Quote:
Originally Posted by Neil
The estimates taken from the original lottery bid to drain the footpaths and field would barely be covered by this money. To resurface all the paths in the park while the drainage is being done would cost well over £250,000. These are massive sums of money that we could only have hoped to receive from a lottery grant. At the last friends meeting we put together a top ten hit list of works we need to do in the park. The top of the list is drainage and paths. The drainage has been a problem in the park for as long as most people can remember so its nothing we can blame on any recent Tory or Labour Councils.
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No one is knocking the work you personally, and the other Friends do. The evidence is there to be seen, and it's much appreciated.
However you are wrong. The drainage hasn't been a problem 'for as long as people can remember'.
True the park is on a hill, but in the past regular maintenance work was carrried out which ensured drainage wasn't a problem. Gulleys and drains weren't allowed to become choked up.
The same goes for the paths. There wouldn't be the need for such a massive budget now if regular amounts of money had been spent on upkeep and repair.
My memory of the park only stretches back to the mid sixties, but it has been allowed to fall into such a terible state because the council chose not to spend money on regular maintenance.
Strange how councils in the past, for nearly a hundred years, managed to do a much better job than is being done now.
If a winter storm blows a slate off your roof, you pay someone to replace it.
You don't wait until successive storms blow them all off, and then face the prospect of an expensive new roof.