Mitton Park Residents' meeting

I'm a bit late with this report from the meeting last Tuesday. A blah report from the Conservation officer, which didn't shock, and a report on the ongoing construction of the Play Area from the design consultant, which caused ripples.

As you may recall at the last meeting there were some residents complaining about how close the allotted area was to their house, plus concerns about nearness of water etc. Well it seems they came out in force to this meeting and were vehemently opposed to its construction there.

Unfortunately they were offered a vote - yays for the current site and nays for somewhere else (i.e. using the money to enhance an already existing site not even on the estate); nays won. Fortunately the point was raised that for the vote to be effective everyone would need to be consulted and not just those present; I would also like to add that as the vote was not on the agenda it also has no force other then perhaps ensuring a place on the table at a future meeting.

At this point the meeting descended into bickering.

Now I hate to bring Tesco's back into it, but this reminds me of some of the arguments used by some of the residents of Discovery Road concerning the excess levels of traffic they'd be getting. Discovery Road was built intentionally as part of the relief road to carry large amounts of traffic, and this was well known. The fact that it hasn't been linked up yet and therefore isn't currently being used to its full potential is not an argument, the buyers of houses knew what it was and knew what it was for.

In exactly the same way the Play Area was always designated for that particular site and the fact that it wasn't there when the nearby houses were sold is neither here nor there and such arguments are null and void; simply put you should have known about it.

In my opinion the complaints about the closeness of the river, though mildly valid*, are a smokescreen for 'we don't want a play area filled with screaming kids next to our houses, just think of the property value declining'.

Sorry folks I think you'll find once the entire estate is consulted you'll be in a majority.

*As children I and my friends used to play in the 'rough', essentially a patch of scrubland, unattended and next to the Stour with no railings, bars, gates, or any adverse consequences. We were told to be careful around the river and that was all that was needed.