Kingsway Villagers

I was told last week, that the POD for Kingsway was well on its way to being installed next to the School… Hooray at last somewhere we can go in the evenings.

Now I have been told that the Developers have now pulled the plug on the site again.

What must we do?

We need somewhere to go in our area… Kingsway!

If anything happens on the site, we the (teenagers) get the blame, and are labelled with anti-social behaviour.

Come on Developers, we need this!

I first heard tales of a "Youth Pod" in May this year during the meeting detailed here, where I described it as

"a 60 foot container created as a leisure/recreational facility for young people, currently residing in the community centre car park awaiting placement in Kingsway."

The real story is that this 60 foot "shipping container" was converted to a leisure/recreational "Youth Pod" by a local company (Lydney if my memory serves, and sadly no longer in operation)!
It comprises several rooms (office, washroom/WC and a main room) and requires only siting and connecting to mains services.

The Pod was designated for use as a temporary Youth Club for Kingsway Village, pending creation of something more permanent.

Initially, the QUVL quoted a price of £3,000 for siting and installing the pod and later revised that quote to £30,000!
Don’t laugh… Bearing in mind that free transportation had been arranged from a generous local contractor, this fee was for allocating a space, awaiting delivery and connecting up the relevant mains services… it’s really not funny!

Needless to say, the Gloucestershire County Council were unable to find sufficient funding to cover that price and consequently the Pod has been sat in the car park at Equals Youth Centre for more than a year now!

Since I first heard about the situation I have spoken about it to countless people and attended many meetings with concerned individuals trying to get something done about it.

At last - Great News! The Pod will be installed (right next to the School) "very soon" (expected to be by April 2009).

Once in place it should be available for use as a Youth Centre every Monday and Wednesday evening (this is obviously restricted by staff availability and funding) and will also be used for other activities and organisations such as Gloucester Works (I’ll be posting more about this fabulous organisation shortly), Gloucester Housing Association Surgery and a Police Info’ Point.

As with the temporary Kingsway Community Centre, the Youth Pod is expected to be in use at Kingsway until a permanent facility can be provided (estimated 3-5 years); unlike the Community Centre (which will be demolished), the Youth Pod will be moved to another area (last I heard, Longlevens were after it)!

There were - as stated - many individuals and organisations involved in this achievement, including:
Gloucester Police - Mark Peer.
Equals Youth Centre - Sheila Golder - (who is sick of looking at it and will soon only be looking after it ).
Gloucester SHAPE Team - Emma Cleveland
Gloucester Housing Association (Who will provide the funding for the first 12 months of staffing costs).
Oxbode Housing Association - Ismail Ali - (Who have agreed to fund other resources / trips etc).
Kingsway Primary School - Paula Needham - (for agreeing to the placement and offering to " oversee the facility").
QUVL - Andrew Hunter - Who may fund the inurance costs (not certain at time of posting).
Quedgeley Parish Council - Anna Mozol.
Glos County Council - Jackie Hall.
Kingsway Village Residents Association - Clive Barton.
(Apologies to anybody I’ve missed… Let me know and I’ll add you to the list)

Last night I attended another Police SCT meeting and thought some of it would be of interest to Kingsway Village Residents.

After some 6 weeks of enacting plans from the previous meeting (and other local initiatives):

Dogs:
1 incident of a local dog biting a pedestrian in Kingsway (2 in Dimore II - Quedgeley) have led to one owner being prosecuted.
I mentioned the repeated/continuing incidents of dogsh*t (pardon me - "dog litter") in the vicinity of the School / top of the park… (Apart from being unsightly, I’m sick of seeing all of the children having to negotiate their way through a minefield of poo twice daily)!
The SCT / Police will be watching for people not cleaning up after their dogs and are also investigating the possibility of organising a dog-litter bin at that spot.
(Note: Bags are available from the Quedgeley Parish Council office).

ASB:
Incidents of (reported) ASB in Kingsway have increased by 30% in recent weeks!
Most of these involve youths and most of these youths are not from Kingsway!
It seems we are being "invaded" by young people from Quedgeley, Tuffley, Podsmead, White City, Abbeymead and even Barnwood!
Many of the incidents involve underage drinking and vandalism… It seems there have been a spate of problems with youths breaking TV Aerial connections - particularly on Woodvale. (A symptom of having houses directly adjoining footpaths rather than having fenced areas around the houses)!

Speeding:
Following several recent initiatives, many drivers have been caught and fined for speeding (and minor motoring offences). However, overall stat’s gained from these operations showed that speeding is not a major local issue! (Which does not mean that further initiatives aren’t planned).

Misc:
We also discussed other matters of local interest, like the Kingsway Community Centre, the "Youth Pod" and Social Housing… Look out for more posts about these shortly.

Police Reports
Every Community Police Report filed through here has been followed up - or will be in the near future (for recent ones).

My thanks to all who have made the effort to participate and…

A Plea for YOUR Help:

The current "state" of the Village - coupled with the housing market problems - means that there are some "pockets of population" which are somewhat hidden away and very difficult to find… so communication (via leaflets etc) is quite difficult; (I’ve done this twice and Clare Bruton-Young very kindly did one for me - thanks again Clare), and I’ve also delivered leaflets for the Residents Association 2 or 3 times… and every time I do it, I find more houses I didn’t know existed)!

I don’t have the money to spare for a posted leaflet distribution service (through the Post Office for example).

I can’t get help or permission to put up local signs advertising this website.

BUT - I am the local representative on the Gloucester South Police SCT, SO… if Kingsway Village residents want to report (non-emergency) incidents in order to influence the focus of future Policing in the Village (and surrounding area), I have the means to do it… (Not only influence the Policing itself, but also the use of funds for local amenities and services)!

So please speak to your neighbours about this website… and - if you have neigbours who do not have internet access - please let them know that they can contact me directly for a "paper form", which will have the same effect as my online version.

My telephone number and address are listed here.

Of course I could stand to gain financially from the increased publicity and I DO appreciate (and need) it but I am willing to give something back…
If you check my advertising information page you’ll see that I have promised to return 25% of all revenue from the site to the Kingsway community… Note: IF / when revenue exceeds my site overheads and - modest - expectations that percentage will be increased).

Please be assured that this plea is not to improve my finances (or "huge debts" as my Bank Manager calls them ) I simply want to try to make sure that as many people as possible know that they CAN make a difference… and how to go about it.