“We want to play our full part in the life of the nation.” Cllr Hinchcliffe, Leader of Bradford Council, referring to Bradford’s bid to become UK City of Culture 2025.
After a week of searching for the same weed Hapless must be on, more views on life closer to reality.
A few weeks ago I visited Horton Park; I took the old folks as they both grew up close by. There are many fine parks in Bradford, bequeathed largely by past generations, now so reviled by the young and ill-informed – see later for more on this.
According to Bradford Council’s website, there are thirty-six public parks, totaling an area of over two hundred and seventy hectares. Ten of the parks are on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England.
That is some legacy; I wonder what today’s hot-shots will leave behind?
In truth I had low expectations but, immense credit to the park keepers, despite the selfish ignorance of moronic litter droppers, the park was in great condition and beautiful.
Parks reflect changing times of course; the tennis courts are long gone, the bowling greens given over to kids football. Who am I to judge for better or for worse?
On the flipside, the beautiful pond was stagnant and the wonderfully engineered stone conduit was bone dry. Worse still, along an adjoining wall, several rats competed for food left on the ground, oblivious to our presence.
It was hard not to sympathise with the task the park keepers have, contending with both animal and human vermin. You cannot blame the rats when the levels of human intelligence are clearly much lower.
Then I saw a story from Somerset where they had tested removing litter bins, encouraging people to take basic responsibilities and take litter home – see here. When I ventured this to the council this was the reply.
It has been trailed in other parts of the city ward, unfortunately, it didn’t improve…staff just had to remove more litter from the floor and pavements. What God didn’t put there, and all that. Education of the human element is more difficult.
And civilization marches on.
More Rubbish
A reader sent this through recently.
Fly-tipping is a national blight but making it harder for those who need accessible and local sites surely will not help the situation. Clearly, the issue is with recycling Gypsum. Assuming this needs special care, making it harder to recycle legally is a leap of blind faith.
In a world where we have to consider financially incentivising people to take a jab to save their lives, maybe money talks here too? Why not make council tips completely free to use and see what impact this has on fly-tipping?
We will never know unless we try.
Even More Waste
A quick update on the cricket nets scandal. A formal response is anticipated from the English Cricket Board in due course. Expect plenty of spin and bluster written by Jemima the PR intern.
So far as my useless local MP and councillor, not a squeak; good value those two! However, my blustering MP has become an expert on Afghan policy which I guess is very useful in Bradford.
The T&A replied without a contact name as follows: We’re still waiting for ******* to get back to us once he has spoken to the ECB to raise your concerns.
As for The Yorkshire Post, when I suggested to their reporter that he had done a half-cock job, relations somewhat floundered.
Meanwhile, a formal complaint in respect of a blatant untruth told by a senior councillor has been lodged.
You’re Ruining Our Planet!
Being part of the generation that has supposedly ruined the lives of the young, I often struggle with sympathy. Especially so when annually we see scenes such as these.
This BBC video is 100 seconds long and jaw-dropping – watch it here. Judge for yourselves.
It was ventured to me that the clean-up is at least work for other people and the festival must make money regardless. But I struggle to make sense of the arrogance and ignorance which feeds the same rats in Horton Park.
Believe it or not, the charities that try to make some good of this mess often have to sift through tents used as a departing toilet. Try to comprehend that one?
And Finally
As almost 8,000 houses sit empty in Bradford, another plan to rip up green open spaces.
Caught between a Government policy to build, build, build (to the developers donate, donate, donate) and an inept council that STILL does not have a five-year supply of land agreed to meet its targets, what chance ordinary people simply wanting some green space?
Take a minute please to sign this petition to at least try to combat this greed-driven destruction.
Lord Frazer Irwin says
Waste bin happiness! Back in the mid nineties as a member of Oliclankey’s Tourist Management Committee we received notification from Bradford’s countryside unit that all waste bins were to be removed from areas adjacent to moorland. Their reasoning was that folk would take their litter home when there was nowhere to put it. It left the meeting that evening speechless at the stupidity of it all.
Later twee bins replaced high volume by comparison units around the town. Some may remember smaller litter bins attached to lamp posts around our respective areas. They too joined the rest in a council yard in Keighley. The demise of our Parks is a sad reflection on Bradford Council as a whole. I speak of experience on that matter as fifty nine years (two weeks back) ago I started as the last apprentice on Shipley Parks Department.
(More about that at a later date).
As you rightly said many of our Parks were given as gifts to be looked after in perpetuity for the community. One wonders what the gifters would make of the unkempt areas we have now.