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THREE ALDERNEY PLAY
SITES GET SHARE OF GOVT. FUNDING
Three play area sites in Alderney are
earmarked for improvements in year two (2010/11) as part of the Play Builder scheme,
funded by a £1.1M Government grant. The scheme is aimed at improving existing
play facilities, with improvements targeted at the 8 to 13 y/o age group.
Liberal Democrat Councillors expressed
concern at the use of the term “rationalise”. Bournemouth Council seems to have
interpreted the term as giving them the opportunity to close down some sites
and selling the land for development. The Liberal Democrats sought a firm
assurance that this was not on the cards for Poole. There
was no such assurance.
The three Alderney sites
listed are Belben Road, Scott
Road and Hatchard’s
Field. Nearer the time there will be consultation on these sites. For a list of
all the sites and the approximate order they will be looked at click here.
The play area at Belben Road – one of three sites
that have been granted “Play Builder” funding. This could be improved and possibly
relocated.
BID TO REDUCE TOP ALLOWANCES
There was a
bid by Independent ex-Conservative Councillors and Liberal Democrats
to reduce “Special Responsibility Allowances” paid to Senior Councillors by 5%, and freeze
them for 5 years in line with the stated policy of National Conservatives. Poole’s Conservative Councillors, who have given
themselves huge rises in allowances as recently as April 2009, look set to
reject the call. They were also asked to consider reducing the press and
publicity budget by a third. This has also been increased in recent years. We
wait to see whether the Conservative party honours this new found principle, or
whether it proves just to be more hot air and opportunistic spin!
BEING OPEN...
Click
here for a complete summary of allowances received by Poole Councillors for 2008/9 c/w known payments received
from outside bodies that relate to being a Poole Councillor (not all are known
or up to date).
If you have any questions please feel free to contact us.
FEARS OVER
LOCAL HEATHS
Local Liberal Democrat Councillors submitted a motion to Poole Council on 7th
April expressing concern about an apparent reduction in dedicated wardens on
local heaths. It expressed fears about arson, and sought reassurance that
additional wardens paid for from developer contributions under the Heathland Mitigation scheme would be in addition to
existing Borough funded wardens. Sadly our worst fears have been realised when
on Sunday 19th April, Talbot Heath had it’s
worse fire for nearly 20 years. A lot of wildlife has been destroyed, and it
will take a quarter of a century for the area to fully recover – and this
depends on proper management to prevent gorse, grass and bracken from crowding
out the re-growth of the heather.
We are hoping for an
improvement in management of heath land BEFORE Bourne Bottom and adjacent heath
land suffers such a catastrophe.
Above – examples of the aftermath of the devastating fire
on Talbot Heath
PARKING
PROBLEMS IN WALLISDOWN
Residents have been
complaining about workers clogging up residential streets during the day. This
has already led to extra restrictions in Mossley Avenue and Benbow Crescent / Raleigh Road & Wallisdown Road service road. There are new requests from Benbow Crescent and Bryant Road. Bryant Road can only be dealt
with as a part of a wider scheme involving Chandos Avenue and Heathfield Road, but a lengthening of
the restrictions in Benbow Crescent is to be advertised
shortly. Bournemouth Council will also be consulted about the problems in Benbow Crescent that seem to be
caused by workers from the industrial estate on their side of Wallisdown Road. Some residents have
suggested that there is some potential for additional parking on the wide verge
or the service road adjacent to the estate.
Above left –
Benbow Crescent, the bends are a particular problem. Above right
– Bryant Road is wider but adjacent roads are very narrow
LOCAL
COUNCILLORS MEET BUS COMPANY
Local Liberal Democrat Councillors from
across the modified Bournemouth West Constituency (two from Bournemouth, Roger
West & Pat Lewis, and one from Poole – Tony
Trent) met with representatives from Bournemouth Transport
Yellow Buses / Transdev to discuss local service
provision. The meeting was also open to local Conservative Councillors – but
none attended. We were pleased to receive assurances that there were no further service cuts planned for the near future.
Meanwhile an agreement has been reached on measures to
ease the problems faced by the Rossmore Flyer turning
in and out of Albert
Road from and into Rossmore Road.
Following on site meetings involving adjacent Ward Councillors, traffic
engineers and the bus company, it was agreed to introduce waiting restrictions
on one side only of Albert
Road near the junction, and to move the
bus clearway nearer the junction and moving a single parking space to the west
of the clearway. The problems were made worse because of the success of this
supported service, introduced following pressure from local councillors. Roadliner have been using either bigger,
or even two, vehicles on their first run of the day – which leaves Alderney
West at exactly 9.30am.
FUN DAY
SUCCESS
The
fun day at Bourne Valley Youth Centre (9th April) was a roaring
success. It featured a range of activities including football, face painting, a
climbing wall, African drumming, Easter egg hunt, and numerous stands and
displays. There was also a performance by Poole Dolphin Cheerleaders.
Back to Alderney News Page 1 * Youth In Action (positive
items about young people from the Rossmore/Alderney
area)
ALDERNEY WEST
YOUTH CLUB
A weekly volunteer run youth club is held every
Wednesday from 7 to 9pm at Alderney West
Community Centre, Bedford Road South. The
volunteers, who operate with help from Poole Housing Partnership, the Police
and Youth Services, are hoping to introduce an early Monday Evening session for
younger children – but that would need many additional volunteers. The new MUGA
(multi use games area), being constructed on part of the AWCC car park, should
add greatly to the facilities available.
Pictured
right: The Mayor Charles Meachin, Mayoress
Barbara Meachin, Ward Councillor Tony Trent, Sarah Wallis (PHP), Bob Peachey (key
volunteer), PCSO Patrick Wales and supporters of the Alderney West Youth Club at the first
birthday celebrations in July 2009.
Charles Meachin, who has represented Alderney since 1996, became Poole’s new Mayor on May 12th. He
has been serving as Sheriff since May 2008 (pictured left with Lindsay and Tony following last year’s
ceremony). The new
Sheriff is Poole Town Councillor Chris Bulteel. We wish Charles well in the coming
year.
AND FOR
THE MUSIC FAN (from Rossmore to Parkstone
via Camden and The World)...
Ex Rossmore
lad Eddie Argos (formerly Kevin Macklin) set up his first band, The Art
Goblins, back in 1997. Their first ever gig was supporting then local hopefuls Circa at a fundraising gig for Poole Music Festival, which
ran from 1997 to 2001 and was originally set up by the web master of this site.
A few years ago he moved to London and in 2003 set up
Art Brut.
Art Brut attracted the
attention of Radio One DJ John Peel and were invited
in to do a session. At the end of the year they found themselves dominating
what was to become John Peel’s last ever Festive Fifty – voted for by
listeners. Fierce Panda records, famous for releasing early records by many of
the biggest bands in the UK, released an EP which
went into the Top 40 to become the label’s highest ever charting record. An
album followed (“Bang Bang Rock and Roll”), and a
major label (EMI) released a follow up “It’s A Bit Complicated” which spawned a
couple of singles picked up by the coolest indie
inclined radio stations, including BBC 6
Music and XFM.
NEW ALBUM AND SINGLE
Art Brut have had
write ups in the quality press, are darlings of the NME, and seemed to have spent
most of the last few years continuously touring around the world. In April 2009
they released their third album “Art Brut vs Satan”
on Cooking Vinyl records. They have also, belatedly, had their first UK TV
exposure, on Channel Four’s “JD Presents...” which included live performances
of tracks from their debut EP plus a duet with Hugh Cornwall (ex Stranglers
front man) on “Duchess”. There is a bid to get them on a major show like “Later
With Jools Holland” – where
the UK public would get a
chance to catch up with the rest of the world and get to fully appreciate this
most English sounding of bands.
Meanwhile why not
check out their latest LP “Art Brut vs Satan”. You
can check out Myspace or go to www.artbrut.org.uk where you can also buy
the album. Better still why not visit a proper record shop (they need your
support) to buy the album, or if you need further convincing, the single “Alcoholics Unanimous” – which
is available on 7”, CD or download.
Facebook group “Get Art Brut on Jools Holland’s Later”...
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=89709243280&ref=mf
The Art Brut single out now on CD, 7” &
download – check out www.artbrut.org.uk
for more info.
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c.2009
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