THIS weeks Redditch Standard letters.
Why not utilise what’s already here in town?
FOR £15.6million the people of Redditch are entitled to expect something new, that will excite, benefit and interest all generations and groups for years to come.
To demolish a multi-purpose and multi-million pound library and shunt a replacement into the Town Hall so that there maybe greater footfall to the Kingfisher Centre and “have somewhere to sit and have a drink” is madness.
The best way to maximise long-term success from a scheme intended to improve opportunities and amenities in the town centre is to involve local people fully throughout the process: choices, design, management and implementation.
Some are viewed as simply being opposed to change but surely the council can do better.
The Town Deal Plan (Draft) 2020 attracted 650 responses to the ‘community consultation’ – less than one per cent of the 84,000 population.
The document states: “The public realm does not create a natural space for social interactions or create a sense of thriving community, an important driver of local economies.”
The summer community events held in the Bandstand and around Church Green and Redditch BID Food Festivals attracted many people and vendors were busy all day.
Why not bring the market back? It once thrived in Redditch and they remain a key part of many high streets around the country.
Why not use the former Woolworths store as the organising base for town centre festivals/events and a social centre where there could be a variety of activities, entertainments and refreshments?
Why can’t we have an arts centre built along Church Road with the former library as frontage so that part of the town’s history is not left to rot?
The ‘plan’ holds the view that ‘Redditch Library is a transformative asset’ which seems to mean it is something disposable, can be moved on/dispensed with.
If it ain’t broke, why ‘fix’ it?
As there is considerable unused space in the Town Hall perhaps this could be used to further relations, mutual support, exchange and trade with the towns Redditch has formed links with and the places people have come to the town from such as Poland, the Caribbean, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, more recently and presently Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine.
A Godwin, Redditch
Baffled by inability to submit bus ideas
I SAW our MP Mrs Maclean was asking for ideas to help sort our buses, with a deadline for the end of submissions on November 16 (Standard, October 14).
So, why, when I tried to access the site on October 23 are ‘no new submissions’ allowed?
I had several good suggestions to make:
- A bus up Foxholes Lane and round the new Webheath estates (especially to reduce school-generated traffic to Downsell Road).
- A No 62 running hourly in both directions – who wants a guided tour of Redditch when they just want to get to or from Arrow Valley Park, Morrisons (with thawing fishfingers in the shopping bag) or Ipsley Nature Reserve after a two-hour visit necessitated by no bus before this time?
- Buses running from Headless Cross to Morrisons or Asda or even Lidl without needing to spend time in the horrible dark, smelly and cold bus station or on top of the hill in an open-sided bus shelter.
- How about buses after 8pm to boost Redditch nightlife but with rules and police enforcement to prevent drunks on the buses?
One assumes the Rouse/Maclean survey was just a bit of publicity to make us think they were listening to us, but it seems in actual fact, this was not the case – and one is tempted to add… again.
M Bish, Abbeydale
What a huge shame to concrete our gardens
PEOPLE just don’t seem to want gardens anymore.
Our neighbour kept a beautiful garden for many years.
The back garden was full of mature shrubs and roses beside the path down to the shed, the front garden a picture with its low brick wall with pink fuchsias and purple hebes spilling over it.
In the centre of the crazy paving, an elegant salix willow trimmed to look like a green summer parasol.
It was one of only a couple of front gardens on our road that hadn’t become hard surface driveways.
After our neighbour died in 2020, the gardens were left unchanged until last week when a contractor arrived.
After he’d removed the willow, chopping it up to fit in the van, he moved on to the back garden.
A couple of us called by for a chat. He told us everything’s to go. Nothing left but the shed. It’ll be slabbed over front and back.
The landlord told him tenants don’t want the bother of a garden nowadays.
By the end of the day, he reckoned he’d removed £500 worth of shrubs. The front garden will be next.
Are people so resistant to physical activity, so reluctant to have any inconveniences that they would rather gaze out from behind a 65-inch TV onto a grey lifeless scene of slab?
C Gibbs, Redditch
More questions over library proposal
THE new library is supposed to be bigger but according to the plans the archive space is smaller.
Also where are the public computers going?
I would like to know if the county council are just giving the building to Redditch Borough Council or if not how much are they getting for it and the new library?
Will the county council be paying Redditch council rent?
D Bonham, Redditch
