Access & Amenities
My wife and I have lived in Kingsway for over a year now and wanted to comment on the two biggest frustrations that appear to effect most of the village.
1. There are zero amenities in the way of shops/health facilities as promised by the various developers. I can not believe that in an area as vast as Kingsway we still have one shop to go to for our groceries, which the authorites have decided is enough and just plan to increase the size of Tesco’s.
What happened to choice?
2. Access to the above store…
The easiest and shortest route is a bus road only, which is madness for a village that wants to reduce car journeys!
My wife and I have to make regular large shopping journeys that require a car and have to drive 3 miles to a store 400 yards away.
The reason is to reduce traffic… WHAT?
The same cars have to populate the extra journey to get to the same roundabout that they don’t want us to use.
I for one use the bus road when the bollard is out of use and will continue to do so until common sense prevails. The Government want to start charging car journeys by the mile and Kingsway’s answer is to stop local traffic using an access road perfect for the journey… Utter madness!
At least until local amenities are provided please let residents use the sensible route to the shops; with the amount of people driving the extra distance I dread to think of the carbon footprint.
This post was submitted by robuk.
October 12th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
robuk,
I totally agree with your comments above, however point 1 specifically in relation to QUVL & associated builders tends to be the bug bear of most people. The builders do not give 2 hoots about current residents, after all, we have now bought our homes so why should they care???? It appears as though its false promises to get us roped in.
When I bought my house it was in the knowledge that only a certain % of homes would be council / HA. I have recently heard off the grapevine that as builders are not selling they are now going to consider selling to the local council/HA instead. I wonder what my legal rights would be on this - if I wanted to live on a council estate, I would have bought there!
October 12th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Kingsway mum, as a tenant in a HA home, can i ask what is your problem exactly with the builders providing homes for people who can’t afford to buy? especially when they can’t sell their houses in this market? Maybe you would prefer to live in on a building site with half finished houses until someone can afford to buy? or maybe you should go and live in the ideal world where all the snobs go who can afford to do the most amazing feat of buying there own house.
October 13th, 2008 at 9:03 am
I have to agree with Kingswaymum,
If you look at the areas that have areas of HA, then at the areas that are all private owned, you immediately notice that the areas of HA are often a disgrace.
Gardens are often overgrown and unkept, rubbish is often left all over the gardens/pavements/roads.
Shopping trolleys are often left in these areas, if some lout left a trolley outside my home, I would return it to Tesco so that my home is not a disgrace, not just leave ot outside.
October 13th, 2008 at 10:09 am
lis,
Before you start assuming im a snob let me assure you I grew up in one of the most notorious council estates in Cheltenham! I am aware that there are many decent council / HA tenants, however, the small % of troublesome ones do unfortunately make an area become less desirable, which will therefore have a knock on effect for those who have worked hard to buy an already overpriced home. I appreciate you have a right to live in an affordable home, but what about my rights?
October 13th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Hi Robuk,
Thanks for joining us and posting
To deal with your points:
1. So far as I’m aware, the plan to build the local shopping facililty is (still) in hand. Latest news is that Sainsbury will (probably) take the supermarket and the shops will include a Chemist (I’m not sure what else at the moment).
2. I agree about the underpass… Whilst I do like the restricted access from the POV of keeping cars away from the Village, it’s bloody silly to have to drive miles around when the shop is within minutes on foot; no wonder there are shopping trolleys all over the place!
kingswaymum,
1. You said "The builders do not give 2 hoots about current residents, after all, we have now bought our homes so why should they care???? It appears as though its false promises to get us roped in."…
I’m not sure why you think this, if you really do or if you’re just venting against the "powers that be"!
It’s probably true that the QUVL aren’t quite as pro-active as they were a few months ago but amenities are still going ahead and they are still actively involved in creating a community as well as accomodation.
2. It wouldn’t suprise me in the slightest if more houses are sold to Social housing groups; at the moment they’re the only buyers with "ready money".
I can’t see why you would think you have any "legal rights" to do anything about it! I understand that you may be concerned that larger numbers of Social Housing could reduce local property values but empty and unsold properties would probably do more to harm!
kingswaymum / lis / holbeach,
Assuming that peoples demeanour and level of responsibility to their neighbourhood is somehow based on whether they rent or buy (and who they rent or buy from) is both ignorant and prejudiced.
Before we start making "blanket assumptions" about what HA tenants "often" do, how they live and who leaves trolleys around outside their houses (I think you’ll find it’s mostly kids that are doing this) and what makes them "worse" than private rental tenants (or home buyers), you should be aware that many of the HA properties are being occupied on a "part-buy" basis, the various Housing Associations do have a vested interest in property upkeep and in dealing with issues of "unsavoury tenants" (which is more than can be said for most private rental landlords) and Oxbode Housing Association are currently considering donating money to Kingsway to help us to lay on a kids Christmas party (all kids, not just Social Housing tenants)!
In addition I would ask that you please bear in mind that this is a Community website and conduct yourselves accordingly in future.
October 13th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Gosh what a heated disscussion!
I have lived here over two years and yes, it has been difficult living on a building site but things have got gradually better. What do people expect when it is a completely new housing estate? I thought when we moved in that the idea of this estate was that we used cars less and walked or used the excellent bus service, or used the free bike that every household receives when we move in… Less carbon footprint.
As for the underpass I believe it should be left for the use of buses only, when the bollard is down cars race through. Can you imagine 3 thousand cars all trying to race to Tesco’s - there and back?
So come on lets make Kingsway special and a special place to live, not just another car-ridden, Tesco-trolley-laden estate!
October 13th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I do not assume that people who own their own homes are snobs. I used to own my own home and I am not one. When you brought your house were you not aware that the estate could be 15% HA?
Whether I own or rent my home, I take pride in my home and the area. I would no more assume that people who work all the hours because they have to pay there immense mortgages have no time to discipline there children and watch what they are doing - whether it be dragging trolley around or hanging around the park defacing the play equipment - than I would expect you to think of me as a HA tenant that lets her kids run riot and trash my home.
As for the underpass have they started putting it up at certain times? It seems to come up about 7ish and down by the morning?
October 13th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Hi Gillian,
I agree… things have certainly improved over the last 2 years.
Yeah.. we had a free bike; sadly it was stolen shortly after we moved here
but - in reality - many still have to use cars to get to work (not me - lol - just the stairs) and the Village has been referred to as a “commuter area” so it’s a little hard to imagine that all family’s will restrict themselves to one car 
I’m all for making Kingsway "special" though
Gillian / Lis,
On balance I think I prefer the underpass bollard in place, but I think you’ll find that it will be down more nowadays… My understandiing is that it’s been dropped to allow the School bus to use the underpass (not sure I understand the logic there though, I’d have thought the bus could activate the bollard)! I am told that the QUVL are installing number-plate recognition cameras in order to enforce the fine for misuse… (more on that as it comes in)!
I must say that it will be much easier to accept the "detour" once the main road runs through to Naas Lane (no plans to open it up in the near future).
October 13th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Hi All,
Thank you for the replys I did not expect to create such a heated debate. I thought I would comment on some of the above.
1. It is welcome news to hear that the local stores for residents is still on the agenda. I welcome the opportunity to have a choice where we shop.
2. Whilst I respect views around the bus access road, i would like to re-iterate that my wife and I have to have upto 12 shopping bags which is too much to carry. So we have to use a car. Most of the neighbours I speak to use the road when the bollard is down and agree with me. I do not believe speed is an issue compared to any other part of Kingsway development. Numerous cars speed which is very dangerous and I do not think for one second it is restricted to that one road. As for the bus, well it is not realistic to Tesco’s.
3. The biggest debate appears to be over the HA/AH. I agree that most people want to live in a nice house and look after them as if they were 100% privately owned. However for the people who do not look after them or have troubled families living in them it must be an absolute nightmare living near them. We live near a play park and occassionaly there are naughty kids ruining fun or others. I know for a fact that the kids misbehaving near where I live are HA/AH residents. If it isn’t bad enough that private residents pay for a large proportion of HA housing then we have the bad behaviour and unsightly gardens to live with.
However I would like to finally add that two of my close friends are HA tennants and have the nicest house/grounds and well behaved kids.
Regards
Robuk
October 14th, 2008 at 3:23 am
Hey robuk,
1. Yep… We can’t wait for the shops to open too.
2. We have a lot of shopping as well, so we have to drive. I’m not really bothered either way (about the bollard); I do think the "privacy" offered (when the bollard is up and the only access is via the bypass) is valuable, but you’re quite right… It is ridiculous having to drive all the way ’round in order to get no real distance at all
Perhaps if they would at least leave it open until we have a local supermarket (by which time the school bus will be long gone) and the Naas Lane link road is open (a much shorter route) it would be far less painful.
3. Yep… I did consider removing the comments because they were:
A: Off topic.
B: Horribly prejudiced.
I didn’t because I really do want to give residents freedom to express their views (within reason) on the site and because the opinions expressed do (sadly) reflect a fairly common view
I already gave my opinion here really.
I understand concerns and sympathise with those who live by unpleasant types but they are by no means exclusively Social Housing tenants and there are many local SH tenants who are exemplary neighbours.
The advantages with SH tenants are that they do have landlords and (as I said before), those landlords do - at least - react to complaints. Private buyers are not answerable to anybody (within reason) and some private landlords couldn’t care less for anything or anybody, so long as their rent is paid
October 14th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Hi all,
People seem to speed through the underpass because they “don’t want to get caught??” Why not put traffic controls up? There is a single lane underpass/railway bridge on Grange Road in Tuffley and this has traffic lights on both sides why not adapt this rule here? At least they can then put up a camera to see who’s speeding/jumping red lights.
October 14th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
All,
I believe as a resident of this community I have a right to air my views on issues that I believe to be a potential concern. By no way were my comments meant to offend anybody and if they have, I apologise sincerely.
The blog started by stating that builders have not kept to promises etc, and I do feel that if HA buy a larger proportion of this estate then that is also a promise they will break.
At the end of the day, all walks of life are being affected by this credit crunch and whilst I appreciate the HA have ready money I feel that should a decision be made to buy more homes then the opinions of all residents should be considered.
I do unfortunately have a fear that if this estate becomes largely HA / council then house prices will be affected in a negative way. Im not saying this to cause offence but I know people in other areas that have already been affected and I guess I dont want it to happen to me.
October 15th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Just like to add, the underpass is not designed to have traffic speeding through. So because cars speed on other roads on the estate let them speed through the underpass too!
With all respect 12 shopping bags sounds excessive.
October 16th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Hi lja,
Right now speeding throught the underpass isn’t going to help - or hurt - their chances of getting caught for using it, just increase their chances of causing an accident!
I can’t see them bothering with traffic controls because there should be no traffic using it.
If they were to allow public use of it (at least until the Naas Lane link road is open) it might deter people from rushing through. In that instance, traffic control is easily arranged by assigning priority to one direction or other and adding signs accordingly.
As of this weekend the Kingsway School bus will stop running to Beeches Green daily, so the bollard may well be reactivated and the issue will be closed.
kingswaymum,
Of course you have that right.
Personally, I didn’t consider your earlier post(s) to be particularly rude or offensive.
I do understand your concerns about property values (as I said in my first post), it’s a perfectly valid point. I’m just not sure you have any "rights" to do anything about it
Gillian,
According to Claire’s comment (here), somebody has been around and removed the trolleys now
October 17th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Hi Gillian/all,
I thought i would respond in kind. I was not saying it is acceptable to speed on any road in Kingsway or anywhere else for that matter. I was purely stating that speeding is not restricted to that road only (nor illegal parking for that matter).
But I respect your opinion and take your point.
Kingswaymum, I agree with you. I bought a new build based on the number of HA housing there woud be. If I were offered the option (I know i won’t) then I would refuse any further HA building.
Hope you all have a good weekend
Robuk
October 20th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Hi, just like to say thank you to the lady driving a blue Citroen Saxo through the underpass, looking straight ahead chewing gum, totally unaware that myself and hubby were crossing the road!
No attempt to slow down or give way!
Better luck next time!
October 21st, 2008 at 9:52 am
Hi,
I just want to say, regarding cars driving through the underpass to go to Tesco, I haven’t got a car (my boyfriend has) and I can’t ask him to drive to Tesco each time I need a big shopping. I ‘d like to get the bus, I have no problems with that, but I live in Marham Drive and the nearest bus stop is in Woodvale, and it is quite far when you have quite a few heavy shopping bags
Claudia
October 22nd, 2008 at 4:54 pm
When the village was being built the QUVL applied for the road under the bridge to be made for two-way access but were refused because the City Council didn’t want a huge amount of traffic coming onto the Tesco roundabout, which would have caused a traffic nightmare.
For people to complain about it does amaze me; did people not look into access before they considered moving to Kingsway?
I must agree that the builders have been slow in building the shops, but what do you expect? There is no profit for them. They might finally build the shops but they might need to pushed by the Council.
I don’t see Sainsburys building a supermarket at Kingsway when you have Tesco planning a big extension, plus Sainsburys are building a huge superstore at the New Docks Development.
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Hi darrjeff,
That’s probably a good point about the Tesco roundabout, it’s busy enough already!
I’m not sure about everyone else but - when we moved here - the only plans available didn’t include any mention of a "buses only" restriction on that road; maybe it was before the planning was refused! They also showed the Naas Lane access road in place!
I don’t think that the shopping facility is behind schedule at present; although I wouldn’t be suprised if it does get behind; I can’t see the access roads being in place if some of the properties bordering it are still not completed (although I did see a lot of builder activity there this week)!
As far as supermarkets are concerned, you can never tell… Maybe they like the idea of having some exposure so close to Tesco’s newly-extended store!
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Hi Darrjeff,
I’m sorry but I totally disagree with you.
1. I did check the plans and there was no mention of the access road being bus only.
2. As I have a family, I quite often have to drive to Tesco’s due to the amount of shopping we require. Now whether I sneak through the access road or drive the three mies to Tesco’s, either way I end up at the Tesco’s roundabout… Unless you know some other way it’s the same for every family who drives there. The only difference being I have to clog up three miles of roads to get there.
3. What I expect is what I was told by the Developers - I was told I bought a four bed’ house and that’s what I got. Why should I not believe their other claims?
4. Before any supermarket builds a new store they look at the demographics - that is the number of households serviced in a particular area by the numbers of supermarket stores available with a given radius. With Tesco being the only local store, Sainsburys would love to have a local development as they know this would draw in significant business. If you would like further info on demographics I would be happy to explain. I don’t think they would build a large store but a smaller local store would be ideal for them.
Regards
Robuk
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:24 pm
OK Robuk, you disagree with me; fair enough!
I would love some info’ on the Demographics.