Holdingham Roundabout Housing: a wider view!

A Housing Crisis? We have only ourselves to blame!

The decision to put 97 Houses/Flats near the Holdingham Roundabout ended a sorry saga of planning in the Sleaford area. Unfortunately it may not be the last! Such decisions increasingly seem to be taken by unelected bodies from outside the area. The problem is nationwide and on a much bigger scale.

The Private Eye magazine parodies the Government in its attempt to concrete the Country with affordable housing. Using the rural parts of the West Midlands as an example it comments in respect of massive housing projects of 365,0000 homes are deemed that were deemed "not enough":

Throughout England, responsibility for drawing up and managing housing targets will be handed to the regional development agencies, the Quangos set up to encourage business growth.
This is part of the Governments drive to remove local democracy from the planning system - or, as ministers would have it – make planning more responsible to economic factors.

What looms for the West Midlands shows what eventually will be in store for every region. Now - with the cynical ECO-Towns programme, the review of the Green belt, and the pursuit of housing numbers at any cost – it appears to be preparing for a wave of Noddy boxes that would have shamed the Thatcher Government.


Wake up England!

Holdingham is a good place to access clean beaches!

Sleaford can enjoy Lincolnshire’s cleaner seas!

I know many Holdingham residents, like me with easy access to the A17, go to the coast especially on a nice weekend and in the holidays, to enjoy a day at the seaside. It is only a one hour long drive away unless I am really unlucky!

click here or on image to see World Map including local British Waters inset.

So I got a pleasant surprise when reading a review, of the American Association for the Advancement of Science showing, in an otherwise gloomy report, on the state of the world seas and ocean’s that the Lincolnshire coastline was among the cleanest around the British Isles. The main polluters are considered to be heavy fishing, oil and gas resources and heavy tourism. Obviously, on a global scale, proximity to large cities is also a major factor.

The report suggests that 40% of the World’s seas are now badly affected. Areas in the Mediterranean, South China Sea and others near the coasts of major continents are also badly affected. The scale of pollution around the North and West of the British Isles really did surprise me as I had assumed that the Gulf Stream would be sufficient to maintain a level of cleanliness by flushing out the pollutants.
Still, a plus point for the Lincolnshire’s tourist trade!

Can Sleaford in general reap some of the benefits?

Enjoy this clean facility!

Holdingham: Enforcing standards! What standards?

Holdingham: Enforcing standards! What standards?
A better Community

http://holdingham.blogspot.com/2008/02/creating-better-communitiy.html

Enforcing standards! What standards?

Keeping Holdingham Clean!

Further to my previous Blog: Keeping Holdingham Becks Clean

I have checked on what standards are relevant here and should be followed by a Council.

These standards include: Cleaner, safer, greener

These are the core services that matter to everyone. They are the most visible and affect people’s daily lives. Getting them right and publicising them well will make residents value the council more highly.

• Core Standards: as given by the Improvement and Development Agency


• § adopt a highly visible, strongly branded council cleaning operation
  § ensure no gaps or overlap in council cleaning and maintenance contracts
  § set up one phone number for the public to report local environmental problems
  § deal with ‘grot spots’
  § remove abandoned vehicles within 24 hours
  § win a 'Green Flag' award for at least one park
  § educate and enforce to protect the environment

• Communications
  
• These core actions tell people what you can do and are doing for them, and they show your residents what they get for their money.
• 
  § manage the media effectively to promote and defend the council
  § provide an A-Z guide to council services
  § publish a regular council magazine or newspaper to inform residents
  § ensure the council brand is consistently linked to services
  § communicate well with staff so they become advocates for the council

We have some way to go!

Creating a better community

Sleaford Community Funding

The future community resources, and their funding, of Sleaford have become an issue once again. A typical comment is “The proposed Power Station will cost £80million to build but how much community benefit will be invested in Sleaford?

The national policy, from Westminster, across all main political parties appears to be to build sustainable communities. Our local policy appears to be that community funds be used to invest only into Affordable Housing. We need to widen our vision of what we want for Sleaford.

A case in point is the Holdingham Ward that I represent. The refurbishment of the Lincoln Road Play Area, scheduled for 2008/09, will be good for that side of the Lincoln Road, but other investments are needed in the rest of Holdingham.

New areas of Open Space will be required in Holdingham. The new Estate on the Holdingham Roundabout will house 400 residents of whom about half are expected be children. The extra houses off Peterborough Way will rob the kids there of the area that was the old Bowls Club. Added to that, we lost the small play area off Winchester Way 2 or 3 years ago. Oh, and by the way, the Lincoln Road still needs more refuges for people to cross safely so we can communicate safely as a community.

No doubt other Wards feel the same. There is a need to plan for facilities: schools, bridges or refuges that people can use safely: and focal points for residents to meet as a community.

A Community Plan that incorporates all these needs is of the essence.