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ISSUE 348 – OUT SOON!

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As you read this, advance copies of the March Spurtle are already popping up across Broughton like park snowdrops awaiting the first Mastiff of spring. 

 

Issue 348 begins with an angel and a devil, a massive mistake and a wet, hollow, boggy place designed to enthuse people without wellies. 

 

ELM ROW

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'But Time's stern tide, with cold Oblivion's wave

Shall soon dissolve each fair, each fading charm,

E'en Nature's self, so powerful, cannot save

Her own rich gifts from this o'erwhelming harm.'

Anna Seward, 'Elegy'.

 

No. 41 in an occasional photo series celebrating #Spurtleshire #streetnamesigns.

NO PROGRESS ON DAILY TRIPS

Submitted by Editor on

Reader Shaun Hodge has contacted us with a story of bureaucratic confusion and departmental inefficiency. It would be laughable if there weren't a real threat here to pedestrian safety. And, as the author concludes, it raises serious questions about accountability, inefficiency, and how public concerns are handled.

 

Hodge's admirable persistence is worth chronicling in full. His campaign unfolds below, told in his own words and images. Council officers' names have been obscured by us in line with Spurtle policy.

 

YOUR COMMUNITY COUNCIL WANTS YOU!

Submitted by Editor on

Peter Williamson, current Chair of the New Town & Broughton Community Council, has provided a short updated piece which may be of interest to many Spurtle readers. We reproduce it below unedited and in full.

 
*****

 

The New Town & Broughton Community Council (NTBCC) is the local  community representative body established by law. 

 

Please mind the credibility gap

 

Dear Spurtle,

In the Briefly section of Spurtle Issue 345 (November 2024) you note that 'Cllr Caldwell reports imminent works along Leith Walk will include: replacement of damaged paving slabs; a new reinforced concrete foundation at the Annandale St junction; removal of most "rusty-bucket" planters; and removal of superseded cycle-lane paint. At Elm Row, he notes work this autumn will: lay new paving where the muddy desire line now crosses grass; create a bi-directional cycleway and deeper bus stops; install bollards between Elm Row and Montgomery St; reopen Brunswick St for vehicles turning left onto Leith Walk and increase the "pedestrian plaza". Cycle parking may follow. The estimated cost of the Elm Row work is £856k (incl. interest payable over 20 years).'  

I wonder if Cllr Caldwell knows why none of this work seems to have taken place?

Do you know of any elected councillor for the City Centre or Leith Walk wards who now actually believe anything the tram team tell them in terms of dates for work? 

If the answer is no then that is a pretty shocking state of affairs as far as local democracy and accountability are concerned.

Keith Cowan

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