Letter from Cllr Sean Parker-Perry

Local residents around Temperance Green received the following letter from Cllr Sean Parker Perry. I assume he won't mind it quoting here, as it just summarises the decision at the District Assembly.

"Dear Resident. As you may be aware, a consultation report was presented to the members of the Longdendale and Hattersley District Assembly on Thu 13th Dec following a request to improve parking facilities in the Broadbottom area.
The assembly heard representations from officers to create parking in the grassed area which was followed by the presentation of a petition against the proposed scheme.
The assembly voted unanimously to reject the officer's report and moved a further motion to:
1. Receive a report at the next DA meeting for minor environmental improvement works to protect this area.
2. Receive a report at the next DA to improve security at the Mill Brow parking facility.
I hope you agree with the elected members of the Assembly that we felt this green area is an asset to the village and it should be protected from future proposals to change its use for parking.
If you have questions etc"

Voting Lines now closed

Not quite as busy as the X-factor, but the on-line vote finished with 50 votes cast. We'd asked "Do you think Temperance Green should be tarmaced over?" 90% voted "No way".
"Yes - Part of it" won 4%; "Yes - All of it" won 6%.

Great Support on Sunday

The damp Sunday air didn't spoil the turnout for the press photographs this afternoon. Over 20 local residents left the warmth of their houses to express their support, in a fantastic show of community spirit.

The 2nd photo shows Joyce showing her support. She probably won't thank me for saying this, but Joyce has lived on Temperance Street for 69 years!

Tameside Reporter on the case

The Tameside / Glossop Advertiser have been intouch today and are going to run to a feature. The timing is excellent, with their publication coming just before the District Assembly gets underway.

These local papers are part of the larger MEN Media Group so the story could travel even wider!

From Joy Derbyshire, Broadbottom Resident

In this day and age we are all encouraged to use our cars less and Broadbottom is a fabulous place to live as we have a station and bus services which like all public transport could be improved but mostly are reliable and a 'real' option. When buying a house in the village it is never expected to be able to park your car unless having a garage or driveway(not many of these in our terraced streets). The other options around the village for possible development as car parks have not been closely studied e.g. garages behind Old Street? Please sign the petition to support us if you can.

Important Date

Editors note: The photo above is a fake! We have more supporters than this.

The plan to convert the Green into a car park will be discussed (and potentially agreed) at the District Assembly Meeting at 6.30pm on Thursday 13th December at Broadbottom's Community Centre on Market Steet.

Catching Up

A few things had happened prior to creating this blog. I'll summarise a few here:

Some months ago - The problem of the odd car being parked on the grass of Temperance Green was raised at a District Assembly meeting (although nothing is reported in as yet published minutes).

2 weeks ago - Rumours started circulating that there was a 'plan' to turn Temperance Green into a car park.

1 week ago - No12 spoke with local councillor Sean Parker-Perry (SPP). SPP confirmed it was under consideration but that no drawings / plans currently existed (although there was talk of a 'sketch' which he would forward to No12. "The plan would be discussed at the 13th Dec District Assembly and a decision would be taken".

3 days ago - Two Council workers visited the Green to "measure-up and come up with some ideas". When No12 asked how many cars they could fit on, they gave him a total of 18 (!).....9 on the Temperance Street side, 7 on the Bostock Road side and 3 on the Old Street side.

This is how we fear Temperance Green may end-up

2 days ago - An impromptu meeting saw 7 of the local residents discussing the plans on a cold afternoon. A petition was started and a decision to attend the councillors surgery the next day was taken.

Yesterday - 10+ local residents attended the surgery with councillor Jonathan Reynolds. Jonathan listed to the wide-ranging objections. One of the residents had even produced professional drawings which will put the official 'sketch' (if it ever existed) to shame. The most important discovery was that the 'plan' flies in the face of many of the Council's own policies, so it will be interesting to see how they justify their action. It seems there will be quite a fight...........