Gary Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 http://www.warrington-worldwide.co.uk/articles/18786/1/Towns-blueprint-for-the-year-2027/Page1.html Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 What the hell is vertical drinking? Is that the period just before you pass out and go horizontal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 "The plan aims to reduce the level of vacant premises and protect the town centre from the harmful impacts of inappropriate retail development on the edge of and outside of the town centre." Stable door, horse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grey_man Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 A chance for the council to show some joined up thinking by ensuring town centre parking is affordable and not subject to draconian enforcement, that developments do not focus primarily on the provision of lots of flats in and around the town centre, that there are no new out of town retail developments, that as much traffic as possible is removed from the roads, for example by ensuring local facilities are available throughout the Borough to reduce traffic and that extensive plans are in place to ensure that the town is not gridlocked by external factors such as increased shipping traffic, or vehicles diverting to avoid tolls on the Mersey, and that the town centre economy outside of Golden Square is not dominated by pound shops, ropey bars and kebab shops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 But councillors have been warned of the consequences if they should fail to adopt the plan.......... However, even after adoption, there is a six week period during which any aggrieved person can challenge it in the High Court. So the only way that anyone (eg existing businesses who may be affected by it etc) can object to any part of it is through the High Court or have I read that wrong ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 Do these visions of the future come into the minds of these planners in dreams after chewing a piece of blotting paper i wonder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freeborn John Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 What the hell is vertical drinking? Is that the period just before you pass out and go horizontal? Vertical drinking refers to people who prefer to remain standing while they're drinking their ale, the chattering classes consider this undesirable and blame vertical drinkers for all sorts of uncivilised behaviour which needs to be stamped out. You couldn't make it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 Thanks Freeborn. Well I'm not into alcohol, so the chances of me ending up horizontal in a public place are quite remote unless I fall asleep or a scouser hits me. But my personal experience is that the atmosphere, energy and excitement is far better in pubs, football grounds, arenas and pop concerts when people are standing. To be forced or persuaded to sit down at these places I might as well sit down in comfort in front of my own TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 So 'vertical drinking' means standing up when drinking... in opposed to sitting down at a table or lying in the gutter having it drip fed ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 Local Plans are nothing new; Councils spend huge amounts of time producing such "plans" - only to ignore them at the first test, when political expediency (£££££) takes over ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 I am a confirmed vertical drinker, & a vertical spectator when watching Warrington ,but i don't drink at the match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Parish Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 It's not a "town centre blueprint". It's the planning framework for the whole borough, replacing the Unitary Development Plan. Every local planning authority has to have a "Core Strategy". With one, the Council has some control over development; without it, developers have the whip hand (and an open stable door...). Umpteen councils have had their plans judged "unsound" by planning inspectors, for various reasons such as not allocating enough land for housing, or simply not observing the "duty to cooperate" (with other councils and stakeholders). Partway through the process,the coalition government changed the whole planning framework and abolished regional housing allocations, so it's a remarkable achievement by our officers (with political support from all sides) to get this through. The only legal challenges likely are from developers who want more land (and particularly land they own) to be released for housing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 It's not a "town centre blueprint". It's the planning framework for the whole borough, replacing the Unitary Development Plan. Every local planning authority has to have a "Core Strategy". With one, the Council has some control over development; without it, developers have the whip hand (and an open stable door...). Umpteen councils have had their plans judged "unsound" by planning inspectors, for various reasons such as not allocating enough land for housing, or simply not observing the "duty to cooperate" (with other councils and stakeholders). Partway through the process,the coalition government changed the whole planning framework and abolished regional housing allocations, so it's a remarkable achievement by our officers (with political support from all sides) to get this through. The only legal challenges likely are from developers who want more land (and particularly land they own) to be released for housing. How old is the UDP that all this is now replacing ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Parish Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 That was difficult, Dizzy. I had to go to the effort of googling "Warrington UDP". January 2006. Unfortunately, that Plan was nearly completed when the Government legislated for the new Local Development Framework (the Core Strategy is the core document in the LDF), one of the arguments being that the old Plan system was inflexible. This was in the context of Regional Spatial Strategies, which the coalition government then abolished, leaving some uncertainty (and easier for developers like Peel and Satnam to argue for more land to be allocated to housing). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 I sense a little bit of sarcasm there Steve.... yes I suppose I could have gone to the effort of googling too but it was late and I was tired So anyway, if the UDP has only lasted 8 years then I guess the new Core Strategy LDF one will have probably been replaced many times too by the time we eventually get to 2027.Some things will have happened in the mean time and some wont have. Council leadership, pots of money and ideas will change too over the coming years so I guess in reality the current blue print plan isn't really worth most of us taking much notice of.I can see why developers need to be kept under check though but then again they often seem to be able to build where ever they like anyway even if the council refuse planning approval. They just go to appeal and get a 'yes' from up above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grey_man Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 As with most 'plans' - this isn't limited to councils and the public sector obviously - it's more of a 'document'. Some remarkable things are going to happen to the world over the next 13 years. Forget new governments changing the picture. Within the time frame of this plan we'll be seeing the universal application of technologies even more disruptive than the internet including 3D printing of almost all materials and products, driverless vehicles on the roads, genuine high speed broadband, the widespread use of augmented reality, the Internet of Things and virtual presence systems to name a few. Anybody trying to predict where we'll be in 13 years time and planning infrastructure, retail developments and public transport is very brave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 You can't not try to plan ahead though ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grey_man Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 True, but the plans need to incorporate a degree of optionality. The problem with infrastructure projects like HS2 is they presume the world will always be as it was in about 2010. The same will be true to a greater or lesser extent of this plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 It's not a "town centre blueprint". I On this forum if Gary says it's a blueprint then it's a blueprint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoffrey Settle Posted July 23, 2014 Report Share Posted July 23, 2014 This is my personal view as a geographer. It's what we have going forward and a great deal of effort has gone into the Local Plan Core Strategy. It has been given give unanimous approval and support by the Full Council on Monday evening. It has been rigorously scrutinised by Mike Fox the Planning Inspector and found to be ‘sound’ and it has been through many stages where the public have been given the opportunity to contribute to. Several councils have not yet managed to reach that approval status and as a consequence are now suffering. Having said this it doesn’t mean that Warrington won’t face challenges by developers but at least we have a stake in the ground and vision for the future. Yes things will change and developers will strive to manoeuvre things to their advantage but without a vision in place to aim for there will be little or no direction to follow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted July 23, 2014 Report Share Posted July 23, 2014 There is a difference between a plan and a strategy. Plans tend to be fairly rigid with a clearly defined end point and a set way of getting there.All necessary steps are worked out in advance and solutions to possible problems allowed for. With a strategy it is an outline of what is to be achieved. There is a definite end point but the way of getting to it can be rather flexible and subject to change. the test of the strategy is reaching that end point with the minimum of expenditure of effort/funds/time.A good strategy. Not reaching the end point or expending vast amounts of effort/funds/time a bad strategy. (unless the strategy is to use vast amounts of effort/funds/time etc.) I admire that somebody has sat down and thought that this is what warrington should look like and be doing in twenty odd years time. Me i have difficulty deciding what to have for breakfast most mornings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoffrey Settle Posted July 23, 2014 Report Share Posted July 23, 2014 I've just had an egg and bacon sarnie SID it was delicious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie Posted July 23, 2014 Report Share Posted July 23, 2014 There is a difference between a plan and a strategy. I think the Yanks had a strategy when they went into Iraq and Libya and Afghanistan and ............................................ or was it a plan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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