Victory for West View Gardens!
When I first moved to this house in 1978, it was on a badly potholed unmade road, accessed by a steep drive so overgrown with brambles as to render it (the drive, not the house) invisible. As a result, West View Gardens was unknown to anyone except residents and taxi drivers. Across from the terrace of twelve two-up-two-down houses stood a little ghost town of shops, apparently abandoned at a moment’s notice when their occupants were called up for the war. In addition to three ancient and stately copper beeches, smaller trees had grown up around (and through) the shops, rendering the whole area quite magical.
In 1982, the plot of land where the ghost town stood was purchased; the copper beeches were cut down, the shops demolished, and a supermarket built. West View Gardens is separated from the supermarket’s carpark by a ten-foot brick wall, which keeps out most of the noise and prevents shoppers looking into our front gardens.
Several months ago, neighbours alerted me to the fact that plans were posted in the local library, for a major redevelopment of East Grinstead’s town centre. There is an overall plan for the town centre, but the bit that shocked us was a proposal to extend the supermarket across the carpark and build a multi-storey parking structure on top of it. Our road, which is so narrow that two cars cannot pass each other, was to be made into a through road providing access to the multi-level parking – a plan that would not only be detrimental to us, but was entirely impractical from an urban planning perspective.
It was like pulling teeth to rally the residents of our road (with a few notable exceptions) to write letters to the District Council. In the end, I drafted a letter from the Residents’ Association collectively, and delivered copies of it to everyone in the road for their comments. Two weeks later, I had to chase up most of the responses. I re-drafted the letter and with the help of two other residents, got everyone on the road to sign it. We sent it off to the District Council, to our local Town Councillors, and to our MP. My next-door neighbour organized a meeting with two of the Town Councillors, who were very supportive – but only half of the twelve households in the road showed up for the meeting.
Our MP was also very supportive, writing to the District Council as soon as he received our letter; the Council sat up and took notice, and he forwarded their reply to us promptly.
We have just heard that the District Council will be recommending against the proposals for the extension of West View Gardens into a through road, as well as the building of a multi-storey parking structure.
What amazed me throughout this saga, and continues to amaze me, is the depth of apathy and defeatism that prevents people making a difference by simply making their views known. Everyone complained about it, but we complained to each other, rather than to local government, who could – and did – do something about it.
Now what if everyone affected by the drought in the Southeast put some energy into holding the Water companies to account for leakages of up to 25%, while we are all (I hope) conscientiously conserving water? The conservation efforts of individuals are a drop in the reservoir compared to the amount being lost to leakage. Which is not to say that we should not continue to do our bit – but how about demanding that the government makes the Water companies pull up their socks?
Some of the issues surrounding our water supply in the Southeast are covered in a Radio 4 programme aired today. A summary of the program appears at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/programmes/file_on_4/5121902.stm
You can listen to the entire program on: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/noscript.shtml?/radio/aod/news.shtml?radio4/fileon4
Cesca
www.ichingconsultation.com
When I first moved to this house in 1978, it was on a badly potholed unmade road, accessed by a steep drive so overgrown with brambles as to render it (the drive, not the house) invisible. As a result, West View Gardens was unknown to anyone except residents and taxi drivers. Across from the terrace of twelve two-up-two-down houses stood a little ghost town of shops, apparently abandoned at a moment’s notice when their occupants were called up for the war. In addition to three ancient and stately copper beeches, smaller trees had grown up around (and through) the shops, rendering the whole area quite magical.
In 1982, the plot of land where the ghost town stood was purchased; the copper beeches were cut down, the shops demolished, and a supermarket built. West View Gardens is separated from the supermarket’s carpark by a ten-foot brick wall, which keeps out most of the noise and prevents shoppers looking into our front gardens.
Several months ago, neighbours alerted me to the fact that plans were posted in the local library, for a major redevelopment of East Grinstead’s town centre. There is an overall plan for the town centre, but the bit that shocked us was a proposal to extend the supermarket across the carpark and build a multi-storey parking structure on top of it. Our road, which is so narrow that two cars cannot pass each other, was to be made into a through road providing access to the multi-level parking – a plan that would not only be detrimental to us, but was entirely impractical from an urban planning perspective.
It was like pulling teeth to rally the residents of our road (with a few notable exceptions) to write letters to the District Council. In the end, I drafted a letter from the Residents’ Association collectively, and delivered copies of it to everyone in the road for their comments. Two weeks later, I had to chase up most of the responses. I re-drafted the letter and with the help of two other residents, got everyone on the road to sign it. We sent it off to the District Council, to our local Town Councillors, and to our MP. My next-door neighbour organized a meeting with two of the Town Councillors, who were very supportive – but only half of the twelve households in the road showed up for the meeting.
Our MP was also very supportive, writing to the District Council as soon as he received our letter; the Council sat up and took notice, and he forwarded their reply to us promptly.
We have just heard that the District Council will be recommending against the proposals for the extension of West View Gardens into a through road, as well as the building of a multi-storey parking structure.
What amazed me throughout this saga, and continues to amaze me, is the depth of apathy and defeatism that prevents people making a difference by simply making their views known. Everyone complained about it, but we complained to each other, rather than to local government, who could – and did – do something about it.
Now what if everyone affected by the drought in the Southeast put some energy into holding the Water companies to account for leakages of up to 25%, while we are all (I hope) conscientiously conserving water? The conservation efforts of individuals are a drop in the reservoir compared to the amount being lost to leakage. Which is not to say that we should not continue to do our bit – but how about demanding that the government makes the Water companies pull up their socks?
Some of the issues surrounding our water supply in the Southeast are covered in a Radio 4 programme aired today. A summary of the program appears at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/programmes/file_on_4/5121902.stm
You can listen to the entire program on: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/noscript.shtml?/radio/aod/news.shtml?radio4/fileon4
Cesca
www.ichingconsultation.com
posted by Cesca Diebschlag at 10:58 AM
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