At the risk of sounding like the little boy who told the emperor that he was stark b*ll*ck naked, I am now going risk cries of "shame on you" by pouring scorn on one area of Northampton Borough Councils activities which is universally praised and feted by all three political parties at the Guildhall.
Of course I refer to Northampton in Bloom, isn't it fine, isn't it grand, the best display in all the land!
They clearly see something that I don't!
I am not in anyway against the competition, in fact if you do your homework you will find that the Borough Council entered the competition every year when I was Chair of Environment Services in the early 1990's and like the present day we won our fair share of awards, but then again you always do, and if you don't they will make one up for you just to keep you coming back to enter next year, how about "Gold Certificate in the Large Town category for Town's beginning and ending in the Letter N award! or the Platinum plate for the East Midlands Market Towns population 200,000-210,000 category?
My gripes against the current awards are many and varied, but for starters lets look at what happened in the early 1990's and match that against what happens now. Then the Councils own gardening staff worked all year round at our own plant Nursery in Cliftonville to provide plants for the bespoke planting of raised beds and roundabouts and also planted displays in our parks, cared for by our own grounds maintenance staff in order to provide a display for judging that was unique to any other entrant. Nowadays the Council but in a selection of off the shelf tubs, hanging baskets, and roadside boxes full of almost painted on petunias and begonias all with a ridiculously short growth cycle to add a pretence of colour to a backdrop which for the other 10 months of years looks drab and grey.
It's another example of thier B&Q society I guess, all right I know we all do it..... go down to B&Q and but all the pre planted tubs for the Garden on the day of the BBQ, but shouldn't we expect a bit more originality from the Council
I travel a lot around the UK and Northampton's current display is all too familiar, its as if they want to match the chain stores and traders in turning every high street in Britain into one soulless lookalike landscape, and I guess the judges must also get fed up of seeing these same old green plastic boxes hanging off of very similar traffic barriers and the familiar upstanding tubs craftily placed to trip up every blind resident in every town and city in Britain.
Even worse though is the way that the Council treat the community entrants in this charade. Our proud guerrilla gardeners in Spring Boroughs took to making the most of the land after the Council had failed miserably for years to maintain it themselves, even though they were paying a contractor out of our council tax to do it. And then when they showed the Council whats possible if you try the Council respond by popping the Mayor and Portfolio holder down for a Photo Call in order to pull the wool over the judges eyes in pretending that this community spirited enterprise was all their idea in the first place! And then when the judges are all gone they start charging the volunteers to tip garden waste which they themselves should have been clearing up in the first place!
So in honour of our Borough Councils gallantless efforts and also with grateful thanks to a few of my FACEBOOK friends who have posted pictures of their street scenes in July 2011 I am proud to present this years inaugural entrants for the
2011 NORTHAMPTON IN GLOOM awards, or THE PARTS OF TOWN THE JUDGES NEVER GET TO SEE
This prestigious prize will be awarded to the Borough Council by yours truly along with a framed photo of the winning entrant.
To enter your street just send me photo of your neglected greenscape, in order to remind our elected councillors that whilst they continue to congratulate themselves on the displays of Pansies outside the Guildhall, and pat each other on the back for passing off the communities work as their own, that the rest of us are having to put up with the same old cr*p out on the estates, which now threatens to get worse under our new friends Enterprise PLC They should all be so Blooming proud of themselves.
PLEASE SEND YOUR ENTRIES WITH A DESCRIPTION AND AREA THE PHOTO WAS TAKEN TO:
tony.clarke@email.com
I am not about to cry "shame on you" (much) Tony.
ReplyDeleteI see your gripe, and sort of agree.
The trouble is mate, it is making you sound like that negative person some others make you out to be.
It is ver easy to see the worst this town (and life) has to offer, it is also very easy to moan about it.
The "bloom" is not as good as it used to be, there isn't as many people doing it as there used to be... I agree. However all those people need paying, what do we pay them with? What do we cut to pay them?
Do we get rid of things like the pride of lions? (or whatever it will be next year) If you say yes, great. But you lose something that the majority of people loved seeing. It made people smile and come to town. Isn't that what we are trying to do, make people come to this town?
Do you scrap any planned renovation work? Isn't that part of the problem too? Things get old and tired looking (bit like me and thee) and they need to be looked after, or it will end up needing so much work doing to it; it will end up looking like those in the pictures above.
What about putting up taxes then to pay for all this work? But when people are losing their jobs and unable to find work, people will not be able to afford that will they?
(I think I made a point there)
At the end of the day, everything seems to need doing; we need people to come here... and want to stay! Businesses and people. And simply put, if it looks cr*p then they won't.
My folks won't come into town because they say it is dirty, expensive and too many "kids" about intimadating them.
They find MK better. If you cannot change the minds of people like my folks; and there are many of them, there is no point in trying to get big businesses to come here.
They will be no point to any developement to the Saints or Cobblers, if no one wants to come here. Because if you get the ASDA etc up at Sixfields/St. James, people will go there and not come to town... if they take away all the things that make it look good; then what?
A town no one wants to live, work or go to...
And before you tell me I know nothing, I might not know about politics. I might not be as old or wise as you. BUT... I know what I see. I am the one that comes into town every week, because I have nowhere else to go! I am the one who longs to see someone, anyone fight to save the town ~ why isn't it you Tony?
Nicky, it's easy for people to accuse those of us willing to tell the truth of being negative, after all they have so much invested in believing their own propaganda.
ReplyDeleteBut my point is why spend money on the luxeries when you can't even get the basics right?
What good is it that we win a certificate from Britain in Bloom if your estates looks like those pictures above?
My other point is that if we still ad an in house workforce and our own nursery then this would be a matter of civic pride not just a few pansies in pots the same as every other town that entered.
No rat catcher? But we an spend a fortune on tubs and we want the Lions back? It's living in a bubble, and sums up the attitude of so many.
The town is a lot more than simply the town centre and I would rather be truthful as to what our priorities are rather than pretending the suns shining when everyone hasbthier brollies up..
So how about cutting the grass and weeds on the estates and having a few less tubs and stop entering competitions that everyone wins until we have something special or unique to display?
Mate, we are agreeing with each other again!
ReplyDeleteI disagree in part though, regardless of if "everyone" wins an award or just a "select few;" it is still nice to win; but also take part.
For example. I am not the first or last member of St. John to get a shiny service medal. Does that make it less important to me? No, it IS an acheievement. Because everyone who stays in St. John for over 12 years gets one, should that mean I should not want one or be happy that I have one?
I agree that it would be nice to have areas like those in the pictures sorted, but in the end I guess it all comes down to money doesn't it?
All I see is people not wanting to come here, stay here or live here. Is it being negative or is it being honest? Surely it isn't wrong to want better?
(And just incase you think I'm moaning at you ~ you need a bloody party man! As much of a superman as you are, even you cannot run a cabinet alone!)