LETTERS - demolition of police station, town budget and parking at school time

‘Absolutely ridiculous’

I DO hope that you do a feature on the ludicrous demolition of the former police station on Grove Street.

Firstly, why the hell demolish such a modern building? Why not convert it into living accommodation? Typical Redditch/ Bromsgrove Planning.

Secondly, the closing of Grove Street, forcing a two-way system for traffic coming off the ring road and out of Farm Foods and Dunelm will only cause a multitude of accidents.

Mark my words, people will get hurt as I saw an accident there this morning.

Absolutely ridiculous.

David Barry

Beoley

‘We weren’t involved’

WITH reference to your front page article on Ipsley meadow, Brandon Clayton’s comment about ‘residents who have been involved in the planning process so far’ beggars’ belief.

If ‘involved’ means having our opinion ignored (from memory 854 objected and 13 approved) and every rational and detailed objection arrogantly dismissed rather than refuted, he may have a point.

If it means worthwhile consultation, we certainly were not involved.

The claim RBC spent ‘years hunting for the right location’ crops up frequently in reports on this issue but does not stand up to scrutiny.

Most of the sites were not given proper consideration, the suspicion being, they intended to steam-roll through the Ipsley site.

One of the sites shortlisted, Plymouth Road cemetery, was never viable and anyone with even a passing interest knew that.

The bizarre belief held by Conservative councillors that people would want to walk through the cemetery as though it were still parkland, baffles me.

Ipsley will not be a quiet country churchyard, it will be an operational cemetery with regular burials and expanding numbers of graves.

There will probably need to be buildings on the site for storage of equipment and possibly funerary rites.

The £320,000 cost mentioned is just for the first phase.

In July 2019 the projected cost was £1million and, as Mr Dormer himself has commented, construction costs since have out-paced general inflation and we all know how high that has been.

The whole process has been flawed from inception to conclusion.

If Labour is sincere in its claims of a genuine review, this is one former Conservative voter who hopes the Dormer regime is electorally annihilated in May.

K Wass

‘Big disappointment’

I WATCHED the council budget meeting on zoom on Monday and was really pleased to see the Labour Group putting forward a really exciting and positive alternative Budget.

It included a plan to stop the demolition of the library building and transform it in to a conference and function centre and support for small business and a Community Hub, bringing back the outdoor market, stalls at the Forge Mill Centre and stopping the Dial a Ride price hikes the Conservatives had placed upon vulnerable and elderly of Redditch.

This will bring in much-needed revenue and footfall to the council and Redditch.

You can probably guess the Conservatives voted against it but seeing the Lib Dem councillor who had recently defected from Labour voting against it and siding with the Conservatives was a massive disappointment to say the least.

At the last council elections I voted for Coun Miles as my Labour councillor.

I did not vote for her as a Lib Dem to vote against the interests of the residents and our town by agreeing to things like demolishing the library and hiking Dial-a-Ride prices.

This just goes to show it is Coun Miles who has changed her values and not for the better I might add.

A Berry

Batchley Resident

‘A negative tactic’

I WRITE this letter with strong feelings as the level of Labour members writing in over a councillor moving parties.

I find it astonishing that so many Labour members are willing to write in to attack a previous member so ferociously when they are happy to have a deputy leader who ran previously against Labour while also putting up candidates who were previously with other local parties as recently as the last couple of years.

It’s an interesting tactic but shows Redditch Labour in its true light which is to be negative.

I have seen and heard it for myself that what they say to people on the doorstep to the politics they enact are in a parallel universe.

Personally, I actually believe the difference between the centralist Redditch Conservatives and the centralist Redditch Labour group is minimal at best.

Vote Redditch Conservatives, get Conservatives

Vote Redditch Labour and you will get Conservative Light.

I’m happy to see a party stand up for people from all walks of life and speak with a true voice. For the people they represent and not be party whipped into voting for something they disagree on.

Melissa Anderson

Batchley

‘Proud of our budget’

ON MONDAY night the Labour group presented our alternative budget at the last full council meeting of the municipal year.

This is a budget that does not borrow millions to plug gaps in vanity projects put forward by the Tories.

This is a budget which minimises financial risk and ridicule.

This is a budget created after listening to the views of residents.

The highlights of our budget include:

The regeneration of the existing library building, which we will not demolish but refurbish and repurpose.

Our plan presents a vision of turning the building into a conference centre, with catering, small business hubs, co working desks, and community use.

We will endeavour to keep our archives in the humidity controlled basement area to preserve them for future generations. This plan will give us the community hub which Redditch deserves.

This plan will open up opportunities for businesses to invest, will provide a facility for our residents to hire, and enable opportunities for business development and support. We will do this without extra borrowing.

We will not increase dial a ride charges, therefore allowing our vulnerable residents and the elderly continued access to affordable transport,

We will bring back a vibrant working outdoor market, and bring life back into town centre. This is something which Redditch people continue to ask for.

We have put in proposals to create a craft centre in the Forge Mill Visitor Centre grounds with temporary units which small independent craft businesses can rent.

This will bring footfall and increased visitors to our fantastic historical asset.

Our budget brings rejuvenation to our town centre, allowing the community to enjoy the benefits of a vibrant town centre experience, and will encourage new businesses to invest, opening up the Redditch economy to promote growth and prosperity.

Our budget is costed and leaves our council finances in surplus. We will also generate an income stream which will be reinvested in your council, your assets and our future growth.

I am proud as Labour Group Leader to have put this budget forward.

The Conservative group presented a budget full of risk which will need millions of pounds of borrowing.

They insist on ploughing ahead with projects the people do not want and have forced through contracts that prevent anyone from stopping the relocation of the Library.

Redditch Labour has always opposed the moving of the library into the Town Hall, but we are now in a position that if we take control in May (as we fully intend to) we would have to cancel signed contracts in order to stop it.

This would bring financial ruin to the council potentially costing millions in legal fees and costs.

This is the situation the Conservatives have put Redditch in – they have rushed through the move as they know their time is up.

The Tory budget is a desperate, debt-fuelled disaster.

In May, you will have your say and can vote to help these plans for a fresh start become a reality.

A vote for Labour will ensure that you will have a council that will listen to you, and work for you. You will have a council with a balanced budget and a practical plan for growth.

Coun Joe Baker

Leader of the Redditch Labour Group

‘Accidents will happen’

I FREQUENTLY drive along Stonepits Lane, Hunt End, passing St Augustine’s School.

Unfortunately, I cannot always avoid the start and end of the school day when traffic is close to a standstill.

I have looked at the school’s website and can see no guidance as to any suggested conventions for parents and carers to follow when delivering or collecting pupils.

I appreciate St Augustine’s School has no authority over motorists’ habits.

I have, however, noticed there appears to be a convention by which parents and carers drop their school passengers close to the school gates and then proceed down Stonepits Lane to turn around in one of the roads off Stonepits Lane before joining the back of the queue of cars returning to Windmill Drive.

I am growing increasingly concerned by the drivers who appear to have a different approach and drop pupils off using the turning area outside the school which is used to allow school coaches to park to deliver and collect pupils.

The result of this ‘unconventional’ approach is the turning area is chocked with cars making access for coaches difficult.

As coaches cannot get into the turning area they can end up queuing in Stonepits Lane with traffic backing up to Windmill Drive.

Drivers, possibly in a hurry to get to work, leave the turning area and not wishing to join the back of a long queue of traffic on Stonepits Lane leave the turning area before there is a gap in traffic.

In the afternoon the convention seems to be for parents/carers to park facing Windmill Drive.

Why must some insist on parking on the double yellow lines on the corners of roads off Stonepits Lane?

The subliminal message being sent to pupils is there may be rules but they don’t apply to me, defended, I suspect, by words like ‘just’ and ‘only’.

Do these parents/carers not understand the yellow lines are not there for aesthetic reasons?

My concern is that factors including parking on double yellow lines, parking partly on the pavement, opening car doors without looking and pushing in to the queue of traffic may lead to an accident involving a person and/or damage to vehicles.

Someone having a ‘bad day’ may find themselves the centre of a road rage incident.

I hope access is not needed in an emergency.

A Hunt End resident

EDITORS COMMENT

WELL done to the Alexandra Hospital’s League of Friends for their latest £10,000 donation which has helped pay for Ward 5’s bladder scanner.

This will help patients and potentially prevent medical emergencies.

For a group of volunteers to – not just have provided this equipment – but helped the hospital to the tune of £1million over the years is a fantastic achievement.

With the cost-of-living crisis and funding struggles, groups such as the League of Friends are needed more than ever.