Ampthill Your Issues

Transcription

1 Ampthill Your Issues 1) Please rate the services currently provided by Central Beds Council. Please only rate those services you have used in the past 2 years. Poor Service (1 Star) to Excellent Service (5 Stars) Community Safety 0% 25% 38% 19% 19% Consumer protection 8% 15% 54% 23% 0% Education 0% 0% 21% 50% 29% Environmental Health 8% 0% 62% 31% 0% Highways 28% 40% 28% 4% 0% Housing 36% 9% 45% 9% 0% Libraries 0% 4% 17% 48% 30% Licensing 18% 18% 55% 9% 0% Leisure and Recreation 0% 9% 43% 35% 13% Planning 65% 25% 10% 0% 0% Social services 0% 36% 36% 27% 0% Transport 19% 19% 50% 13% 0% Waste collection 0% 10% 28% 45% 17% 2) Central Beds Council have made cuts in services following the National Spending Review. How do you view the level of Cuts? (i.e. cuts in bus services, mobile libraries, music services, voluntary sector funding, school crossing patrols in 2012 etc) Too Severe = 52% Just About Right = 45% Not Severe Enough = 3% 3) What do you think is the most important issue facing Ampthill? (i.e. inappropriate development, anti-social behavior, speeding etc) Not enough opportunities for young people, especially in local government and part time jobs inappropriate development Most definitely inappropriate development, total disregard for already fragile infrastructure. Inappropriate development, which will lead to more anti-social behaviour in my opinion It s a total disgrace and jeopardises the standard of living we moved to Maulden for. We have 2 small children and move here specifically for the high educational standards given by the local schools - to hear that overdevelopment could completely ruin this is a real shame.

2 Speeding and Anti-social behaviour will increase if more and more people live in this small market town which clearly does not have the infrastructure (nor should it). Inappropriate housing development. Inadequate through-traffic management. Out-of-town councillors who think they know what is best for Ampthill residents. Giant incinerator proposal. Inappropriate development. The extent to which our politicians seem to want to concrete over the whole of this part of the country is nothing short of complete madness. Anti-social behaviour at the weekend - much of it courtesy of The White Hart - doesn't affect me personally because I just stay clear of the town centre at those times when it's most likely to happen... But I wonder at the logic of the licensing authorities effectively encouraging large numbers of drink-laden youngsters to come into a place like Ampthill, rather than Bedford, Luton or Milton Keynes. Inappropriate development and lack of infrastructure to support so many new developments. Parking. Speeding - lack of roundabout at the end of Woburn Street & Ampthill by pass. Shop closures. Dilapidated & unoccupied houses in the town centre Inappropriate housing development, which if it is allowed to go ahead, will overwhelm the town and will change its character forever. The Ampthill Heights development should be the final major housing increase to be allowed in the town. The motor car (speeding and parking) is the enemy of this town and will ruin it unless checked and more weight given to human being needs. I believe the most important issue Ampthill is facing at the moment is the inappropriate development of a large housing estate in Abbey Lane. Whichever councillors have agreed to this so far obviously do not live in or near Ampthill. Our narrow street cannot take any more traffic, it is already so dangerous in Ampthill town with our narrow little paths I have seen cars mount the pavement and I think it is only a matter of time before someone gets knocked down and injured. There are not enough places at our schools, we cannot get parked at our local doctors, Waitrose car park is full to bursting already considering we were only allowed a certain size store appropriate for the population as it was when it was built. Oliver Street will become more of a a nightmare than it already is with the weight of traffic that uses it every day as a through road. We already have Ampthill Heights, The Limes and Centre Parcs which is more than enough for one small Georgian Town. Definitely all three. I live in Oliver Street and am getting increasingly concerned about the level and speed of traffic going up and down. Wing mirrors are being knocked from vehicles on a regular basis. The cars just carry on and make no attempt to stop and see the damaged caused. There are also no speed limit signs on this road and the street lighting is appalling. This also causes teenagers to walk down the street "keying" cars as they cannot be seen. Perhaps it should be a one way street as at present there s an accident waiting to happen as cars sometimes mount the pavement to overtake. We, the residents love our streets and it has a good community. My point is that if the plans to build more houses at the bottom of Abbey Lane go ahead, the traffic will increase even further up and down Oliver Street. It will become even more of a hazardous road. Also the fire and ambulance service is sited here. My other point is that if these houses are built, where will the children go to school? My children were and now one of my grandchildren is at The Firs school but will it continue if outsiders come in and take their places. I really don t see how this can happen unless another school(s) is built to accommodate them but where will it go. Our lovely market town where myself and family are proud to live is going to be ruined if all our green land is swallowed up by fat cat builders, who know nothing about the community in Ampthill. Not only that, they are not building affordable housing for the locals to enable them to get on the housing ladder and certainly not at 1st time buyers prices thus they are forced to buy in other areas when they would much rather live in the twon they were brought up in. We cannot take any more traffic. It s bad enough since Waitrose was allowed. Causing a lot of congestion in the town. Please help by putting our case forward to stop any further builds in our town.

3 Over development without an adequate infrastructure in place to cope with it. Development - enough is enough the roads can t take it. The infrastructure is lacking from sewerage through to dentists. This is a country town and needs to stay that way to keep our community. As a single woman I feel safe but if the place gets big this will take my safety as well as the older generations too. I nearly emigrated to Australia - Ampthill s community was one of the reasons i stayed - we have a great place to live - please don t ruin it! The amount of traffic passing through the town instead of using the by-pass. Sat nav has a lot to answer to. The problem will get worse when/if any more houses are built. too much housing planned on edge of town - infrastructure can't cope as it is - roads & parking a major issue Development Inappropriate development. 1) too much housing too quickly for the community to absorb. 2) badly planned (no thought to infrastructure impacts). 3) the entirely wrong solution (Covanta) Inappropriate development. No safe and appropriate facilities for teenagers Inappropriate development Inappropriate over development, 1 central beds councillor is quoted as saying we are proud of our small local towns like Ampthill. so why destroy it and over populate an area without the infrastructure to cope Definitely development. We will be sinking under the weight of housing with no consideration of the infrastructure needed to support it. Undoubtedly the overdevelopment [housing] in what is a small, historic town with old street patterns. Due to the above, street safety, traffic congestion and parking difficulties are all further compromised and ALL adversely affected. The town is slowly being 'choked' and nothing seems to be able to change the inexorable process of unprincipled development of agencies who have no 'sense of place' or neighbourhood of the area. Too much housing is now a 'line in the sand' issue because the quality of life in Ampthill and its environs is ALREADY diminishing for the benefit of people who have no commitment to, or concern for, sustaining its distinctive character. With these changes taking place is Ampthill a better place to live in or worse? Will our children thank us when they grow older and inherit a Thames Valley-like settlement strewn with roundabouts, traffic lights, and choked streets. I will support you all the way if you can do anything to stop such environmental vandalism in our area. What is our Mayor thinking of visiting and supporting the Ampthill Heights development and effectively endorsing overdevelopment? [See: advert feature in local free newspaper in which the developers talk of the advantage to COMMUTERS if they bought one of their houses.] She should look at the plans that will turn this area into one conurbation, and ask herself who will benefit, and where is the new infrastructure to support this so-called 'development'. Without doubt inappropriate development and linked to this wholly inadequate consultation with regard to planning. Over-development. Town, schools and services cannot take more. Development & resulting impact on education places & health. Also inappropriate use of funds at Ampthill park for extra play/fitness equipment better directed to toilet the park. Surely orienteering course or nature trail or running circuit less likely to be vandalised & get our young ones learn to read a map plus a decent path up to playground you can push a pram up!

4 Inappropriate development, must listen to schools, doctors surgeries, ambulance service, Anglian water, fire service, when they are working to maximum you do not carry on building houses. Town centre Friday and Saturday night are to be avoided. This is not fair on the restaurants and pub diner establishments. It is negating their hard work in trying to establish a decent business with good food in our beautiful town. Overdevelopment of Ampthill generally. We are losing our unique identity and the town centre is being destroyed. On reflection Waitrose should not have been allowed. A small convenience store would have been better and a larger supermarket with parking should have been located on the outskirts of the town. This would have allowed for parking for short and long stays within the town centre and made travelling from north to south easier. Overdevelopment will only add to the frustration and gridlock. Regarding cuts we have marked your question (too severe) mainly due to the cuts in music services. We feel very strongly that this is extremely short-sighted and in a few years time there will be very few young musicians in Central Bedfordshire. Madness. Over development. Infrastructure cannot sustain this, particularly increase of traffic driving through the town centre. We saw this happen at Christmas with people shopping at Waitrose causing traffic backing up as far as Sidney Rd. Also need more parking available. Lack of parking facilities. Congested streets. 4) If you could change one thing in Ampthill, what would it be? 4 The old, corrupt and lazy town council Waitrose parking times and the farmers market relocated to the main car park as it used to be when Budgens was the main store in Ampthill pedestrianisation or shared space concept. New community centre Inappropriate over-development by greedy land owners and developers. Restrictions on piecemeal, in-fill developments. Declare Ampthill independent of Central Beds Council and take complete control over our own destiny! Localism will only work if those in authority actually live in the communities they are supposed to represent. For all it's worth, Central Beds Council may as well be a Londonbased national quango with no real connection with this area. Lack of parking Allow local residents to have a meaningful say with regard to future developments. Ensure that C.B. planning committee members listen to and respond to local residents views. Enforce 20 M.P.H. speed limit. I would like to stop the proposed development in Abbey Lane. But I would also like to see a new Parkside Hall. Stop more building of houses before our historical town is ruined to stop the new developments traffic and introduce a voting system for the residents to choose the future - stop the dictation

5 Stop parents and children cycling on the pavements in the town centre. Can it be put in Round the Pump that our footpaths do not have a sign making it joint pedestrian/cyclist. Our footpaths are not wide enough. If parents encourage young children to cycle on the paths they will think it is quite ok when they are older. I understand it is safer to cycle on the path, I have done it myself, but only when it doesn't affect pedestrians out of the town centre. One day a cyclist will knock someone over coming out of a shop and the cyclist could easily be thrown into the road. car parks on edge of town centre development An improved voice and fairer representation for residents. Current local government is based around not-in-my-backyard (e.g. Tricia Turner seemingly uninterested in effects of policy outside of her own ward). Our local councillors have a voice, but it does not seem to hold much sway. Better sense of community. I think a new Parkside Hall could help with this, providing a focus for group activities. Speed reduction bumps on residential roads near the schools The supposed market is embarrassing - improve it or remove it completely. For the residents of Ampthill to have a say about their community and the council to not be in the pockets of the developers!! Stop ALL planned housing development until there is a new north-south by-pass. A new Community Hall on Woburn Road would be a really positive development but would it not be even harder to have enough parking in the future, and be increasingly difficult for visitors to access the location? Essentially the planners and developers will be making Ampthill a less desirable place to visit and in which to live! Reduce the over development. A north-south by-pass Stop development & keep a rural town Pub and club closing times. Taxi parking WAITROSE To stop through traffic. Although Lorries over 3 tons should not go through town centre they do! Adequate parking facilities