Padstow Park & Ride Chaos

And these were 2 of the photographs we sent to everybody !

 

 

So what has been the reaction ? More news to follow

Alive & Kicking !!

Yet another New Year Resolution and in November !!

Apologies to our readers – did we have any/many ? – that there has been nothing on the blog for so many months. All I can say is that all the work involved in getting the Community Minibus on the road, keeping PATCAG involved in other issues and running a business has not left much spare time. However I am determined to turn over a new leaf and my starting point is to bring you up to date over the next few days with some of those issues.

The PATCAG meetings have over the summer been dominated by anger and concern over the dangers to everyone’s safety caused by the Park & Ride bus stop on School Hill. So what could we do about it ? Well we started by getting a couple of locals to take photographs illustrating the dangers and then we sent the photos with a covering letter to everyone we could think of who might help us get the bus stop moved. What follows is a copy of the main part of the letter which went to Padstow Town Council, Cornwall Council’s Highways Dept, the Police, Harbour Commissioners, Dan Rogerson & Steve Rushworth.

“A couple of our members took some photographs over a couple of days, not at peak times, during August to illustrate the problems created by the use of the bus stop. Following our unsuccessful attempt at a meeting we have decided to send some of the photos, along with a letter from one of our senior citizens, to the various agencies involved.
Additionally I have been asked to stress the following points.

1 Padstow has to tackle what many locals are now calling the “magic roundabout” of traffic going round and round in the peak months looking for a car park that is not already full. We need at the top of town what I can only describe as a “Number of Car Park Spaces Remaining” sign similar to the one in Truro. This should then reduce the number of cars that go into town only to find the Town Council’s car park is full, who then go on to the Harbour Commissioner’s with the same result and then have to force their way around the harbour and up the hill through the shopping crowds and back up the hill to the overspill car parks. The sign should reduce congestion, improve everyone’s safety and in no small way maximise the revenue of the Town Council and the Harbour Commissioner as they benefit from drivers only using the overspill carparks when they absolutely have to.

2 The Park & Ride buses cannot be allowed to continue to stop on School Hill for a number of health and safety reasons. The buses, full for large parts of the day stop there for long periods, unloading and loading huge numbers of people onto a difficult junction. There they are competing for space not just with holiday traffic but also huge sand and seafood lorries on their way to and from the harbour. The photographs show cars queued back up the hill and onto the ring road, all manner of traffic fighting to get round the buses, pedestrians walking up, down and across the hill to get past the queues filling the pavements and passengers disembarking in large numbers down the hill in the middle of the road against the oncoming traffic. Philip Hagley who runs the service has suggested cutting into the bank at the bus stop so that the bus can get off the road. However there are potential problems with sewer drainage and it does not address all the safety issues. The Council decided a number of years ago that the town needed the Park & Ride Service to avoid traffic gridlock, invited Philip Hagley to run the service and all the evidence is that since then the number of cars coming into Padstow has hugely increased. Cancelling the service is therefore not a sensible option. There are however 2 alternatives - allow the buses to disembark in either the Link Car Park owned by Cornwall Council or the Harbour Car Park owned by the Town Council, both of which would provide passengers with clear, safe, pedestrian only footpaths into the centre.

3 PATCAG is in a good position to bring together the parties involved in this matter and present all the evidence which has been gathered by the ordinary members of the public. Our management committee includes Padstow Town Councillors Neil Vivian & Alex Rickard who understand the history of this service, Philip Hagley, organiser of the Park & Ride scheme, is one of our volunteers who regularly attends meetings as you do, Steve Rushworth is very interested in our work with the Parish Plan and Cornwall Council’s Highway Department has already been working closely with our own Local Transport Working Group.
A copy of this letter and the photographs mentioned have been sent to all the interested parties we are aware of including our Member of Parliament, Dan Rogerson and we look forward to receiving their comments as well as the Town Council’s on the current situation and the way forward. “

To find out what did or did not happen next and to see some of the photographs come back to this blog in a couple of days time.

Community Minibus Update

It was a condition of the funding from Cornwall Council that we set up an independent registered charity. Well, I am delighted to share with you that Padstow and District Community Transport has received final confirmation of its charitable status, The grant of £43,000 from Cornwall Council has been made and we have paid for a  Ford Transit 17 seater minibus, 2.4 TDCI, in Frozen White, converted to allow full disabled and wheelchair access. Delivery is expected within a few days and we have over £10,000 left to cover our initial running costs. Work is in progress regarding the arrangements for the weekly service and the system for bodies to hire the bus at other times. More news to follow shortly. Its getting very exciting !!

On the road by 31st March ?

Two weeks holiday and a buying trip for the shop – has any one missed me ?

No, I thought not. Anyway the good news is in my absence (surely a coincidence only) that there has been great progress with the minibus for Padstow. A strong steering group has been formed to get things moving quickly and I am not talking about how fast a bus we will buy. Everyone has really got stuck in to the project and we are on course to get the community minibus on the road by the 31st March ! 

Next meeting this Friday – will report back to you all then.

Community Minibus Meeting – Wednesday 13th January – 9.30am, Padstow School

Does your local group ever need to hire a minibus ?  Would you like to get involved in an exciting new community project ? If either statement applies to you then we would love you to come to the above meeting – you will not be disappointed. Just send me an email at mikehuntley1@tiscali.co.uk so we know you are coming. It promises to be a community and life-changing experience.

3.15pm on Tuesday 5th January 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It may look as though snow is floating on the river but as I am sure you will all realise, it has settled only on the sand whilst the tide is out.

Small things and small minds – yes Huntley is easily pleased !! 

Spoonbills on the River

 

It may have been very cold but it has been absolutely beautiful to get out and about. Now I am no great ornithologist – too many brown birds that look similar is my problem – but over the last few days I have become entranced by some winter visitors that I personally have not seen before. Spoonbills, as you can see from the photograph (courtesy of the RSPB) are spectacular looking especially in flight and according to my books rare in this area. It may be that this is old hat for those who know their birds, but if you get the chance to walk at low tide along the trail to the bridge then watch out for them sifting their way through the mud. 

And finally to our readers – are there any out there ? – its Christmas Eve and I would like on behalf of everyone in PATCAG to wish you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and lets hope that 2010 will bring great success in all our endeavours. Thank you for your support.

TOWN COUNCIL NEWSLETTER

The following article has been sent to the Council for inclusion in their next newsletter. Just in case it does not make it to the “final edition” or is “censored” (it may prove too long) here it is in full.

“PADSTOW & TREVONE COMMUNITY ACTION GROUP - PATCAG for short !  A group of volunteers, local residents, annually elected by you (no pay, no expenses), tasked with achieving the objectives set out in the Parish Plan. The Plan you were responsible for via open evenings where you provided us with all your hopes for the future of our community.

It has taken a huge amount of time and hard work to get going - it has proved to be the committee equivalent of a floating iceberg with all the preparation, time, effort and frustrations hidden below the surface. However that is starting to change as we see the first results of the partnerships created, ideas generated and information obtained.

The Parish Plan raised a number of road, traffic and pedestrian issues which we have been pursuing with Cornwall Council's Highway Department. There is more to do but we are delighted to tell you that they have recently agreed a number of measures in Trevone which we hope will significantly improve pedestrian safety. We are developing long term proposals for an indoor sports centre in Padstow which has tremendous potential and there are other initiatives which we hope to report on in the future.

The great news today though is that we have the go ahead from Cornwall Council to develop a community minibus project. All those transport surveys you helped us complete have proved there is a need and that the bus would be fully utilised. There is still work to be done putting into place the structure and terms of the new organisation but the finance has been agreed and we hope to have the bus on the road by 31st March 2010!  The aim is to develop ways and means of helping those with no access to public transport and for our local schools, youth groups, social clubs, sports group, indeed any group to hire the minibus to access to all kinds of resources in the area.

This is a big community project and we will need to get more people involved to get it off the ground. If you or your group want to help please contact us through the council offices. We need people for the committee, admin support, drivers, passenger assistants, cleaning the bus and numerous other tasks.

It all promises to be very exciting !! “

What a beautiful day !

After all that rain I have succumbed

to an entry on the blog for no reason

other than just to celebrate a day of

sunshine ! The photograph was taken

yesterday morning – a glorious walk in

the sun out to Stile, St George’s,

Tregirls and beyond.

Absolutely magnificent.

Guess what is under our “community Christmas tree” ? A minibus !!

We have just had the great news that the Transport Policy Department at Cornwall Council have given us the go ahead to develop the project. There is still a lot to do, we need to get more people involved and we will be contacting all those who offered help in the transport questionnaires. However we will almost certainly need more. So the message to anyone in any group who need a minibus is ask your friends, colleagues and acquaintances – we need people for the committee, admin support, drivers, passenger assistants, and numerous other tasks. If we can get a move on the bus could be on the road by 31st March !

How cool is that ?  Good old Santa. And talking of cool. How cool are Padstow Rotary and their Christmas Lights ?  Great effort again guys – they look wonderful.