We had a very successful demo which was held on the Spider Park playing fields, Rhosnesni Lane/Oak Drive Acton Wrexham.
Amongst the 100 local people who attended the demo were-
Community Councillor Mr Bill Baldwin he is also director of Borras Albion football club
Chair of Acton Community Council Mr Brian Kyffin (Acton Community Council have voted against the proposal )
General secretary of Marston's Sunday League Mr Frank Maddocks
Chairman of Borras Park Albion Mr Tom Pierce
Chair of Acton Tenants and Residents Association and demo organiser Mrs Sue Parbery
Mr Keith Hale representing various Football Clubs in the area
Welsh Speaker for a welsh broadcast on the BBC Mr Dafyd Jones
Save Open Spaces Wales
Various issues were raised including,
The need to change the current regulations that govern the sell off of playing fields,
The underhanded way in which Wrexham Council have dealt with this matter,
The fact the the changing rooms and car park which are public at present will be sold off to the private developer should this proposal go ahead.
The fact that the proposal to move the pitches will result in the footballers having to play on unsuitable boggy ground.
The fact that Acton Community Council have voted agaist the proposal.
The fact that Acton Community has a current deficit of playing fields amounting to over 21 acres
The fact that the Spider Park is the only public playing field for over 13,000 people living in Acton Community.
The fact the this proposal contradicts Planning Policy Wales.
The Event was covered by The Leader, The Daily Post and the BBC.
In view of the above issues we will continue to campaign against the proposed development.
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3 comments:
These are the facts as I see them:
• The facilities at Borras Park Surgery are currently inadequate to provide the level of care expected of a modern practice. As it stands, some services have to be provided from a porta-cabin, this is unacceptable. Therefore, it should be obvious that the surgery has to move or expand if it is to function as a modern surgery should.
• The surgery cannot remain on its current premises and expand.
• If the surgery does not move to the proposed site, then it will have to move elsewhere. Given that there is nowhere else suitable in the immediate area, this will have to be elsewhere in Wrexham.
• If the surgery does move to premises elsewhere the majority of patients it serves will be much further away from the surgery than they are now and this is clearly undesirable.
• The current changing rooms are an eyesore and last time I visited the car park was covered in glass. This is, also, undesirable.
• If the proposed development goes ahead the changing rooms and car park will be replaced with much better facilities.
• Section 11.1.12 of Planning Policy Wales states that:
⁃ All playing fields whether owned by public, private or voluntary organisations, should be protected from development except where:
• facilities can best be retained and enhanced through the redevelopment of a small part of the site;
• alternative provision of equivalent community benefit is made available; or
• there is an excess of such provision in the area.
I admit that I am not familiar with how the council has dealt with this issue nor am I fully familiar with the proposed plans. I also admit that the loss of playing fields is regrettable. However, people having to drive much further to see what is supposed to be their local doctor is also regrettable. For the price of 0.43 hectares I know which I'd choose.
Hi,
Thank you for your comments, I found them interesting.
Let me start by saying that I agree with you about Borras Park Surgery, it is an asset to the community and nobody should have to work from a porta-cabin. And yes, it does need updating.
As the Open Space Assessment, which was completed in 2009 concluded that Acton Community had a deficit of playing fields amounting to around 21 acres but had a surplus of other types of land of around 6 acres, I cannot see how the Spider Park is the only site available for the new medical centre. It is my belief that other areas haven’t been investigated properly.
The Spider Park is the only public playing field available to over 13,000 people.
Take Dean Road playing field for example, Dean Road is in a central area that is convenient for the majority of patients of Borras Surgery, the developer told us that Dean Road was one of the alternative sites that was considered but that it was not viable as a site due to the fact that there were restrictive covenants on the land, however, a few months down the line and suddenly, Dean Road is listed as an alternative site in the LDP in favour of housing development, what happened to the covenants?
I am in no way saying that I would be in favour of any development on Dean Road with it being a playing field, I am just using it as an example on how very difficult it can be to get to the truth of a matter.
As to the existing car park being covered with glass, I think your argument falls flat on this one, how can the creation of a new car park stop people breaking bottles etc, it can’t, it’s a fact of life that there will always be a certain amount of vandalism whatever the condition of an area.
The changing rooms are in a state I agree, but what people don’t realise is that by creating a new car park on the Oak Drive side of the site and by incorporating the new changing rooms into the medical centre building, this will mean that the present public facilities would become privately owned after being sold off to the developer as part of the land sale with a lease of 99 years.
Anything could happen in the future, just look at what’s happening to Borras Surgery, it has a 99-year lease as a surgery and it’s already having problems and has to relocate.
I believe that the proposed plan for the spider park development should have had the changing rooms rebuilt, kept as a separate building and not sold off to the developer, and the proposed new car park on Oak Drive should remain public too in order to safeguard them for the future. The patients would still have had use of the new car park, as it would remain a public facility. This would have been better than selling the lot off.
As for your comments on Planning Policy, I disagree with you as I consider that this proposal contradicts Planning Policy Wales.
I hope you now have a clearer picture about the proposed development and my thoughts on it.
I will no longer answer comments by Anonymous writers due to feeling that I am becoming a victim of a smear campaign.
I have campaigned to save playing fields for many years and believe that these precious assets need to be preserved and I always will.
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