Charlbury Community Centre Plans

Sat 17 Jan 2015, 16:48

Any time I voice concerns about the Community Centre, I get beaten down for being negative, but I saw the plans at the Gruffalo event today and am more concerned than ever. As a frequent user of car parks at Witney and Carterton leisure centres, I know about the variable demands of car park spaces at sports facilities, but it's more often a struggle than a dawdle except at the most unsociable of swimming training times. Both places have adequate overflow arrangements in the shape of either Waitrose or on street at Carterton. Neither are sharing their parking with the sole car park in town that shares space with a busy corner shop, the town centre shops, the evening food vans, spill-over from the doctors, vet, dentist, users of 9 Acres, and those few commuters who are being either pragmatic or reduced to desperation because of station provision. To believe for one second that more cycle spaces and being pedestrian-friendly will reduce drivers who come to use the new facilities is to bury heads in the sand. I know people are desperate to see closure on this thing, have worked hard, and can smell victory , but I beg them to come to the real world about the huge pressure on that car park right now, even before you remove the waste ground overflow by putting a building there, and one that's specifically designed to attract more people - lots more people - to that facility. Take note of Oxfordshire's recent boob: the new Blackbird Leys pool which replaces the old Temple Cowley pool, a main purpose of which was supposed to provide a flagship facility for county swim competitions, but for some reason, the concerns about internal space around the pool were ignored, and now there is no room for competitors to sit around the sides, so the pool isn't fit for purpose, and Oxford county continues to need to take its competitors to Buckinghamshire as a result. I believe it's imperative the Trust doesn't succumb to summit fever; otherwise, we may all pay for the enthusiasm that ignored the elephant in the room.