EMD/WedHeads: Difference between revisions
Fetch WHds 10&11 too
(Fetch WHds 1-9) |
(Fetch WHds 10&11 too) |
||
Line 1:
I'm having serious problems with VERY unhelpful 'abuse' filters.
=Stuff=
==WedHeads (c) E M Drayton 2021 - included here by permission==
====Wed-Head i====
I reckon it's about time we made some ‘Wednesday Headway’. -=-
Line 716 ⟶ 715:
====Wed-Head x====
Making Wednesday Headway. -=-
This is my tenth Wed-Head post, and I will use it to draw together a
few of my recent themes and topics around the upcoming Great British
Spring Clean (28-May-13-June’21). So, before I forget: here, once
again, are the relevant weblinks:-
-=-
* https://www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/community-and-place/clean-up-scotland/summer-clean-2021
* https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/get-involved/support-our-campaigns/great-british-spring-clean
* https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/stpfiles/resources/support-for-communities/LPAC+Starter+Pack.pdf
* https://www.communitycouncils.scot/news/2021/summer-clean-up
-=-
I feel a little bit foolish writing about upkeep, for the obvious
reason that every minute I spend doing so is one minute less spent
outside, either picking-up litter or pruning bushes - both of which I
do a bit of in-and-around Morven Place. Pruning is, admittedly, the
more agreeable of the two activities, but it also has a double benefit
in that carefully managed green areas are more child-friendly too, as
long as they can be kept free of dog-dirt - but don't get me started
on that.
-=-
Oh, go on then: If you had the patience to read to the end of my
Wed-Head post a fortnight ago (May 5th), you might remember my
recording that, at a virtual meeting in March, a Ms Jane Young of Caol
Regeneration Company had given anecdotal warning of a significant
increase in the number of dogs in the locality acquired as companion
animals during lockdown, and had proposed creating Dog Parks to manage
both fouling and conduct/training. I thought this was potentially a
great idea, and immediately began to think about applying it or
something like it in (or near) Plantation.
-=-
Having strongly endorsed Ms Young's suggestion at the time, I also
weighed-in with another idea: a non-enforced designation of smaller
green spaces as dog-friendly or dog-free, possibly employing deterrent
measures like strong smells or ultrasound. Perhaps it would even be
possible to decriminalise fouling in designated areas? Since I am
trying to generate new thinking about the exasperatingly stubborn
problem of dog-fouling, naturally I'm also seeking from the outset to
establish what is legally permissible. So I have sought guidance from
HRC about the legality of purposing one or more green spaces for
fouling by dogs.
-=-
Whether or not that idea flies, Plantation boasts a patchwork of
small- and medium-size grassy spaces and slopes which might be
(informally**) associated with different uses such as
wheelchair/zimmer frame access, for example, or children's games like
tag, hide-and-seek, and (inevitably) war. Boys will be boys, after
all. But any pass-time that gets kids running about again after so
long in lockdown must, on balance, be a good thing - and arguably more
important than ever, modern Western convenience diets being what they
are.
-=-
[[ **ie with notices, posters etc - but without enforcement.]]
-=-
I hope a fair number of Plantationers will join me in pledging to do
forty-five minutes or so of litter-picking on at least one of the
three weekends covered by the Summer Clean-up. Moreover, I also hope
that a few people will choose to make a stronger, ongoing pledge to
keep a caring eye on some small but cherished green space close to
their home and adopt it for the summer, keeping it clear of litter and
perhaps of weeds and the like - although I myself love daisies: it's
overabundances of dandelions that get on my nerves, for some reason.
-=-
Finally, designating appropriate purposes to the various different
green spaces would be a great opportunity to empower our community in
accordance with the ScotGov/COSLA Place Principle, thereby tying back
into my enthusiasm for Local Place Planning about which I have written
several times (no doubt, to the boredom of many). LPPs matter because
they are ScotGov's response to the fact that survey after survey has
shown that residents want more influence and control over their public
and local services. Inevitably, that means we must join forces - by
joining voices.
====Wed-Head xi====
Making Wednesday Headway. -=-
At least two people have independently raised the issue of parking
problems in Shaw Place this week: one Plantation resident has
complained (in person) that their garage is frequently being blocked,
and on this platform another has bemoaned the fact that some drivers
seem to treat Shaw Place as if it were an overflow car park for the
increasingly congested Kennedy Road.
-=-
Not a lot can be done about the latter complaint directly, because
taxing one's vehicle entitles one to park on public roads unless a
permit system or similar scheme is in force. Whilst that's certainly
not out of the question, it's a much bigger step to take than people
often think. I could be wrong, but I strongly suspect that when the
realities are brought home to residents a consensus would not be
forthcoming. Moreover, I reckon there are a couple of more
straightforward measures that could improve matters and perhaps could
be implemented sooner.
-=-
The simplest is to try applying a spot of 'nudge' theory, with a
campaign to discourage larger commercial vehicles from parking on the
sloped section of Kennedy Road between Young Place and Morven Place in
favour of less contested areas either south of Braemor Place or at the
far end of Douglas Place. Politely-worded leaflets explaining the
scheme and its rationale left under windscreen wipers might do
something to make more efficient use of the existing spaces.
-=-
Now, some folk will already have indulged in a hollow laugh at my
description of Douglas Place parking as 'less contested'; "aye, but
not by much" will be the refrain. Which is where a less simple but
still practicable expedient could be brought into play: making better
use of the far end of Douglas Place by marking-out** parking bays on
what is presently unmarked ground.
-=-
[[ **I suggested as much to Mark Linfield in an open email discussion
back in March: "I wonder if introducing paint-marked parking bays
might help to make more efficient use of the available space? I
realise this won't be nearly enough, but it does seem silly not to do
it" to which he replied: "Good thinking with the white lining though
some of the areas might need surface dressing before they could be
white lined." Another resident summarised this with impeccable logic:
"While it won’t solve the problem, marked parking bays in any areas
used for parking would certainly be helpful to maximise the provision
in existing areas." ]]
-=-
Absolutely true, but Mr Linfield makes an telling point about the
condition of the tarmac, which is very poor in some places. A quick
fix would be to indicate the bays by marking the low wall and/or
pavement kerbstones, possibly explaining the scheme and encouraging
participation with notices and some more windshield leaflets. But
repairing the surfaces is obviously a Council and/or Housing
Association job, and it is rather too much to expect that either body
will undertake it unless they are subjected to concerted and
co-ordinated pressure.
-=-
Similar remarks apply to parking enforcement, by the way: I was
dismayed to have confirmed to me by our local police liason officer,
Sgt Brian Heriot ( Brian.Heriot@scotland.pnn.police.uk ) at a FITCC
meeting earlier this year that police will do absolutely nothing about
illegal parking unless it is actually obstructing the road. I say
"confirmed to me" because last year I drew an officer's attention to a
large, illegally (and grossly inconsiderately) parked vehicle blocking
a dropped-kerb, thereby endangering elderly and/or infirm pedestrians
and preventing wheelchair access altogether. Astonishingly (to me),
he refused even to take a cameraphone picture recording the offence,
which I was disgusted by: how can it possibly be acceptable that you
can point out a crime - albeit a relatively minor one - to a policeman
and have him refuse to make even the simplest and most straightforward
effort to record evidence of it? But Police Scotland's policy is
that, modulo outright obstruction, illegal parking is always and only
a council matter. Our police service will inevitably retain that
policy unless and until, once again, concerted and co-ordinated
pressure is brought to bear.
-=-
To will the end is to embrace the means, therefore I feel forced by
sheer logic to conclude this post with a statement of the blindingly
obvious: that all these changes and initiatives absolutely require
residents to, as I put it last week, join forces by joining voices.
If you want Highland Council, say, to do something to any kind of
reasonable timescale, first you need consensus and then you need to be
a nuisance to the extent necessary to bring the weight of that
consensus down on the head of whichever bureaucrat is holding the
purse strings - and who can be more-or-less relied upon to listen
hardest to whoever is making the most fuss. That's just how it is!
And, similarly, windshield leaflets only work as nudges if they're
placed there not by sole individuals who can be told to push off (or
some such), but on behalf of a genuinely representative group of local
residents.
-=-
Only teamwork makes our dreams work.
-=-
-=-
PS: I haven't at all forgotten about Keep Scotland Beautiful's Summer
Clean-Up which runs for the next three weekends, so I hope no-one else
has either? Sunday morning's forecast is better than Saturday's, so
as things stand I will be outside picking up litter and/or pruning and
weeding for an hour or so from shortly after ten o'clock, wearing a
viz-vest and carrying several spare black bags. Please join me if you
can - even if it's just to throw a few ideas around for making
Plantation a better place for us to live in.
-=-
PPS: June will be a very busy month for me, so my Wed-Head posts may
well be about to enter a sporadic phase. I have something lined-up
for the 9th, but thereafter I shall be dedicating my time to the
ScotGov LPP consultation until that closes on the 25th, so I may very
well go pretty quiet until the 30th when I will report back on the
FITCC AGM held eight days earlier (the 22nd). I will, however,
respond fairly promptly and very enthusiastically to anyone and
everyone who shares my view that Plantation desperately needs to form
some kind of online** campaign association to agitate for improvement
on behalf of residents.
-=-
[[ **face-to-face group meetings are just too difficult to organise in
my experience - so let's make a virtue of necessity and use
technology spaces like the Nextdoor platform to draw together a core
group of residents in and around Plantation and Alma Road. ]]
| |||