The Farnborough Society recently initiated the Rushmoor Pedestrian Forum, the first public meeting of which took place on 6th December. Under the chairmanship of my friend Clive Andrews, we brought together, as guest speakers, a transport officer from Hampshire County Council, a blind lady (with her guide dog) and a police officer. By the end of the evening, we had a range of views that will provide a solid basis on which we hope to build meaningful relationships with both Hampshire County Council and Rushmoor BC for the benefit of all pavement users.
The issue that dominated was cycling on the pavements and it became abundantly clear that the mish-mash of cycle lanes and shared pavements in Rushmoor pleases nobody because of the lack of consistancy. Sometimes pedestrians are on the outside, sometimes cyclists, sometimes lanes are marked, sometimes not, the signage isn't good and there seems to be a great deal of confusion generally. I've proposed asking Rushmoor BC for a Task and Finish Group to examine the subject and hope to gain approval for that shortly, under the auspices of the Leisure and Youth Panel, on which I serve. Through my involvement with the Pedestrian Forum, I have made contacts with the Cycle Forum, the police and the handicapped, all of which will be invaluable if we are to achieve anything meaningful.
Saturday 31 December 2011
Wednesday 7 December 2011
The Farnborough Society
It's been a very busy time with TFS, with us breaking new ground in a couple of ways that I think are important. First, there was the series of seminars on planning and development that I organised in association with Yateley Society and Fleet and Church Crookham Society. They attracted people from civic societies throughout the region and, judging by the feedback we got, they found them useful.
We kicked off with 'The Fundamentals of Planning', the day after royal assent was given to the Localism Bill, so there was a lot to consider regarding how things are likely to change. On a somewhat lighter note, the second seminar dealt with heritage protection and listed buildings, which was especially interesting for me because one of the speakers was Graham Rood from Farnborough Air Sciences Trust, of which I'm an assocation member, who told us about the fascinating collection of listed buildings at the former Royal Aircraft Establishment site: wind tunnels, a centrafuge and our famous 'black sheds', among them. Finally, we addressed the issue of challenging planning applications, probably the area most likely to affect us all.
Frankly, I got rather fed up with the organisation, not least because it shouldn't have been down to me at all--the Chairman of our Planning Group wasn't available for the meetings of the steering group, so I got lumbered. But it was the inordinate amount of fuss that really got to me. What could have been a relatively simple venture became increasingly complicated as our partners sought to turn it into a parody of a business conference, which I found rather ridiculous, to say nothing of the enormous number of emails it necessitated, over a period of weeks, fussing over details. Although we plan to host perhaps one seminar a year from now on, to keep abreast of planning issues, I've gratefully handed over to the appropriate person, who will hopefully be far more patient than I.
Our other new venture is the Rushmoor Pedestrian Forum, the first public meeting of which was held last night. The turnout was disappointing, though quite a few people contacted us to say they were interested, but couldn't make it. We had an officer from Hampshire County Council to give us an update on the Farnborough and Aldershot Town Access Plans, a police officer to deal with the legalities of common complaints such as parking or cycling on pavements, and a blind lady who brilliantly gave us some insight into her experience negotiating the pavements with her guide dog. It was all useful stuff and we got a lot of good feedback. I've got a lot of work now, sorting and prioritising the data collected. Hopefully, we've taken the first steps in building good working relationships with both the county and borough councils, and achieving some improvements for walkers and other footpath users in Rushmoor.
We kicked off with 'The Fundamentals of Planning', the day after royal assent was given to the Localism Bill, so there was a lot to consider regarding how things are likely to change. On a somewhat lighter note, the second seminar dealt with heritage protection and listed buildings, which was especially interesting for me because one of the speakers was Graham Rood from Farnborough Air Sciences Trust, of which I'm an assocation member, who told us about the fascinating collection of listed buildings at the former Royal Aircraft Establishment site: wind tunnels, a centrafuge and our famous 'black sheds', among them. Finally, we addressed the issue of challenging planning applications, probably the area most likely to affect us all.
Frankly, I got rather fed up with the organisation, not least because it shouldn't have been down to me at all--the Chairman of our Planning Group wasn't available for the meetings of the steering group, so I got lumbered. But it was the inordinate amount of fuss that really got to me. What could have been a relatively simple venture became increasingly complicated as our partners sought to turn it into a parody of a business conference, which I found rather ridiculous, to say nothing of the enormous number of emails it necessitated, over a period of weeks, fussing over details. Although we plan to host perhaps one seminar a year from now on, to keep abreast of planning issues, I've gratefully handed over to the appropriate person, who will hopefully be far more patient than I.
Our other new venture is the Rushmoor Pedestrian Forum, the first public meeting of which was held last night. The turnout was disappointing, though quite a few people contacted us to say they were interested, but couldn't make it. We had an officer from Hampshire County Council to give us an update on the Farnborough and Aldershot Town Access Plans, a police officer to deal with the legalities of common complaints such as parking or cycling on pavements, and a blind lady who brilliantly gave us some insight into her experience negotiating the pavements with her guide dog. It was all useful stuff and we got a lot of good feedback. I've got a lot of work now, sorting and prioritising the data collected. Hopefully, we've taken the first steps in building good working relationships with both the county and borough councils, and achieving some improvements for walkers and other footpath users in Rushmoor.
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