Lincolnshire Beaches Amongst The Best In Europe.

Fantastic news this morning that the beaches in Skegness, Mablethorpe and Sutton On Sea have again been awarded the Blue Flag.

The Blue Flag is awarded for beaches, marinas and boating tourism operators as a statement of the high environmental and quality standards they maintain. The Blue Flags are awarded on an annual basis. It is the work of the local East Lindsey District Council operators that maintain the highest of standards and they should be thoroughly congratulated for there wonderful efforts. Out in all weathers from early morning until late in the evening they fight the good fight to keep our beaches in a pristine condition.

There are miles and miles of golden, sandy beaches stretching from Skegness north to Mablethorpe and beyond which are enjoyed by millions of visitors annually. Long may this continue. 

Central beach Skegness. Blue Flag awarded!

Let's now see the flags proudly displayed above our wonderful coastline and let's use the fine achievement of the continuing award as an attraction in its own right. 

ELDC - Car Park Charges - Update

Since I last posted about this issue under the title ELDC - Completely Unfair Car Parking Charge Changes - What About The Coast, the District council have decided that they should put in place an "independent piece of research" which "will be conducted into the economic and financial impact of car parking charges in 
the district." This from Leader of the Council, Craig Leyland as reported in the Skegness Standard. 

What a pity they did not do this prior to making the recent announcement. However, there is more. Further along the following little gem was dropped: 

“Given the feedback on the overnight charge and this impending piece of work it seems sensible to defer the overnight charge until we have a full understanding of the impact of car parking charges.

“This does not affect the reintroduction of free car parking that was the outcome of a separate piece of work conducted by Overview and Scrutiny Committee.”

I struggle to understand how it can be sensible to defer the overnight charges whilst at the same time going ahead with the completely unfair decision to allow free car parking in some communities within the district whilst other communities, chiefly the ones on the coast, will still continue to pay full prices to park their cars.

Unfortunately, Cllr Sandra Harrison, who has the responsibility for the operation of the car parks tells us this in the same Skegness Standard article:

"The Council does, however, recognise that car parking arrangements, including the cost to park and tariff structures, have an impact on a significant number of people and whilst there will never be a solution that suits every circumstance, the Council will be looking at the matter over the coming months to ensure the arrangements are the 
best they can be.”

Would it not have been more sensible and more logical to have deferred the changes to car parking charges in their entirety? What will happen if the "independent piece of research" informs the council that the way the changes have been implemented is unfair? That if car parking charges need to be removed for the economic well-being of our communities that is the same for all communities? Are the council then going to make the decision to remove the charges right across the District? If the review informs them that free car parking is not a necessity or desirable, are the council then going to go to the communities who have been given free parking and take it away from them again? 

I have to agree that "there will never be a solution that suits every circumstance" but at least there should be a solution that is fair to every one of the residents of this district.

That solution is Free Car Parking For All or All Car Parks Chargeable! FAIRNESS!

ELDC - Completely Unfair Car Parking Charge Changes - What About The Coast?

So they have been and gone and done it!

5 months ago I highlighted the fact that East Lindsey District Council (ELDC) were planning to revert back to a car park charging scenario that was totally unfair. You can read my thoughts from back then here:

http://steveodare.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/east-lindsey-car-parking-back-to.html

So what have they done? Well they have decided to have free car parking in some amenity car parks but not in others. This is despite the last council going a long way to rid the District of the unfairness in charging in 2014 by making all car parks chargeable. This made me personally unpopular within the council as I was one of the leading proponents of the change. Cest la vie! That was a very unwelcome decision for those communities that, at the time, benefited from free car parking but at least it was fair to all residents of the District.

Now what have ELDC gone and done? Well, they have made the 10 car parks that were free prior to the changes made by the previous council free again! Honestly. Why? Gawd only knows.

Where are these car parks? Here is the list:

Cattlemarket in Horncastle
 South Street Overflow, Alford
 Millers Way, Alford
 Market Place, Burgh Le Marsh
 Sandilands, Sutton-on-Sea
 High Street/Silver Street, Coningsby
 Off Market Place, Tattershall
 Linden Walk, Louth
 Cattlemarket, Louth
 Boston Road, Spilsby

You will no doubt notice that apart from one car park in Sutton on Sea all of these are located inland and none are located in Skegness! Why is that? Is that fair? 

It is my feeling that this is totally unfair. There are communities that suffer from high levels of deprivation in our District and they are, almost exclusively, located in our coastal communities. So where is the help with parking charges for those communities? With the one exception there is none. As I have said now ad nauseum, this decision reeks of unfairness and, no doubt, some will say bias. Bias towards looking after the inland communities whilst "Devil take the hindmost" as far as the coast is concerned.

DOUBLE WHAMMY!

If that was not bad enough, pin your ears back while I impart the next little gem. Not only do the amenity car parks on the coast not have any free parking but the free parking after 6 pm in the evening that was also brought in by the last council for all car parks has now been removed. All car parks that are now chargeable, not including the 10 listed above of course, will now have a £2 overnight charge. Presumably this is to pay for the removal of the charges on the free car parks! What happened to "Supporting the night-time economy"? As they say "You could not make it up". 

I am hugely disappointed by this move which has no real logic to it. It is totally unfair and leaves a real bad taste in the mouth.

One last thought. What are our local, Skegness elected councillors doing about this? Where is their outrage. If outrage is too strong an emotion then where is their opposition to this? What have they done to fight this? Do they think this is acceptable? Looks as if they do as I haven't heard a peep from any of them. I don't think it is at all acceptable and I am sure that the majority of people in our town won't either. 

Free Car Parking For All or All Car Parks Chargable! FAIRNESS!

12 Month Caravans And Flooding. East Coast.

Today is the anniversary of the East Coast Floods that devastated our area in 1953 during which over 300 people lost their lives. This disaster alone should tell us that there is a need for flood protection in our area both physically and through legislation. Over the last few years there have been many "near misses" when the sea threatened to inundate the land once again, with December 2013 being the one that came the closest to being another disaster. It caused much damage along the coast but thankfully, in the main, the flood defences held and no lives were lost.

I raise this issue not only because today is the anniversary of the 1953 disaster but also because there is now a push to allow caravan parks to be open and occupied 12 months of the year. I can fully understand why people who own caravans and also the caravan parks would wish to see this happen. I also understand the economic arguments for allowing it to happen. The wishes and the arguments need to be set against the issue of safety of the caravan occupants.

Caravans during the 1953 flood.

In the event of a serious inundation, caravans become flotsam and jetsam. Large metal boxes that are at the mercy of the onrushing waters. A flooding tide moves at incredible speed and caravans stand little to no chance of being stable even if chained down.

The caravan parks we have are not residential, they are holiday parks. Any residential park would already be allowed to have people on them 12 months of the year. None of the holiday parks would have received planning permission if they had originally applied for residential status. Why? It was not deemed safe to do so and still isn't under planning legislation.

It is for that reason that those wanting to see caravan parks open for 12 months of the year in the flood zone have a forlorn hope. The Environment Agency will not let it happen and would oppose any move for it to do so.

It is a real pity that is the case but in my view there is not good enough reasons to put people at risk.

A52/A158 They Are Our Arteries - East Lindsey Coast

It is normal perhaps for coastal areas to have poor roads leading to them, unless of course they are close to a motorway network such as Blackpool but that is an exception. On this coast we do not have the benefits of motorways, or even for that matter dual-carriageways. We rely on the "A" roads to bring in the business. Are the "A" roads we rely on a help or a hindrance in that regard?

My view is that they are a hindrance.

Every summer, every busy weekend, every Bank Holiday and throughout the main holiday season this coast is let down by the two main roads leading to it.

For instance. Last Saturday I travelled up to Lincoln at about 1 o'clock in the afternoon. The traffic heading west, away from the coast was running smoothly but travelling in the opposite direction the traffic was horrendous. Slow moving traffic and stationary traffic for miles. The worst section was that section heading into Horncastle. The traffic was backed up and stationary all the way to the Caistor turn-off, several miles in length. The reports on the radio told me that Wragby was just as bad but as I turned off the A158 on the Bardney road I will have to take their word for it.  Radio Lincolnshire were also reporting the "normal problems" on the A52 as well.

This issue has been known about for decades and very little has been done about it. A bypass was provided for Burgh-Le-Marsh some 8 years ago. Whilst roads have been improved in the west of the county, with a lot more to come, specifically to deal with bottlenecks and known problems, little has been done in our area. It is not good enough.

Sad to say that there is little that is going to be done in the foreseeable future as there is no mention of our area in the Lincolnshire 4th Local Transport Plan 2013/14 - 2022/23 a link to which I have attached at the bottom of this article. In brief the projects that will be/are being implemented over the next 10 years are:

• Lincoln Eastern Bypass
• Grantham Southern Relief Road
• Spalding Western Relief Road

The Transport Strategies for individual towns are:

• Boston Transport Strategy
• Grantham Transport Strategy
• Lincoln Transport Strategy
• Gainsborough Transport Strategy.

What does that mean for this area? Simply that there are no plans whatsoever in this area for the next 8 years and if there is a 5th Local Transport Plan and this area was lucky enough (sic) to be considered then it could be 10 years after that before anything is done and then there is no guarantee!

When I have raised this issue previously I have been told that the problem we have is that our issues are seasonal and therefore not as high a priority as other areas! With that in mind it is difficult to see any hope for the improvements we desperately need is there?

It was also pointed out that we would be getting a Western Relief Road for Skegness which will link the A52 and the A158. This would relieve the congestion is Skegness Town Centre. Perhaps it would but at what cost? The A158 is already nose to tail for miles out of Skegness at busy times so pushing the traffic from the A52 to the A158 is only going to make things worse in that area! Indeed with Roman Bank (A52) heading north being an absolute nightmare already, it makes even less sense. Without a road running north from the A158 towards Ingoldmells and beyond, extending the relief road, there will be little if any improvement to the overall traffic congestion.

I think folks that we are the forgotten area when it comes to road infrastructure. A decent road from Boston to the coast and a decent road from Lincoln to the coast would open up the whole of East Lindsey as well as the coast. Decent roads would encourage more inward investment, creating businesses and jobs for this area.

In addition it would make the journey far more pleasant for the hundreds of thousands of people that come to the coast for a break. That would surely encourage more to come? Given that one of the priorities of the County Council is to double the worth of tourism to the county, then surely money spent on making the primary tourist area in the county more accessible should be viewed as a priority? I live in hope rather than expectation!

As I referred to in the title of this piece. The A52/A158 are our arteries. We all know what happens when arteries become blocked don't we?

Coastal Flooding - 1 in 200 Years

As some of you may know I am the Chairman of  Skegness Area Committee, which is a liaison committee between East Lindsey District Councils, the local parish councils and those people that live within the boundaries of them. We had a meeting last night in Anderby Village Hall and on the agenda was a presentation from the Environment Agency entitled Flood Risk Plans. Very informative and interesting it was.

The one thing that struck me was the amount of ifs and buts that the whole of the flooding risk seemed to be based upon. Models are run fairly regularly, as I understand it, but there are always many assumptions put into them. Apparently we run the risk of a major flood once in every 200 years.

Given that, how much credence should be placed on the flooding when looking at the development of the coast? Should flooding be one of the first things that is considered when looking at plans, and if so how much weight or credence should be given to the risk.

Of course we need to look at the risk and it is beholden on the authorities to have plans for a major flood, or any other natural or manmade disaster for that matter, but I ask myself "How worried am I that there maybe a flood tomorrow, the day after, next month, next year of sometime in my lifetime". Would I let that colour my judgement about buying a house or a business in Skegness? Do I think that I need to have measures in place just in case? I live a couple of hundred yards from the beach, so should I do that as I must be one of the most vulnerable?

All very confusing really. Should flooding be right up there in my thoughts? Should if be right up there as a probability or a possibility? Should it be the major consideration when looking at development on the coast. All interesting questions. Wonder what you think?