Sunday 10 February 2008

Nowton Park in Spring




Not the famous daffs in the avenue, but a rash (?) of miniatures for those who venture further enough to see all the above.
Shown below are 120 or so cars parked free, despite the cost of wardens on duty, £170,000 this year to run the park - not to mention a capital outlay of nearly a quarter of a million pounds for the artificial pitch.
The recent Parks Review decided against parking charges . Vote in my latest poll to have your say on this.

9 comments:

Florries Mum said...

Do'nt the the council dare to start charging for this park-its one of the few places left where you can park for free and enjoy a ramble, even though dogs have to be kept on leads. It is not that close to town to make it easy to walk to for the majority. I feel we pay enough in other taxes to cover the cost of running this park. All you will do if you start charging is push the cars into the surrounding streets, and then have no end of complaints from residents. I feel so strongly about this that it is enough to break the camels back and switch my allegiance.

Charlotte Howard said...

Message received and understood FM!

I used to live there and know exactly what its like when people are too lazy to walk from this car park to the Victory ground, and so use Plovers Way and The Curlews instead. These roads would have to have a new set of yellow lines following consultation, but would they get policed?

This was one of the reasons the Parks Review rejected the idea again. Of course there are always compromises, as with Hardwick Heath where charges only apply 10-3pm.

Thank you for starting the debate. I see one person has voted 50p per stay - and it wasn't me!

Display Name said...

Don't get me started on parking charges...

Certainly so far as Nowton Park is concerned - keep it free! If the council want to raise revenue from the Park why don't they offer something (for sale) that the public want - a cafe or something like that perhaps? (Or is there one already, I tend not to go over that side of the car park!!!)

Anonymous said...

No way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bury Boy said...

You must be bloodly joking, or totally out of touch.

No doubt the out of town councillors will push this one to a vote.

Tax or sell assets is this all the council can consider,try trimming the spend side first.

Charlotte Howard said...

Thank you BB.

Out of touch? Well it is done elsewhere (eg Clare country park) but the decision has already been made not to here, so there is no question of "out of town" councillors "pushing" to a vote this year. Indeed the majority of the councillors on the Parks Review team were rural members.

We HAVE trimed spending by millions since 2004, this year by over half a million alone out of a £13M+ budget.

Florries Mum said...

Just because its done elsewhere doesn't mean we have to follow. Try following some of the good ideas, like Ireland banning plastic bags and giving us back a clean countryside, then you would perhaps save on people who have to clean up the verges etc.
Don't the people who use the pitches at Nowton Park pay for the privilege anyway, without having to pay to park as well?

Charlotte Howard said...

I agree FM, but I just wanted to show BB I was "in touch".

Plastic bags - an excellent idea, but I don't think the council have the power to ban them.

Yes the pitches are charged for, as they are at Hardwick Heath where there is a parking charge.

Florries Mum said...

And I don't agree with charging at Hardwick Heath either! I can see that it is a different scenario there with the hospital so close and people abusing the parking, but I don't think they should charge at week-ends. Not every-one wants to walk before 10am and after 3pm. My dog has an in-built clock, and even if she has been out already, come 1pm she has her lead ready to go. And no peace until she has her way, and as has been pointed out already the Heath is the only place they are allowed off the lead in Bury parks so it is very popular.