they can be forgiven to using an out of date map (even though a revised one has been produced), & yes the Tenbury TIC only moved last weekend (although the move had been planned for quite some while), but please the Cattle Market has been closed for many years.

The site has chosen to use only two very poor photo's of Tenbury (contrast that to 8 on the Malvern page)

The what's on section seems to mostly exclude Tenbury.  No mention of the Food Fair or Applefest (although they do list Bromyard's Applefest).  There is a mention of the 1941 weekend, but linked to the wrong website.

As for accommodation, Tenbury appears to be to be almost barren, yet even the National papers seem to manage to list some local providers amongst the Best in Britain.

This is a very good example why people of Tenbury continue to feel that they get very little benefit from MHDC.


Update 2pm: Looks like some corrections have already been uploaded. 
Update 11am Sat 23/4/11: More updates including some photo's I took yesterday.
Update Fri 29/4 : Site has now been rewritten

First Two Councillors Elected

The first Two Councillors for Tenbury Town Council have now been officially elected.

The St Michael ward of Tenbury Town Council only had two candidates for two seats, so the nominees have been duly elected.

Full details.

The other 11 seats will be announced on May 6th, after one of the 12 nominees who obtains the lowest vote is not elected.

CIDRE - Whatever next?

Belguim Cider or rather Cidre from Belgian. Apparently made from Hand Picked Apples.  Thank you, but No thank you.  I think the local three counties can produce more than enough varieties to suit most palates.

It's a great shame Asda aren't promoting our local Ciders with as much enthusiasm.

Films back at the Regal (For a while)

A short season of films is being planned for the Tenbury Regal.  Due to a short delay in starting the refurbishment project, a few weeks have become available for showing films.

The first is the multi-award winning KINGS SPEECH starting on Monday 9th May for three nights.

Tenbury Scout to Litter Pick

Election in Tenbury

There will be an Election next month for Tenbury Town Council.

Initial indications showed that there were less candidates nominated than seats available, but now the final list has been published there are 12 nominations and 11 seats.

The remaining two seat designated as St Michaels have attracted two candidates so there will be no election for these seats.

Full list of Candidates

Four Cllrs have decided not to seek re-election.  They are

Richard Jones
Tony Penn
Jane Jenner
Ray Richards

The new Nominations are

Jay Da Costa
Mary Drummond
George Price
Mark Willis

and Eric Hudson, standing in the St Michaels Ward.

Lets talk about the Tenbury Palmers Car Park

Cllr Joe Watson, asked the Tenbury Town Council to talk to as many people as possible about the possibility of introducing a small charge for parking on Palmers Meadow Car Park.

Although the Council have been putting away a sum of money each year for the eventual resurfacing, the figure has not been increased in line with inflation.  Unless much larger sums are saved in the future by increasing the precept the Council would not be able to pay for the resurfacing when it is required.

Whilst most peoples initial reaction is that there shouldn't be a charge, some change their mind when considering the full facts.

The car park is mostly used by people who don't live in Tenbury, so the very people who are paying for it, don't use it.  In most places people who drive to work have to pay to park their cars.  Many of the people who work in Tenbury, and drive to work, don't live here so again they are making use of a facility they don't pay for.

It would be possible to have schemes, such as residents permits, season tickets, refund of charges when using the pool or when spending above a certain amount at the shops. All ideas are worth considering.

Even a small charge multiplied by the 91 spaces over a period of a year would bring in substantial revenues.

For instance: 91 Spaces @ £1 a day for 312 days would bring in £28,392, even with partial occupancy and several discount schemes the revenue could be significant.

I believe the question of who uses a facility and who pays for it should be extended to all the Town Council's facilities.

The Town Council only appear to receive £5 a year income for the skip area, although Severn Waste have included in their budget (and therefore in their tender to WCC) the cost of building and running a new waste facility for Tenbury.

We all pay for the Tennis Courts, the Bowling Green, the Rugby & Football pitches etc, but how many of us use them?  There has been a move by both the Tennis Club and the Bowling club to fund some of the maintenance and repairs themselves, and this is to be welcomed as these facilities which appear to be used by relatively few cost many thousands a year in maintenance but bring in significantly less in income.

All (sensible) comments are welcome.

Tenbury Advertiser

Tenbury's Teme Bridge to Close for Months.

It was announced tonight that Tenbury's historic Teme Bridge will initially be closed to all vehicular traffic on several Sundays in May & June 2011 for extensive structural investigations.

Once the extent of the work is known, a full work schedule will be produced.  It is expected that the required works will take several months to complete and will require complete closure of the bridge to all traffic.

It is likely, although not confirmed that the closure will start in December 2011 and continue well into the new year.

It is expected that a temporary car park will be established on the Shropshire side of the river and a temporary footbridge will be installed to enable people to walk into town.