NOTE: Other pople will have their own reactions to the project. Good, bad or indifferent. But read other entries and weigh up the for and against points in other blog pages that will be added over the coming weeks and make your own choice because I'm not and never intend to do it for you. I will be asking Bristol City Council questions about the project, I will be asking local Councillors Spud Murphy and Terry Cook questions too after all they are meant to represent the local community as a whole and as individuals, to find out answers to our questions, concerns and other subjects besides. Whatever the Councillors or Bristol City Council come back to me with I will put it in a blog for all to read. And if you have more questions/concerns I encourage you to ask and find out for yourself, because everybody is different and we won't always agree. The world would be a boring place if we did!
Originally posted on my personal blog Monday 24th September 2007 with my initial reaction and feelings including being cynical and sarcastic.
Wonders will never cease with such brilliance of Bristol City Council. For once they have delivered the leaflets this morning for the Portway Park and Ride expansion to the right area this time. About 18 months ago, maybe longer the Council refused to comment on the allegation (although I had in in Black and white) that they had plans to expand the P&R and use the Portway allotments. Radio Bristol even reported this news.
My feedback on latest developments is not a positive one. Do the Council really think everybody is going to flock to Cabot Circus when it opens in Bristol and continue to do so making use of the Portway P&R? And that new P&R spaces are going to fill up with great ease due to this new shopping centre? Ummm I don't think so. As with everything new the novelty soon wears off and this will apply to Cabot Circus in central Bristol. Oh and we also have Cribbs Causeway with great facilities already, even I use those on a regular basis.
Why expand a P&R that is a dead duck, a white elephant. Hasn't it already proved beyond the Council's plans, forecast, wildest dreams and everything else that the Portway P&R is a failure. And how is being financially supported? It should have been self sufficent way before now without more money being thrown at it into a bottomless pit. Well the traffic flow for a start is going the wrong way anyway. It was put in the wrong place. I could go on after my last campaign and the sad thing is those against the original project have been proved right with lack of use and revenue among other things.
If this was a business I really can't see how people would invest money in something that will loose money! Oh I forgot, Government grants are being thrown at this. The shortfalls of the Portway Park and Ride have been reported in the past. How is this going to benefit the community and I mean the local community, not achieve Government targets set. What do we as a community get from it? Does it make our lives better personally, does it put beaming smiles on our faces, does it get us fit, does it keep us healthy, does it help people communicate, interact, socialise, does it bring revenue into the local community to re-invest into local community projects?
Another piece of land concreted over never to achieve potential and only to provide further disappointment. Next stage will be to move further down onto the daisy fields by the railway station and concrete that over too. Lets make Shirehampton one big car park! This isn't Portbury or Avonmouth Docks for car and van storage you know!
Park and Rides are fine as long as they are put in the right place and are used, but Portway has failed and not acheived expectations at all. How will expansion improve this?
I haven't used the P&R because it's of no use to me. It doesn't get me to where I want to go anyway. In fact I don't like buses full stop. Ironically when I used to work for the Council (many years ago) I used to use the bus. Hated it. Late, expensive, smelly, dirty, uncomfortable, inconvenient, over crowded, health and safety risk, buses drive by, nighmare for shoppers and several trips later still not finished shopping, and it hasn't changed. Still the same as I discovered after a trip to Blackboy Hill (the P&R couldn't get me there) very recently.
Yes I drive, yes I use a car, but I also walk, ride a bike and use the train (Severn Beach line is an A star service) when I want or when I need to. But for me my time is important, I like a hassle free journey and I want to get to the destination where I want to be and not be restricted by public transport timetables. And having lived with family with disabilities a P&R isn't exactly advantageous at all! Public transport still has it's limitations. We are not sheep you know and don't follow because we are told. We are individuals and don't fit into nice neat little packages just because the Council want it that way!
The expansion of the P&R will be an even greater disaster than it is now. Damage limitation is needed and the expansion should be refused. And please don't use 'it's better for the environment' card please. Been there done that got the T-shirt. It hasn't improved the environment where I live and I'm all for campaigning on environmental issues, do my bit, but please be realistic and don't use the banner as an excuse!
Todays society doesn't give a damn what is going on in their village, town, city, the world, because its beyond their front gate. Communities are breaking down and social skills circle around "me me me and sod the rest". Sadly community spirit is almost non existent and that is what local councils rely on. Apathy, to push through their schemes. They want as little opposition as possible.
Of course there are people like me who will make a stand. I believe in change for the better but not change for change sake or because it's been written on some plan or other. The Portway P&R expansion is a waste and when it first went to consultation a few years ago Councillors were told by public, you do this and you'll expand further which they denied. More was said besides. Says a lot really.
And the community that I live in, the facilities available are a local library (limit on open times), local shops, a community hall, schools including a nursery and Health Centre. The community social calendar isn't exactly vibrant. We've lost a number of social facilities over the past 5 years or more. However more flats get built and useless projects that do nothing to improve the community spirit get passed. The ploy seems to be, remove everything social and community wise to the central city so people have to use public transport to use them. Not exactly ideal is it or environmentally friendly? No wonder there is breakdown in communication and watching out for each other/neighbours within the community these days. Today we are all social misfits who just don't take any notice of what is going on around them or how to have their say on improving their area for the better for all to share.
I've had my say and I'm sure more will follow one day.
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