Rugby Club progress...

[joshua]

You obviously know something I don’t.....

Don't bet on that

 

[WoolmanT]

Hahaha hahaha hahaha hahaha

You obviously know something I don’t.....

Residents from Virginia Park and Castletown were invited to a welcome meeting, tonight. A free drink voucher and a bite to eat, plus a tour of the facility and an open Q & A that raised a number of forthright views.
My thoughts?
Amazing facility.
Gives the town a different option for socialising as well as room hire, though not massive.
Club status obviously gains you riches, as does having Lord Stafford involved - Observation, not a criticism.
Straight questions brought some straight answers and offers of meeting up to talk about things as well as working through problems with the residents association.
There are still some snagging issues to be dealt with and they have promised to do that.
Personally think they need some bigger signage, especially going into winter and dark nights.

Positives outweigh the negatives as they can be fixed. If I get parking issues where I live, on Sundays, I know what route to take to address it. I also now know where I can go to watch rugby or football in less than ten minutes! 18 screens throughout the bars and different rooms.

Thank you Gilbert. It was a pleasure to host the VP & CT residents last week, from our point of view, it was a very positive evening. All feedback from the residents has also been enthusiastic.
As we admitted, it’s not perfect, we have and will make mistakes but having come from where we were to where we are now, it’s a steep learning curve.
We’ll get there I’m sure

 

[tek-monkey]

After the great rains of the weekend, all pitches perfectly playable, no coracles required or rubber rings for the children

So another area that used to help absorb water now doesn't, may go some way to explaining the extra floodwater in town I guess?

 

[tek-monkey]

After the great rains of the weekend, all pitches perfectly playable, no coracles required or rubber rings for the children

So another area that used to help absorb water now doesn't, may go some way to explaining the extra floodwater in town I guess?

 

[WoolmanT]

So another area that used to help absorb water now doesn't, may go some way to explaining the extra floodwater in town I guess?

I don’t live near the club or town and I’ve never seen flooding like it, so, without being a water absorption expert, I would say you are guessing, I certainly am.

 

[The Hawk]

So another area that used to help absorb water now doesn't, may go some way to explaining the extra floodwater in town I guess?

Having worked in an emergency response role, in relation, to flooding, I can say that there may be more than an element of truth in your suggestion.

The planning laws are totally inadequate, in relation to developments on the floodplain, and the fault lies mostly, but certainly not completely, with central government. Councils have to follow planning guidelines, knowing full well that, if they reject planning applications, they can be overturned on appeal. Mind you, some councils are far too keen to allow developments on floodplains; I will leave it to others to decide if Stafford falls into that category.

In this particular development, it should be noted that the Environment Agency, the government body responsible for protecting us from flooding, made no objection. Some might suggest that, in protecting us from flooding, they are about as much use as a chocolate teapot.

 

[Pooryorick]

Nothing

So you didn't get those however many £million grants, even though rugby was the only sport that was identified as having adequate facilities in the council's official survey?

 

[WoolmanT]

Having worked in an emergency response role, in relation, to flooding, I can say that there may be more than an element of truth in your suggestion.

The planning laws are totally inadequate, in relation to developments on the floodplain, and the fault lies mostly, but certainly not completely, with central government. Councils have to follow planning guidelines, knowing full well that, if they reject planning applications, they can be overturned on appeal. Mind you, some councils are far too keen to allow developments on floodplains; I will leave it to others to decide if Stafford falls into that category.

In this particular development, it should be noted that the Environment Agency, the government body responsible for protecting us from flooding, made no objection. Some might suggest that, in protecting us from flooding, they are about as much use as a chocolate teapot.

Thanks for your detailed response, insightful and appreciated.
Re Environment Agency, you may say that, I couldn’t possibly comment......

 

[WoolmanT]

So you didn't get those however many £million grants, even though rugby was the only sport that was identified as having adequate facilities in the council's official survey?

No we didn’t get many £million grants - we got a grant towards the artificial pitch from Sport England (that was no where near a million let alone many) which I believe is NL funded, the rest privately funded - it’s also a multi sports facility, lots of children & adults have been playing football since we opened, plans for other sports

 

[gilbert grape]

For the record - I had numerous conversations and raised it as an issue that the club could be flooded, but the response each time was, that plot had generally escaped flooding and the ground around it will still absorb. spoke to a number of people that live on Timberfields and they hadn't been close to flooding in the time they have lived there.
People don't like change.
People need to be convinced.
It's very early days.
You need to have a look to see for yourself.
If the water was high enough to flood the ground it would probably spread as far as the houses! A flood of those proportions would take out half of the town anyway.
Quite simply, I'm not taking sides. I've looked for myself and found out more.

The overflow car park barrier and lighting needs addressing if it hasn't been already.
Pathway along the access road?
Better signage so people go straight to the ground rather than drive past and risk parking elsewhere.
Without a close look I've seen pictures that seem to show banking along one side so the wildlife and badgers look like they will settle due to having protection.

 

[The Hawk]

For the record - I had numerous conversations and raised it as an issue that the club could be flooded, but the response each time was, that plot had generally escaped flooding and the ground around it will still absorb. spoke to a number of people that live on Timberfields and they hadn't been close to flooding in the time they have lived there.
People don't like change.
People need to be convinced.
It's very early days.
You need to have a look to see for yourself.
If the water was high enough to flood the ground it would probably spread as far as the houses! A flood of those proportions would take out half of the town anyway.
Quite simply, I'm not taking sides. I've looked for myself and found out more.

The overflow car park barrier and lighting needs addressing if it hasn't been already.
Pathway along the access road?
Better signage so people go straight to the ground rather than drive past and risk parking elsewhere.
Without a close look I've seen pictures that seem to show banking along one side so the wildlife and badgers look like they will settle due to having protection.

You are right that if the new rugby pitches flood, then a lot of the town would be under water as well. However, floods on that scale have happened before, in particular, in 1946. There was also a significant level of flooding in the 1970s.

The problem is that every construction and every bit of raised ground on the floodplain, threatens to displace future flooding elsewhere. Add to that, the risk of worse flooding, due to climate change, in the future, and the much increased risk is there to see for all. I've been watching reports on the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and it comes out over and over again, a succession of organisations and individuals failing to see the warnings or, worse still, seeing the warnings and choosing to ignore them. Well let me spell it out, people will die if we continue to ignore the warnings and continue to build on our floodplains. It is utter madness.

 

[WoolmanT]

For the record - I had numerous conversations and raised it as an issue that the club could be flooded, but the response each time was, that plot had generally escaped flooding and the ground around it will still absorb. spoke to a number of people that live on Timberfields and they hadn't been close to flooding in the time they have lived there.
People don't like change.
People need to be convinced.
It's very early days.
You need to have a look to see for yourself.
If the water was high enough to flood the ground it would probably spread as far as the houses! A flood of those proportions would take out half of the town anyway.
Quite simply, I'm not taking sides. I've looked for myself and found out more.

The overflow car park barrier and lighting needs addressing if it hasn't been already.
Pathway along the access road?
Better signage so people go straight to the ground rather than drive past and risk parking elsewhere.
Without a close look I've seen pictures that seem to show banking along one side so the wildlife and badgers look like they will settle due to having protection.

The rugby club can only go on what we have been told and at the height of the flooding, the club, the pitches were all fine, as was Victoria Park / Castle Town.
We are working on barrier (ordered), lighting (positive), signage and putting pressure on re pathway. Things take longer than hoped I’m afraid

 

[Gramaisc]

You are right that if the new rugby pitches flood, then a lot of the town would be under water as well. However, floods on that scale have happened before, in particular, in 1946. There was also a significant level of flooding in the 1970s.

The problem is that every construction and every bit of raised ground on the floodplain, threatens to displace future flooding elsewhere. Add to that, the risk of worse flooding, due to climate change, in the future, and the much increased risk is there to see for all. I've been watching reports on the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and it comes out over and over again, a succession of organisations and individuals failing to see the warnings or, worse still, seeing the warnings and choosing to ignore them. Well let me spell it out, people will die if we continue to ignore the warnings and continue to build on our floodplains. It is utter madness.

Based on how much water I've recently pumped out of a swimming pool to get the level down to a reasonable one for the winter again, the recent floods were the result of not a particularly huge amount of rain. just a wet spell falling on already damp ground, but not really anything special.

Displacing what existing flood capacity there is seems a very poor idea.

 

[WoolmanT]

Based on how much water I've recently pumped out of a swimming pool to get the level down to a reasonable one for the winter again, the recent floods were the result of not a particularly huge amount of rain. just a wet spell falling on already damp ground, but not really anything special.

Displacing what existing flood capacity there is seems a very poor idea.

I may be incorrect but I don’t believe a slight raising of a relatively small acreage is to blame for flooding across Stafford and a large area surrounding it after a week of exceptionally heavy rain

 

[Gramaisc]

Reduced capacity is reduced capacity.

Little bits add up.

 

[tek-monkey]

The rugby club can only go on what we have been told and at the height of the flooding, the club, the pitches were all fine, as was Victoria Park / Castle Town.
We are working on barrier (ordered), lighting (positive), signage and putting pressure on re pathway. Things take longer than hoped I’m afraid

Victoria park wasn't fine, the sand pits were under water?

It did amuse me on Facebook when someone used aerial photos of the floods and highlighted all the new developments we have planned, their insurance won't be cheap! But again it's yet more areas no longer absorbing water

 

[Gramaisc]

Victoria park wasn't fine, the sand pits were under water?

It was a bit more than just the sand pits.

https://www.facebook.com/285888871828578/photos/pcb.823099801440813/823098118107648/?type=3&theater

 

[Pooryorick]

No we didn’t get many £million grants - we got a grant towards the artificial pitch from Sport England (that was no where near a million let alone many) which I believe is NL funded, the rest privately funded - it’s also a multi sports facility, lots of children & adults have been playing football since we opened, plans for other sports

So £0.5m is 'nothing'? I forget now, but wasn't there also a million quid donation from the RAF, or something else not obviously connected with rugby?

 

[Pooryorick]

It was a bit more than just the sand pits.

https://www.facebook.com/285888871828578/photos/pcb.823099801440813/823098118107648/?type=3&theater

Chell Rd lido open again this morning.

 

[Trumpet]

The rugby club can only go on what we have been told and at the height of the flooding, the club, the pitches were all fine, as was Victoria Park / Castle Town.
We are working on barrier (ordered), lighting (positive), signage and putting pressure on re pathway. Things take longer than hoped I’m afraid

Castletown impassable for two days by Sainsbugs island, diversions in place at the time.