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Tue 5 Dec 2023, 07:03 (last edited on Tue 5 Dec 2023, 08:52)
As somebody who fairly recently moved to the town, there’s so much to admire. The sense of community, the incredible pubs, the beauty without coach loads of tourists snapping every building they see, the lack of traffic vs a regular town, the variety of services we have for such a small place from doctors, dentist, supermarket (albeit small), food options from the excellent looking new bistro to food trucks, varied facilities for elderly and young (by the way a skatepark is meant to have graffiti, as my son reliably informs me) and a world class, award winning music festival. It’s really quite remarkable and I’m proud to call it home.
Some of the bad is displayed in this thread too. Whenever there is such a community, there’s always people a little too overprotective of their version of paradise, afraid to embrace any change.
“They need to be told to get rid of the tent structure”. What about the many, many people who think the stretch tent is a wonderful addition to the pub, making the outdoor space usable throughout the year? Let The Bull get on with being an incredible pub and stop sniping at every little change that really doesn’t affect you. I have great pride at taking visitors there in any season and them saying it’s their dream pub. Yet some people take umbrage at having a thriving business run by successful, young people that is the envy of every town in the country. Parking issues are not their fault alone. The deli, Chloe’s, the church, the nursery, the Memorial Hall, The Rosie all attract visitors in cars at various times. The ongoing (dull) debate about a potential loss of 5 car parking spaces is hardly earth shattering and the cause of all ills.
Speed reduction has worked, yet some seem insistent on finding fault. We’ve just successfully implemented a 20mph zone throughout town. Of course some people will go over the speed limit by 5-10mph, that’s true regardless of the number on the sign, so be thankful the average speed has significantly reduced from 36 to 26 mph, rather than bemoan the fact not everyone adheres to the number. It’s those people we wanted to curb in the first place, not the person pootling along at 30 on the dot. Learn to take the win.
Let’s try to refrain from making every subject on the board about car parking and ditch the use of the awful ‘Chelsea Tractor’ to describe any SUV. Especially as we’re in the country, so the term doesn’t work here. So what if somebody got confused and went the wrong way up a street? It’s great we’re getting people here for weekend stays rather than day trip carnage seem elsewhere. They contribute hundreds of pounds to (in some case admitted already very affluent) community pockets with each stay. An obvious solution is parking permits for a small area around Browns Lane/Church St/Market St/Sheep St inter-section, plus the ability to pay for 48 hours in the Co-op car park. The very last thing we want is parking tickets being handed out like candy for minor infractions.
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