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!

Here Come The Coasters

Great to see the Stagecoach Seasiders back on the road again. They really are a fantastic addition to the scene in and around Skegness. Loved by both visitors and locals alike. Just goes to show what a little imagination and investment can achieve.

Look out for The Seasiders, Rocky, Pierre, Candy, Shelly, Sandy and the latest addition Lolly as they transport people around the local area. Grab yourself a ride on the open-topped upper deck, you won't be disappointed!

Skegness Clock Tower Going Green - UPDATE.

I have just been contacted by East Lindsey District Council Press Office who have informed me that our wonderful Clock Tower is scheduled to be cleaned. This will take place some time after Easter.

This is excellent news.

Skegness Clock Tower Going Green

Now don't get excited you eco-warriors.

This has nothing to do with The Clock Tower being powered by solar energy or a wind turbine.

Clock Tower by local photographer John Byford

No this is about The Clock Tower, or to give it the correct name The Diamond Jubilee Clock Tower, actually going green. This lovely iconic old structure, that is as famous as the Jolly Fisherman is getting covered in green algae, mould or slime. Take a walk up there and have a look.

I have tried to get a photo of it but my equipment is not good enough to show just how bad it is starting to look.

I really do think that East Lindsey District Council should be having a look at this and getting it cleaned. If we cannot look after one of the true emblems of Skegness then what hope is there?

This has stood at the top end of Lumley Road for 117 years. It needs looking after to ensure that it stands there for another 117 years!

Please sort it out ELDC!

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!

Leave The FA Cup Alone!

And still it goes on. The desire to ruin the greatest club cup competition anywhere in football. Turn into something that does not really matter and has no kudos! All down to the Premier League small-minded, narrow-minded and introverted clubs.

There were nearly 750 football clubs that entered the FA Cup for this season. Of that number all but 20 were outside of the Premier League but it is the will of the 20 and not the approximately 730 that counts. Football really has gone to the dogs since the Premier League was formed. Why so many? Simply because of the magic of the FA Cup. The ability to take on the big boys. Attend the big grounds, earn some much needed revenue. The wonderful feeling of watching the third round draw and knowing that a minnow, the smallest and lowest placed team left in the competition could draw the biggest and best and compete with the on an even footing.

So what am I ranting about, getting me hair off about? The totally unnecessary reforms that are being suggested so that the poor old multi-millionaire footballers that play in the Premier League don't get too tired by having to play too many games. It is sickening! Do they not realise that the FA Cup has been in existence since 1871-72? That is 145 years. The Premier League since just 1992. Do they not realise they should be giving it the respect it deserves?

We have heard of proposals relating to the seeding of teams, making the competition a mid-week competition with no replays when a draw occurs. This along with other suggestions about lower league teams playing at home when drawn against higher league teams. Why? What is the point?

I will tell you what I believe the point to be. Simply because Premier League teams do not want to play two games a week. The poor over-paid "stars" get tired. If they have the honour, at least it used to be an honour, of being selected for the English national team, those few English players that actually play in the English Premier League, they may be too tired to play properly in the summertime international competitions because of the previous winter's exertions. Bless them! How do they cope? There is no other reason. Sadly, it would appear that the Football Association have now fallen for this nonsense and are willing to change the rules of their cup competition.

So what about the rag-bag 730 teams that do not compete in the Premier league? Well they really don't matter. The fact that a good cup run brings in hugely needed finance is irrelevant. The fact that for a lower league team to get a tie at a Premiership ground, either via the draw or by earning a replay, can have huge financial benefits along with exposure to the wider footballing audience doesn't matter. In essence, football outside of the Premier League no longer matters to either the Premier League itself or the Football Association.

The Premier League has done little or nothing for football in this country since it's inception and with these changes will help to force non-Premiership football into further decline. Decline you may say with some surprise? Absolutely, decline. It has been declining in importance since the day the Premier League was formed.

I fear for football in this country and the ordinary football supporter should too. Unless of course they feel that the heart of football is he Premier League!

Caravan Sites - Longer Opening Period - East Coast

Further thoughts to my previous article on this entitled 12 Months Caravans And Flooding. East Coast. That article brought forward several comments relating to the fact that there is a petition in existence regarding the lengthening of the caravan site season but not relating to the desire to have them open for 12 months of the year. I was aware of the petition but was actually commenting on the desire of some caravan owners to see 12 month opening as they were on sites which only close for a short period in the depths of winter.

Given that, I thought I would put forward some information that may be of assistance for those looking not to have their site open for 12 months but to extend the season from the beginning of March to the End of October from the present opening dates.

Firstly a little explanation. The reason that there are different opening dates on different caravan sites is that the understanding of the flood risk by the Environment Agency (EA) has changed over the years. This is important as the EA have, for all intents and purposes, the final say on opening dates and have changed those dates as their understanding has changed. This is important as the opening dates are laid down in planning conditions when the original planning application has been successful when it has appeared before East Lindsey District Council (ELDC), the Local Planning Authority (LPA).

So back to the petition. As I understand it the petition set up by caravan owners has been worded to encourage ELDC to make all caravan sites opening dates the same, beginning of March to the end of October. That is a sensible request in my view and one which I investigated with the Planning Department at ELDC when I was a District Councillor. It is unfortunate that due to planning regulations the District Council cannot do that. My understanding is that the only way that the required changes can be achieved is for the caravan site owners to apply to the LPA to have the planning conditions changed for their individual caravan sites, which means basically that they would ask that their individual site could be open from the beginning of March to the end of October. It would then be up to the LPA to decide on whether the request would be granted and for the EA not to object to any change. So in effect the present petition has very little chance to get the changes that are wanted by the authors.

For what it is worth, my advice is for those caravan owners that want to see a change to the opening dates of the sites on which they are situated to approach their site owners and request that they approach the LPA with a planning application to vary the dates. That may or may not be more effective than the present petition depending on whether the site owners wish to see a change.

The present situation whereby one site is allowed to be open for 11 months of the year and the site next door to it can only open for 7 or 8 months of the year is ludicrous. Even more ludicrous is the situation where one part of a site is allowed to open for longer than another part of the same site. Believe me this is the case.

I hope that the present situation can be resolved but I fear that it may be a long haul. Good luck to those trying!