The Milennium Town Park - election issue?

[ole razzy]

What on earth is going on with the park? I parked at Gas Place earlier today and still no signs of progress. I'd listened to the States debate before the summer recess (the one where Freddy tried to get the house to believe that unless there was a gulag of social housing plonked at one end of the proposed site then the whole of his north of town masterplan was completely un-finanancable - and yeah it was very weak argument and thankfully he was too embarrased to carry on flogging that dead horse ) and there were all sorts of other promises flying around from the COM. At one stage TLS did his usual trick of promising that preliminary work would start in 6 weeks regardless of whether the States agreed to the gulag or not. I know that during the summer holidays there was an online questionnaire (designed by a four day old chimp with learning difficulties) which took me about 7 seconds to complete - but still nothing. No reporting back, no plans, no timeline for completion. Its shithouse. It really is.

[Dylan]

Simple, the Polaks have all buggered off back home because its better over there and there's no one to dig the hole which they will undoubtably fill in when they find it is contaminated.

[ole razzy]

It is contaminated! Filled with all sorts of dook from days gone by. They know that, and none better then Wimberly who got all 'soil samply' on Freedy's ass during the debate. Don't mean it can't be treated and shipped to Guernsey so they can ship it back to us so we can charge them for the priviledge of burning our own dook!

Seriously things take way too long to get done here in smallsville and I'd like to see that park finished before the 'olds' get put out to grass by getting elected to the States. Where's the leadership? 'Bustin a dook' no doubt! 

[rogueelement]

I could not agree more! I have an office block sitting at the end of this cess pool of a car park and if only it could be turned into a green park and Le Masurier , be allowed to do with the Odeon and the crap buildings they also own, what they actually want to do  , I would be sitting pretty!
Hey! I,m not so dumb as to realise that Dandarra do not actually have a finger in this pie ...................so...................Who do I have to bung to get the result?

[ole razzy]

Dandara? WTF have they got a sniff of? Lord help us. Elaborate I dare you? I figure if your dad, like my dad, like Sean's dad, hails from the same part of southern ireland (that'll be the cork / limerick border) you'd be safe as houses. If you know what I mean?

[tonytheprof]

Still don't know why they can't have a roof garden.

The Kensington Roof gardens, for example, cover 6,000 m² (1.5 acres) on top of the former Derry and Toms building on Kensington High Street, London. Wikipedia notes that it includes:

a Spanish garden, in a Moorish style based upon the Alhambra in Spain, with fountains, vine-covered walkways and Chusan palms;
a Tudor style garden, characterised by its archways, secret corners and hanging wisteria. Roses, lilies and lavender contribute the rich summer scent to the garden;
an English woodland garden, with over 100 species of trees, a stream, and a garden pond that is the home to pintail ducks and four flamingos called Bill, Ben, Splosh and Pecks. There are over 30 different species of trees in the woodland garden, including trees from the original planting over sixty years ago, despite having only a metre of soil in which to grow.

All you need is supporting columns, and put an extra level above the existing car park - no need to take out a lot of the contaminated soil - make sure the sides are high enough for safety, there is a gentle ramp for wheelchair / child buggy users, and hey-presto - no car park problems - ok some places will be lost, but marginally less than losing the whole area. And the cost would surely be far less than taking out all that tarmac, bad soil etc.

[Dylan]

Er hello? Contaminated sites have to becovered up to a certain specification, eg the Ferodo site in wales had 1 metre of compacted clay and concrete oversite before being declared "clean", there is a basic presription for this sort of thing!

[rogueelement]

Dandara? WTF have they got a sniff of? Lord help us. Elaborate I dare you? I figure if your dad, like my dad, like Sean's dad, hails from the same part of southern ireland (that'll be the cork / limerick border) you'd be safe as houses. If you know what I mean?

No , you are missing the point, Dandarra have no involvement whatsoever , that is why it is taking so long . If Dandarra did Millenium parks , they would like Carlsberg ,do the finest of parks , I love Dandarra, great bunch of people ! (Also love my knee caps!)

[tonytheprof]

Er hello? Contaminated sites have to becovered up to a certain specification, eg the Ferodo site in wales had 1 metre of compacted clay and concrete oversite before being declared "clean", there is a basic presription for this sort of thing!

I would have still thought it is easier to remove soil to a level and replace with car park (and roof garden on top) than have to remove soil and replace with non-contaminated soil that will have plants / trees growing deep in it. The roof garden over car park means you are effectively "putting a concrete plug" over any contamination below a certain depth (3 feet), whereas if you are planting directly, you'd need to go down more than that.

[Dylan]

Correct, so it is a bigger job than just a garden on stilts

[ole razzy]

I took half an hour at lunchtime today to stroll around the perimeter of the new town park. Things are starting to take shape. I dont think there's a cat in hells chance of it being finished by October as planned but that doesnt really bother me too much. So long as they get it right and dont waste money trying to finish it on time.

I spoke to a local resident about the looming completion date and they told me that TTS are under considerable pressure to complete it on time. And that because the project is behind schedule there's no time to seed the lawns so instead they plan to unfurl tons of ready grown grass for the opening ceremony only to then remove it all and seed it properly after.

How much is that costing? What a total waste of money, time energy and effort.

Has anybody heard anything else about this? Apparently John Richardson had phoned one of the members of the town park group to ask his opinion. He got short changed.

[cpcarrot]

Doesn't make a lot of sense, as I understand it it's not TTS doing the work but a private contractor under a tender agreement - In which case they may need to meet the October Deadline to avoid paying penalty fees to the States...