Newport village

About thirteen years ago when I joined the parish council (I left about three years ago), work had started to create the original Brickyard Project. I soon became aware that residents were concerned about the development. Their concerns centred on the location, too close to the deep water ponds and canal: the remoteness of the location; parents would be apprehensive about allowing their children to play there and it would attract vandalism and drug and alcohol abusers and the cost of maintenance; meaning it would either fall into disrepair or cost a fortune to maintain.

Roll forward a few years and the site had become semi derelict, it had become a centre for drug and alcohol abuse, it was hardly used by those for whom it was intended and vandalism was a common occurrence.

A couple of months ago I took a look at the New Brickyard Project and I was impressed with what I saw. The implementation was ambitious and the work that had been completed looked to be in good order. However, I was concerned about the doubts that had been expressed thirteen years earlier and which came to to be the main cause of the demise of the original implementation. So I asked the Chair of the parish council, Gordon Shields, what was different about this implementation that would stop the site suffering the same fate as before. To be honest I wasn't convinced with his reply because I couldn't see that any lessons had been learnt from the past.

Today I had a look round the site to see how the project was progressing. I invite others who read this blog to do the same.

So what did I find.

I found that little progress had been made to complete the work. The site was strewn with weeds, including weeds which are specified in the Weeds Act 1959 as being "injurious". The paths had become badly degraded by the rain such that they are now fairly uncomfortable to walk on and are merging into the grassy areas. The cut grass areas had become badly infested with weeds. Some parts of the play equipment was made of poor quality wood and was now splintering. There were two lads in the car park taking drugs. In short, the site had degraded substantially from what I saw just a couple of months ago. Without the infestation of rabbits I am sure that the site would have looked even more overgrown. Today, the site quite simply is an eyesore.

I think the parish council are now in a difficult position. They probably realise that even without the site being finished and put into use, maintenance of this large area is already proving a headache. Controlling the vegetation and managing the effects of the weather is already beyond the resources that have been made available, so the site is already falling into disrepair.

So what can they do? They have two choices; throw money at the problem or let the degradation of the site continue.

Throwing money at the problem is a difficult choice because we already have the highest precept of any village in the East Riding. But politically, the parish council cannot allow this project to fail.

OK, the parish council made a mistake the first time round. Then the project was ambitious, but it largely failed. What I can't understand is why history so far seems to be repeating itself.

What would I have done differently? Well that is simple. I would have turned about two thirds of the land over to allotments, for which there is a substantial requirement in the village, and I would have used the remainder of the land for a much smaller, less expensive and much simpler play area that would be far less expensive and difficult to maintain. The presence of the allotment holders would then provide at least a degree of adult presence.

Is there anybody in Newport who isn't on the parish council who don't believe that this project is fast becoming another white elephant, because I can't find anyone.

Please reply to this blog if you support the project because it is important that different points of view are expressed.