Friday, October 28, 2005
Redhead's Landing
Redhead's Landing - almost six months later
It was on May 10th. of this year that I first posted my concerns at the perpeptual locking of the pedestrian access gate at Redheads Landing, since then many emails have been sent and received between myself and our "award winning" Council, but as yet there has been no firm action. or indeed any sign of it.
Click picture to enlarge.
The access gate was provided following the inclusion of a planning condition, when consent was first granted for the erection of the gates, following the stopping up of River Street.
Although the Council does not own the land, and it is no longer a Public Highway, there were promises to investigate the current ownership, and at the time of the Tall Ships Race in July, talk of a Council funded clean up operation at the Landing. So far, none of these intentions have come to fruition, certainly no conclusions have been reached. In July a meeting of the Riverside Area Forum decided not to ask for a further report about the matter until after the Leader and Deputy Leader had discussed the issue the following day, now over three months later they have still not called for such a report.
The Council arranged for the permanent closure of the pedestrian access gate in July because of fears over Health and Safety, it is still closed today, and the Legal Services Team still argues that enforcement of the original planning conditions is not deemed appropriate. Despite assurances that the matter would be discussed by the Council Cabinet, I see no records of any discussions having taken place (see minutes of the Cabinet meetings here.)
I repeat my assertions that we had very good reasons for insisting upon the provision of a public access gate when the planning condition was granted, Redhead's Landing is one of only two points of public access to the riverside in South Shields and has enjoyed it's status for over a hundred years. This is important to photographers, anglers, local historians, other river users, and as a point of emergency access to land those found in trouble on the river.
Like many smaller issues, which are of great importance to a relatively small amount of people, this "award winning" Council insists on dragging it's feet, in the hope that the issue will quietly go away. I call upon the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council to make a statement indicating when the public can expect to regain access to Redhead's Landing, and when- not "if"- the planning conditions will be enforced!
_________________________________________________________________
It was on May 10th. of this year that I first posted my concerns at the perpeptual locking of the pedestrian access gate at Redheads Landing, since then many emails have been sent and received between myself and our "award winning" Council, but as yet there has been no firm action. or indeed any sign of it.
Click picture to enlarge.
The access gate was provided following the inclusion of a planning condition, when consent was first granted for the erection of the gates, following the stopping up of River Street.
Although the Council does not own the land, and it is no longer a Public Highway, there were promises to investigate the current ownership, and at the time of the Tall Ships Race in July, talk of a Council funded clean up operation at the Landing. So far, none of these intentions have come to fruition, certainly no conclusions have been reached. In July a meeting of the Riverside Area Forum decided not to ask for a further report about the matter until after the Leader and Deputy Leader had discussed the issue the following day, now over three months later they have still not called for such a report.
The Council arranged for the permanent closure of the pedestrian access gate in July because of fears over Health and Safety, it is still closed today, and the Legal Services Team still argues that enforcement of the original planning conditions is not deemed appropriate. Despite assurances that the matter would be discussed by the Council Cabinet, I see no records of any discussions having taken place (see minutes of the Cabinet meetings here.)
I repeat my assertions that we had very good reasons for insisting upon the provision of a public access gate when the planning condition was granted, Redhead's Landing is one of only two points of public access to the riverside in South Shields and has enjoyed it's status for over a hundred years. This is important to photographers, anglers, local historians, other river users, and as a point of emergency access to land those found in trouble on the river.
Like many smaller issues, which are of great importance to a relatively small amount of people, this "award winning" Council insists on dragging it's feet, in the hope that the issue will quietly go away. I call upon the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council to make a statement indicating when the public can expect to regain access to Redhead's Landing, and when- not "if"- the planning conditions will be enforced!
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