Sdapeze's Colchester

10:27:42 o'clock BST
Feeling Chillin'
The results of the local council elections are in and the Tories have lost overall control of Colchester Borough Council. There are a couple of them that I was sad to see go but the overall situation can only be good for Colchester. At least now the different political parties will have to work together for the common good - won't they? The people have rebelled against the horrendous amount of tightly packed soulless, gardenless high rise rabbit hutches that have been built in the town, with no attention to the provision of better roads, schools, drainage, car parking, etc. to accommodate this massive increase in people coming to the town. Labour have received their usual poor support, beaten by the BNP, and could surely do with a change of leadership. Exciting times ahead?

Written by sdapeze Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

17:00:24 o'clock BST
Feeling Angry
Is it fair that Colchester's community tax payers should have their money used to provide a final salary linked pension to council employees, when that money could be far better used to provide better services in our town? I don't have the security that such a pension offers and I don't see why anybody else should, when I am funding it for them. These pensions were agreed at a time when this country's insurance and pension industries were going well. Nobody asked me whether I minded such a deal being agreed with my money. Meanwhile, the grey men are selling off our assets to make up for the money shortfall and our services are getting worse and worse. Not that they would accept that!

Written by sdapeze Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

12:11:44 o'clock BST
Feeling Frustrated

I see that an amount of £35000 of our money is being offered to employ a person to organise festival events for Colchester. This money won't actually give us a festival; it will give us another council employee. The Colchester Festival Association, an organisation formed in 2000 with a superb track record of providing festival events in Colchester, would have used this money to actually provide a festival for the town, not to employ somebody to run one. They would have done it for nothing, for the love of their town, for the good of the community, for the prestige and trade that it would bring. They did it for five years for nothing, by raising money through sponsorship and grants, having to actually pay the council for services rather than for those services to be given freely by the council. Where is the logic in all this?

Written by sdapeze Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

17:26:06 o'clock BST
Feeling Happy
A good day for the English? Personally I am proud to be British so there will be no Cross of St George flying at Sdapeze Mansions. Our queen, God bless her, is Queen of Great Britain, not Queen of England so, what's good for her is fine by me. So let the footballing racists fly their flags today and make us all squirm with their vile utterances. It will be all over tomorrow. What we need in Colchester is a St Helena's Day so that we can celebrate being Colcestrians. What say?

Written by sdapeze Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

16:04:03 o'clock BST
Feeling Frustrated

The latest daft idea that they have come up with is to throw £11 million or so at eliminating traffic congestion in Colchester. Wow! They have identified four locations that need attention, one of these being the 4 way crossroads at the top of Brook Street. Now, if my memory serves me well, didn't they introduce an 'intelligent'  traffic light system a couple of years ago at massive cost, to ease the situation? Did it work? Do we need our money back? Are these people completely stupid? Can they really not see that it is people using their cars that cause the traffic problems. Isn't it the case that the people that complain about the traffic delays are the very same people who cause the traffic delays - or have I missed something?

I would strongly suggest that the said crossroads and every other crossroads, junction or roundabout should be left well alone and that the £11 or so million be spent on doing the right thing about the hell hole that car drivers cause in our once lovely town. By the right thing I mean,

1. Close off the High Street and Head Street and Queen Street to vehicles,

2. Make the town centre subject to a congestion charge,

3. Provide two park and ride sites, one at Stane Park and the other at Cuckoo Farm,

4. Provide a subsidised bus system with 20 minute frequency, from the Park and Ride sites and the various other public car parks that exist already, viz Middleborough, Butt Road, etc.

5. Make real provision for cyclists in the town, not just lines on the road that car driviers completely ignore,

6. Hit all lazy, inconsiderate, illegally parked car drivers hard with fines to bring about a change in attitude in Colchester.

Other towns have done it. Why don't we?

Written by sdapeze Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

17:55:09 o'clock BST
Feeling Angry

Our local press has decided that they will not publish letters of a political nature until the election of 20 borough councillors has happened. So, this means that we have no way of expressing our concerns about what is happening in Colchester as a result of the actions of our politicians - nor can we learn of the concerns of others. Once these people are elected, it is too late. Our press should be detailing what action has been taken in our name since the last election, so that it may inspire our apathetic non-voters to get up off their backsides and to cast a vote for change. We have a dictatorship in our Town Hall, in case you hadn't noticed. Tony Blair's cabinet system has emasculated our elected councillors. A handful of wealthy outsiders are selling off our assets to the highest bidders with the result that hundreds of low quality, multi-storeyed, gardenless dwellings are being crammed onto small spaces of land (including on flood plains), with absolutely no provision for the traffic congestion that this brings, no provision of new schools, car parking, park and ride schemes, public transport enhancements, etc.

What is needed in Colchester, via the forthcoming elections, is a good dose of 'no overall majority' in the Town Hall, which would force the political parties to work together for the good of the electorate, rather than for the good of their mates down the golf club!

Written by sdapeze Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

17:39:20 o'clock BST
Feeling Frustrated
I am convinced that whatever business people say to Colchester Borough Council, it won't be acted on. They have been asking for a Park and Ride for years. Have we got one? The obvious site is Stane Park. Why hasn't it been used? They have been asking for the High Street to be pedestrianised for years. Why hasn't it happened? Because the car driver is treated as king in Colchester and the council is frightened of them. They have been asking for a covered market for years. Why haven't we got one? Because there wouldn't be enough profit in it. Once more the needs of the community are second to the selfish greed of the property speculator. They have been asking for years for the police to regain control of the streets. What do we get instead. CCTV and the town centre a no-go area for decent people. What a waste of time all this is. The Bid is a total waste of time, a dream of fantasists! The council have the power to act. Business people pay their taxes. They should not be asked to pay more unless they are guaranteed a result.

Written by sdapeze Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

18:56:36 o'clock GMT
Feeling Worried
Do we really need another night club? Do the people who live in the vicinity need what it would bring to their lives. Of course we don't need such a thing. The town is a disgrace already because of our ridiculous licensing laws and our weak council. The Old Odeon cinema building should be pulled down without delay. It is an eyesore. It should be replaced with shops and flats above. What we need is quality in Colchester, not what Mr Peri would deliver. Tie him up, put him on a horse backwards and send him on his way! Let somebody else suffer the man.

Written by sdapeze Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

18:48:41 o'clock GMT
Feeling Chillin'

I see that Bob Russell MP for Colchester has spoken out in defence of our heritage buildings, due for demolition in our St Botolph's quarter. It's going to be Culver Square all over again!. Have we really learned nothing? By all means knock down and relocate Gala Bingo. The car park above it causes traffic chaos and there are several other buildings that I wouldn't miss either. But please leave our Victorian frontages alone. The like of them will never be built again. They are architectural gems that need our protection - don't they?

To my mind, the plans are doomed anyway. Look at the old Keddies building. Nobody ever did good business there. Shoppers simply didn't want to walk that far away from the shopping centre. Its location was its downfall. The same thing will happen at St Botolphs. Shoppers simply won't walk that far, especially down to the bottom of a hill. Somebody needs to point that out to the House of Fraser - or whichever unfortunate company gets drawn into this ghastly scheme. It will all turn out horribly.

......and as to the Bus Station, as the Commentator has said before, the Bus Station should be next to the Railway Station. The land is there. Use it! It makes absolute sense for so many reasons - doesn't it?

Written by sdapeze Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

18:38:47 o'clock GMT
Feeling Frustrated
The ideal location for Colchester much awaited Park and Ride scheme is not in green belt Langham, nor in green belt Eight Ash Green, nor as shared land at the new football stadium. It is and always has been on the brown field land in Stanway known as Staines Park, where money has been clearly laid out by the owner in an attempt to stop a Park and Ride from happening. Well, it hasn't worked because that land can still be used for such a scheme. As a result of this blocking manoeuvre, that land is now served by an excellent road system that currently  leads knowhere. It is next to the A12 and it would not be a nuisance to its neighbours like the other schemes would have been. Sadly though, the owner of the land in question has friends at the Town Hall who, as is their well established custom, puts the interests of the developer in front of those of the community. The whole thing stinks!

Written by sdapeze Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own