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Chris Lale's blog

When is a cycle route not a cycle route?

Posted Friday 27 April 2012 by Chris Lale

Have you ever tried following the cycle paths around Bury St Edmunds. It is not easy. Paths begin and end unexpectedly leaving you stranded.

Worse still, you cannot even cycle legally on some designated cycle routes.

The devil is in the detail

Posted Tuesday 10 April 2012 by Chris Lale

planI'm trying to fill in the questionnaire for the Bury St Edmunds Vision 2031 Preferred Options Document about the proposed development of Jacqueline Close and the Old Hospital site.

The questionnaire asks: "Do you agree with allocating these brownfield sites for development? If not, what changes do you require and why?"

There is so little detail in the Preferred Options Document itself that it is difficult to know what a change might be.

For instance, how will people, cars, delivery and service vehicles for 105 homes access the sites? The document merely says: "There are a number of potential access points". It does not say where they might be. You can make some guesses, though.

New charge on disabled in Bury

Posted Monday 2 April 2012 by Chris Lale

Revealed today.

The black wraps come off the new blue signs on pay and display machines in Bury St Edmunds council car parks.

The notice begins:

"St Edmundsbury Borough Council

"Blue Badge Holders are required to pay parking charges."

Corn Exchange pub redevelopment

Posted Sunday 1 April 2012 by Chris Lale

Bury St Edmund's Corn Exchange will become a pub next month.

Last year I wondered whether plans from J D Wetherspoon would be sympathetic to the historic building. Not long until I find out. The upper floor is due to open as a pub on 5th June this year.

Wetherspoons are in for the long haul. They have a 30 year lease and they are spending over a million pounds on the conversion. At least it is not another betting shop in the town centre.

Black Monday, or blue?

Posted Wednesday 28 March 2012 by Chris Lale

The ticket machines in Bury St Edmunds car parks have been modified by the addition of metal plates hidden under black plastic. A hint of blue can be seen around the edges on the plates.

Perhaps these are warning notices for people with disabilities, because on Monday (2nd April) St Edmundsbury Borough Council will start charging Blue Badge holders to use the car parks.

According to the government, Blue Badge holders may generally park at pay-and-display machines for free and for as long as they need to.  Clearly, not any more in Bury St Edmunds. It does seem difficult to find a justification for targeting people with disabilities in this way.

Road and pavement progress

Posted Monday 26 March 2012 by Chris Lale

The big machine of bureaucracy grinds along its own slow path. It is easy to feel that it takes little or no account of the individual.

I reported the poor state of the road surface in Bury St Edmunds Kings Road two and a half weeks ago to Suffolk County Council Highways Department via Customer Services. A week later, I contacted them and asked them to include the pavement surface in their inspection.

Today I rang the Customer Services help line to ask whether the inspection had taken place yet. The Customer Services adviser was able to tell me that repairs to the footway had already been scheduled and that work on the pot holes had not yet been scheduled but were on the next job sheet. This sounds like progress!

Jacqueline Close development

Posted Monday 19 March 2012 by Chris Lale

Letter to the Bury Free Press from Chris Lale

Sent 12th March 2012

Cllr Craig Dearden-Phillips raises concerns about the mismatch between Vision 2031 for Bury St Edmunds and the creaking road infrastructure (“Roads will not cope”, BFP letters, 9th March 2012).

The south east of Bury is not the only area where the Vision 2031 plans seem questionable. The narrow streets and pavements in the Kings Road area are already struggling to cope with the pressure of traffic and the demand for parking spaces. The plan to build an extra 60 homes behind the old Hanchets stone yard would place a huge burden on nearby streets, especially where the site meets Kings Road at the top of Victoria Street.

Pot holes and pavements

Posted Friday 16 March 2012 by Chris Lale

Anyone who who walks down Kings Road must be aware of the broken and uneven pavements.

Treading carefully along the path, It occurred to me that the Suffolk County Council team that is due to inspect pot holes in the road might be able to examine the pavement at the same time.

It is a week since I reported the pot hole problem in Kings Road to Suffolk County Council's Customer Services Department. There doesn't seem to be any automated way of tracking the progress of the report, but I was able to speak to them on the phone.

The road is due to be inspected next week. They have agreed to check the pavements at the same time, and to let me know their assessments. I hope that this will lead to something being done.

Money or community?

Posted Tuesday 13 March 2012 by Chris Lale

St Edmundsbury Council is one of the richest in the country. According to the EADT, the interest alone earned by this wealth is over half a million pounds per year. Seemingly, the Council thinks it needs more, so it will start to take money from people with disabilities who use the Council's car parks.

Car park charges for Blue Badge holders are being introduced from 2nd April.

It seems extraordinary that Councillors should feel the need to do this. The justification given in the Council's Budget is that "many places now charge all car park users". Of course, many people smoke. Is that a good reason to start smoking?

Kings Road going to pot

Posted Saturday 10 March 2012 by Chris Lale

The Beatles wrote the line about "ten thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire". Well, there aren't ten thousand holes in Kings Road, but there are well over a hundred that I can see.

The roads in Bury St Edmunds are no longer managed by St Edmundsbury Borough Council. Since 1st April 2011, Suffolk County Council has been responsible.

So, yesterday I reported the pot hole problem in Kings Road to Suffolk County Council. There are pot holes from Prospect Row in the east to Shillitoe Close and the cemetery in the west. This is what I reported: