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Mon 5 Dec 2016, 13:59
Paul many thanks for the kind comments regarding my business I love having a business in Charlbury it is a fantastic place to work and live with a really great mixture of people living in the town.
I do like the sense of democracy this town has as well, which is I'm sure everyone agrees is the only way forward and having this forum gives anyone the chance to have their say just in the same way that past surveys that have been done over the years and there have been a few surveys and questionnaires over time I'm sure. But like Mark says these surveys can only give a "snapshot of a moment in time" and is subject to people taking the time and responding to them.
I'm sure that when interest was first shown in having a community centre and sports hall many moons ago, there was at that time a lot of support and took into account the needs of the younger generation but as Mark does state this is only a "snapshot of that moment in time" Now bringing it all back up to date the recent survey poll seems to show the support does seem to have altered again with less support judging by the number of No's of persons who will potentially use the facilities. Everyone of Charlbury's households had the chance to make their views heard and to me if you don't vote or take part in a poll or survey then you have no say in voicing an opinion and according to West Oxfordshire 2011 census there are 1298 occupied household spaces with 2830 people living in those households now I know that it's 2016 now and there have been few more houses built since then but only 620 household surveys were filled in and 1039 individual surveys of the most recent 2016 town survey, now I grant you that is less than 50% of the possible town occupancy going by the 2011 census numbers, but is that not a poor show of the people who had the chance to show their support for the said community projects that couldn't be bothered to fill in the form ? Going by the numbers that did take the time to fill in the survey there were obviously households that took into consideration the younger generation and this was shown in the form of youth room 82 yes's junior soft ball 81 yes's football 82 yes's cricket 66 yes's and football training 79 yes's.
Whereas the No's for the above sports totalled 2929 Now these yes numbers to me seem more than likely to have been made by the same family's going by how close the numbers are to each other in each of these youth style sports but it's not what I would call an overwhelming yes vote, I also applaud and agree that we need to get more active in the sports dept ,you say that in the long term you hope to offer certain slots FOC for the tiny tots whilst this is a great idea and without stating the obvious this surely will reduce your income ability Oh I know you have to speculate to accumulate in business and just maybe if you give the tots the bug for sport early enough then they might "potentially" carry on well up until they find the delights of a smart phone or play console at least so just to put my mind at rest how much to you anticipate charging for use of the facilities say a badminton court of rent the hall for an hour ? Anyway I know you're asking why am I dribbling on with this what's this all about, well it all goes back to the what this thread is initially about and that's the choice of paying for a loan to the community centre and sports social club for the next 20 years or so.
Both projects it seems have done well in raising money to get where they are today and I applaud that, hey in the early days I even bought a brick (and to be honest that is all I have done since I found out that the Library would be going there as one of the conditions from the county council, which to me is taking a much loved service out of the town centre and so will reduce the footfall in the original town centre as will the proposed onsite cafe will do ) so with all that in mind with the most recent numbers of people that bothered to express a view in filling out the 2016 survey with regard to the new buildings for the community , and as Mark says this will be a "wonderful community asset to use" but my question is why should the rest of town be lumbered with debt which will be passed onto the youth of today as remember they are the adults of tomorrow, and especially as when we as a country have all seen the protest against paying more taxes for whatever reason but this for me puts my back up especially when only a number of residents seem to be interested in " potentially" using the new facilities. Guys you have done a great job raising the money that you have so far, and may it long continue but not at my expense please.
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