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Call for review of Branksome Rec ‘debacle’

8:00am Friday 27th November 2009


An independent Poole councillor has called for a special meeting over the “debacle” of Branksome Rec.

Cllr Carole Deas said that having read the planning officers’ report recommending refusal for the football club’s stadium plans, she did not understand why the plug had not been pulled on the scheme earlier.

After the planning committee meeting on December 2, where councillors could still overturn their officers’ advice and approve the scheme, she says they should scrutinise the whole application.

Cllr Deas said many of the matters raised – such as loss of public open space and failure to provide an alternative – had already been brought out at an environment overview and scrutiny committee.

The fact it was contrary to the local plan and core strategy was well known to councillors and she questioned why the administration had carried on with costly meetings.

She accused the council of “antagonising members of the public and causing great distress to so many, leading them to believe that their public open space was at great risk to satisfy the demands of a private company”.

A council spokesman said: “Members discussed Poole Town’s proposal for part of Branksome Rec at a meeting of the full council.

“Officers will review whether any further action is required once the football club’s application has been considered by members of the planning committee at a meeting on December 2.”

Comments posted on the Daily Echo website are divided between supporting the football club, attacking the council and the need to uphold public open space.

“I don’t see the issue with Poole Town going there,” said one online reader, who pointed out they would not be playing every week and night games were few. “If they improve the facilities for others, what’s the problem?”

Another said: “Poole council has set out policies surrounding open space and to go against these now would set a bad precedent.”


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Your Say YourEcho

Perry_Winkle, Poole says...
8:18am Fri 27 Nov 09

Continuing evidence of a complete lack of joined up thinking from the Council that brings you Park and Ride to keep traffic *out* of the town centre, and at the same time offers free parking *in* the town centre. Obviously graduates of the Homer Simpson Schhol of Traffic Management.

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baldyn, says...
8:29am Fri 27 Nov 09

Schhol... WHAT thats footwear

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John T, Poole says...
8:35am Fri 27 Nov 09

Any review needs to encompass far more than the Branksome Rec 'debacle'. This is only the latest open space debacle by Poole Council in a sequence that have led to protests by local taxpayers. These include the Solar Pyramid fiasco, the reluctant removal of portakabins at Whitecliff, blackmail over play equipment at Broadstone, giving away our beach for Sandpolo at Sandbanks,etc,etc.
Had there not been protests by various residents, supported by their Liberal Democrat councillors, it would seem that the largest vacant space left in Poole would be that in the head of Council Leader Leverett!

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sea poole, poole says...
8:36am Fri 27 Nov 09

..and we voted for this lot!
Still, only 18 months until we can decide on them...

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ruprecht, Poole says...
8:40am Fri 27 Nov 09

This has now gone beyond arguments about dog mess, noise pollution and parking.. it is "contrary to the local plan and core strategy".

Cllr Deas is entirely right.. there should be an enquiry into why this was allowed to go so far. Not only have some members of the Council gone against the local plan that they should be upholding, if the plans are thrown out next week they have completely wasted PTFCs time and money.

This proposal needs to be put to bed immediately and then everybody can concentrate on finding a suitable new home for PTFC.

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[Chris], WWW says...
11:25am Fri 27 Nov 09

When will those Councillors and members of the BRAG Group under stand that it is only 17% of the Rec that is being used for the PTFC Project, and not the whole open space as depicted, even in this latest story by Cllr Deas.
.
The fores are stacked high in favour of PTFC because it is part of Poole, it is a facility that will benefit the majority, and not just in the stadium.
.
Those who are against the project, are the same people who have sat back on their backsides and done nothing about the Rec, ie, in clearing the ever increasing mess, including dog mess, cans and bottles from the local youth drunks, syringes and needles. Of course not because that is a risk to themselves. However as it is the majority of Cllrs who have approved so far, and a large majority have seen what the PTFC can bring to the Rec, they see it as a good assett to have.
.
As I have said before, when you are in the process of about to lose your last bastion of open space to a project that has no benefit to anyone other than a very small few, then it is time to complain.

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ruprecht, Poole says...
12:06pm Fri 27 Nov 09

wrote:
When will those Councillors and members of the BRAG Group under stand that it is only 17% of the Rec that is being used for the PTFC Project, and not the whole open space as depicted, even in this latest story by Cllr Deas. . The fores are stacked high in favour of PTFC because it is part of Poole, it is a facility that will benefit the majority, and not just in the stadium. . Those who are against the project, are the same people who have sat back on their backsides and done nothing about the Rec, ie, in clearing the ever increasing mess, including dog mess, cans and bottles from the local youth drunks, syringes and needles. Of course not because that is a risk to themselves. However as it is the majority of Cllrs who have approved so far, and a large majority have seen what the PTFC can bring to the Rec, they see it as a good assett to have. . As I have said before, when you are in the process of about to lose your last bastion of open space to a project that has no benefit to anyone other than a very small few, then it is time to complain.
WWW - regardless of how much is actually being lost, the proposal has been found to be against the local open space strategy which is there to protect *all* open space.. not just some of it.

We can argue about the finer detail of the proposal for the next 25 years however it doesn't change the fact that Cllrs will now have to vote against their own policy in order to push this through!

Whatever happens, we'll have a decision next week and whether you are for or against the proposal, we will just have to live with the decision and move on.

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Perry_Winkle, Poole says...
12:59pm Fri 27 Nov 09

baldyn wrote:
Schhol... WHAT thats footwear
Unintended typo - maybe reflecting the flip-flops that seem to work for the council!
;o)

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Perry_Winkle, Poole says...
1:05pm Fri 27 Nov 09

John T, you forgot the Creekmoor P&R fiasco, where somehow the council managed to tarmac over green-belt land and still say they were protecting it. Not to mention later proceeding to allow a permanently manned fire-station to be built on the next door land that was too contaminated and dangerous for people to park their cars on!

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bofors, bournemouth says...
4:02pm Fri 27 Nov 09

Cllr Deas is the councillor voted in by tories,but now slates them,and has not got the guts to resign her seat and stand again.Now she gets involved in an issue she knows little about,but tries to get herself a bit of publicitywhat she knows about the rec could be written on a postage stamp,she is a joke no good or either side.By listening to her it shows how gullible objectors are.

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John T, Poole says...
4:30pm Fri 27 Nov 09

Bofors, is it BNP or UKIP week for you this week?
Now that UKIP have today elected another Tory defector as theIr Leader, I guess it might have to be the BNP.

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bofors, bournemouth says...
5:01pm Fri 27 Nov 09

A few years ago i paid a subscription to the Old English Party,never heard again,do you think John i could still be a member.

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pzazz, parkstone says...
7:12pm Fri 27 Nov 09

All along I have not been able to understand how certain councillors have been ignoring open space policies, the local plan and even the 2004 report about the lack of open space in the area. The enviromental meeting and scrutiny meeting saw the vote at 4 to 3 against the proposal ,yet somehow because the chairman then voted in support, it went through to the next stage. At this next stage, reasoned arguments against the proposal were given ,which included council policies about open space etc. Yet, it seemed predetermined with the conservatives voting either for it or abstaining altogether! Surely there should have been one conservative, who didnt have to run with the flock, and who actually had listened to the reasons and looked into poole policies and so therefore realised that Branksome was not the corect place to put a football stadium. I remember thinking that if an independent body of people had listened to the arguments for and against the proposal, and had been the ones to have decided whether it went any further ,the plan would have been stopped its tracks there and then. For the arguments against it were far more reasoned and fact based, whereas the arguments given for it were full of vague and unsupported intentions which seemed full of contradictions. So how did it really get as far as the planning stage when at that full council meeting in june, some experienced members of the council who are on the planning committe and so do have some knowledge of planning, sent the proposal sailing on through to the poor planning department, who have had the mammoth task of studying the whole issue and piecing together all the plans and comments. Mr Genge has has so many comments to wade through and so it is a great credit to him that he has now weighed everything up, keeping in line with the local plan and various other policies to write his long and detailed conclusuion to this long drawn out saga. The bottom line is that the proposal doesnt comply with council policies, something which could have been noted by some many months ago and saved a great deal of time and money- maybe enough money to have made a start on refurbishing the pavillion!

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John T, Poole says...
11:03am Sat 28 Nov 09

bofors wrote:
A few years ago i paid a subscription to the Old English Party,never heard again,do you think John i could still be a member.
I think you might do better to re-join the Conservatives. There are a lot of sheep that need keeping in line there right now. I knew you were an old dog, but I hadn't realised that you were an Old English Sheepdog.

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bofors, bournemouth says...
4:37pm Sat 28 Nov 09

John T wrote:
bofors wrote:
A few years ago i paid a subscription to the Old English Party,never heard again,do you think John i could still be a member.
I think you might do better to re-join the Conservatives. There are a lot of sheep that need keeping in line there right now. I knew you were an old dog, but I hadn't realised that you were an Old English Sheepdog.
Trouble is john there is no free speech nowadays,and a lot of the moaners on here are not really locals,or have ever put in any time to help the town,they do not realise how we older locals feel.Its like the ones who buy a property near Hurn and then complain about the flying.

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John T, Poole says...
11:31am Sun 29 Nov 09

bofors
Whilst I frequently disagree with your firmly held beliefs, I do realise how much you care about both Poole and Bournemouth and the personal, local knowledge you bring to the table.
But times change, and it is the younger generation, not you or I, that will have to deal with the mistakes that they make today.

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Comments are closed on this article.

Fiery meeting over Poole Town's plans to move to Branksome Rec CONTROVERSIAL: Residents looking at Poole Town football club’s plans for Branksome Rec at a public meeting held last year


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