Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeViewsReaders' ViewsMeadows should be open to cars

Meadows should be open to cars

-

This is an open letter to Alvechurch Parish Council and anyone concerned with the situation at the Wiggin Recreation Grounds, known locally as The Meadows, over the past summer and autumn.

Having contacted Redditch and Bromsgrove councils, I was informed that to date, lockable height bar gates have proved “100 per cent effective” at stopping travellers from entering their sports and recreation grounds via car park entrances.

Yet at a recent Alvechurch council meeting, one councillor said it would be inappropriate for Alvechurch to install one at the entrance to The Meadows. Why?

If fitted, it would mean the main gates could be left open for people to access the car park with a normal-height vehicle.

As regards the safety of young children, I have been in the village since the early 1950s and to the best of my knowledge no child has been injured by a motor vehicle in Meadow Lane; I consider it safer for a young mother to take children by car than to walk a considerable distance crossing the main road through the village to get to The Meadows.

Meadow Lane has full vehicular rights; it is not a private road or an unadopted road and as such may be used by all, not just a few privileged people who consider they own it and use it to their own advantage.

This open-ended policy used by the parish council is a decision that cannot be justified and should be made obsolete after the lockable height bar gate has been installed, thereby allowing balance of access to be restored.

The code number may be given to appropriate bodies by the council for essential services or maintenance.

Having spent what appears to be a waste of thousands of pounds on a football pitch that has never been used and may never be used properly (through lack of facilities), I consider that the parish council should be able to obtain sufficient funds for installation of the height bar to go ahead.

Bromsgrove council may also help with funding. Imagine the outcry if Redditch or Bromsgrove councils had banned vehicular access to its own recreation grounds or sports facilities.

Please make your feelings known to the council or via this magazine.

Mr A M Davis, Alvechurch