REGARDING the proposed cemetery, planning application Ref 20/00863/FUL.
The Council’s own planning application for a Cemetery on eleven-and-a-half acres of public open space at Ipsley Church Lane has now attracted more than 570 written objections; more than any other single proposal during the 46 years I have lived here.
That is perhaps with the exception of when the former Redditch Development Corporation tried to get its hands on Morton Stanley Park for housing! That too was public open space, and still is.
At that time (mid-seventies) our Council was a fierce protector of public open Space and fought the Corporation to keep it for Redditch people in perpetuity.
It succeeded and earned itself a well-deserved reputation as a protector of public open space.
What’s gone wrong? Our present council has spent ten years looking for a site for a new cemetery and is now proposing to take eleven-and-a-half acres away from the Arrow Valley Country Park, contrary to its own 2017 Local Plan.
This land was a gift to Redditch in 1974 from the Redditch Development Corporation based on its Master Plan of 1968.
The Corporation developed the park and protected it in perpetuity for the use of all residents of Redditch, now totalling 86,700.
Surely the considerable resources available to the Council could have found a more suitable site without having to cut a large chunk out of the jewel of Redditch, namely the Arrow Valley Country Park.
Readers who feel the Council is wrong are free to write their objection to the Council planners.
I Willcock, Redditch
MY wife and I are Redditch borough residents and have lived in this constituency for more than ten years.
To be precise we are homeowners in Greenlands.
We have recently found out about the plans to build a cemetery in Arrow Valley Park.
We would like to take the opportunity to voice our disapproval for these plans.
As part of the community we are strongly against this idea and would like to let you know how we feel about the proposal.
We’d also like to question why this has been kept quiet for such a long time and if it wasn’t for members of local community we wouldn’t be aware of these plans.
It almost feels as if you didn’t want to consult Redditch residents’ on this matter and didn’t want this to become common knowledge until it was too late to do anything about it.
A Fox, Greenlands
YOUR correspondence page in last week’s Redditch Standard was full of letters attacking both Boris Johnson’s Internal Market Bill and Rachel Maclean for supporting it.
Let me offer a different view.
On February 8, 2020 (that was after the EU withdrawal act passed) there was a general election for the Dail Eireann (the Republic of Ireland parliament).
The party that won the most votes of any single party and 37 seats was Sinn Fein / IRA.
The self confessed aim of this organisation is the reunification of the island of Ireland.
This would be against the Good Friday agreement, an agreement incidentally never liked by the Republicans.
What Boris Johnson was doing was ‘buying’ insurance against the EU banning trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.
For instance the EU could ban the transfer of Welsh lamb to Belfast.
They could also stop the UK government supporting NI industry.
We cannot allow the EU or anybody else to break up the United Kingdom.
The Protestant people of Northern Ireland do not want to be absorbed into the Republic.
Their right to remain part of the UK is enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement, just as there is the notion that there should be no border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
Like any insurance policy one hopes never to have to use it but it is there just in case.
D Vincent, Winyates
IF Redditch Borough Council is to encourage the use of e-scooters in the town, then hopefully they will ensure there are sufficient police to supervise their use, unlike the lack of enforcement of the laws concerning cyclists.
Riding on the pavement is illegal, as is not having front and rear lights at night, and not having a bell fitted on new cycles, but all over town one is in constant danger of of being mown down by cyclists using the pavement or pedestrian areas.
A particularly bad example being marketplace and down past the Palace Theatre where they seem to find it amusing to ride as fast and close as possible to pedestrians, encouraged by the cycle lane some idiot saw fit to put in the underpass.
Perhaps the council should consult with Coventry City Council which had to withdraw the e-scooter scheme after a week due to misuse.
Finally, if the council has money to spare perhaps they could spend it on improving the pavements which are a death trap all over town, not just for walkers, but for mobility scooters and walking aid users.
M Morley, Headless Cross
PLEASE pass on my very grateful thanks to the staff at the The Cooks Cafe on Church Green after I was taken ill recently.
They were so kind in arranging a taxi to take us home and carrying our shopping and providing cups of tea. Also the lovely taxi driver.
Many thanks to you all.
R Pullen, Studley
