General Election Over!

So General Election has concluded and for Crawley it means 5 years further with Henry Smith MP at the table for our town.

Firstly congratulations Henry Smith.

Secondly I think we really do need someone to stand up for Crawley to the government and stop the cuts to our Fire Service drive forwards with getting a FULL hospital for Crawley not just more nurses and doctors in a building that is under used.

I would suggest that despite the fact our representative has not changed we do need things in the town to change. We have put up with potholes in our roads for to long and this needs to change for a start along with investment in the town to help it become the thriving place it once was.

I have no particular affinity to any political party I only want what is best for the town however I recognise that my fellow residents of Crawley have elected Henry Smith now he needs to deliver some kind of change.

School Place Lottery!

So its that time of the year again where parents are finding out what Primary School their children are getting into. I have been reading many unhappy comments online about this from many parents and the situation seems to be getting worse every year especially in Crawley.

The government or council however you wish to look at it seem to be making decisions for our children's future based on NO Common Sense at all!

I remember when I was younger and the situation then repeated itself with my 2 younger brothers everybody seemed to go to school in the same Neighbourhood they lived in that was the whole point of each Neighbourhood having a Primary School to go to one outside of your "Area" took a lot of hard work for parents unless it was a Church School or a school with specialised facilities for children that needed extra help with learning.

The fact is this having a sibling that attends that school and location should be the top 2 priorities for anyone deciding where a child should go to school but this situation is currently not occuring and is failing parents that work by placing children in schools at opposite ends of the town.

Surely if you want people to work and you want people to be able to work whilst children are at school you need to make it easier for parents where possible to do so! We live in a time where money is hard to come by for some people and making them take a bus journey 4 times in a day does nothing to help these people get to school!

Yet again there is a complete failure of the local system to provide people with what they need to lead more prosperous lives and even with that taken out of consideration how about trying to help parents rather than penalising them for having more than one child.

Sunday Trading Laws Are They Passed Their Sell By Date?

Slightly off topic this one and first post that will encompass the whole country rather than just Crawley however the back bone for this idea I came upon whilst shopping in Crawley the other day.

Sunday trading laws came into being in 1994 before that and I remember when I was a kid that Sunday's were a day we could not go into town or go to the shop and get anything. The law came in and allowed the shops to open for 6 hours on a Sunday.

Now for me this law is outdated 21 years later and needs reviewing I think the days of people not shopping on a Sunday are long gone and would be more beneficial to people if shops had the same freedom to open for as long on a Sunday as they can on any other day of the week.

We live in a world now were we have everything at our fingertips 24 hours a day and I wanted to purchase something but was 16:50 on a Sunday I knew I could not get to town before closing so I ordered online and had it delivered instead of waiting until the following weekend to go into town and purchase it instead.

I think Crawley is a great example of the death of the high street just take a look at Queens Square and you have to feel that the people in power have neglected to notice the change in consumer behaviour and as such are forcing people to shop online rather than supporting the shops of their town's. 

If I look around Crawley now and the number of big name shops that have left the town for a number of reasons I wonder if some could of survived longer if they had been allowed to trade freely.

I think this law is one that was written before the internet came to be the force it is now and has not been reviewed in over 20 years and is certainly one that could also benefit the UK economy if shops were allowed to trade for longer and truly make the high street a 7 day a week business!

General & Local Elections

So here we are again its Election Time in May for both local MP's and also the Prime Minister!

I had a leaflet come through my door the other day for Chris Oxlade who is hoping to be elected for Labour outlining the things he stands for and it got me thinking. I have no idea what the major parties are standing for in the General Elections and more to the point and in my immediate interests other than Chris Oxlade I have no idea what any of his opponents stand for.

Now I have no particular affinity to any political party but try and make a decision based on what I think is best for me, my family & the town I live in.

In 2010 that was Henry Smith his big thing at the time was to restore a Hospital to Crawley which 5 years later has still not been fully achieved and I know the argument from Henry would be there are more services and staff at Crawley Hospital than before he was elected but thats not what he was selling at the time.

Now it seems to me that both with the General Elections and the Local Elections people seem to be keeping quiet and not wanting to really deliver a manifesto to the VERY people who will elect them in to power. The simple equation in my mind is this at the moment:

General Elections - We have now had Labour & Conservative in power although with a little help from Lib Dems and neither have done a good job but to be honest we are out of options!
Local Elections - I am leaning towards Chris Oxlade simply because I do not know what anyone else stands for and they have not taken the time to tell me!

I think Politics is a mess in general but I always take the view if I do not vote then I am not entitled to an opinion afterwards.

I also feel that people aged 16 should be allowed to vote, they are the voice of a generation that we are not capturing at the moment and will be the very people who at 21 will help to shape the Elections next time around!

Bewbush Shops Car Entrance To Narrow For Buses!

Dorsten Square is the home of Bewbush Shops and also the home to a very busy bus stop which has the FastWay Route 10 serving the stop every 10 minutes along with many other routes.

The Bus Stop has always been in the same place and was left in its current location when Dorsten Square was revamped and the new Car Park for the shops and Bewbush Center added.

Here is my issue the Entrance for Cars to the shop Car Park from the roundabout is a piece of road in the shape of an S which is fine however as buses come out of the Bus Stop area they are unable to negotiate the bend and drive in a straight line down the middle of the road, I have nearly had the front of my car removed on many occasions by the buses coming towards me or by completely ignoring the fact they have to Give Way to vehicles leaving the shops. 

The common sense again seems to have been missing when this was designed as its clearly not suitable for buses and given they are constantly in and out of the area given the frequency of the buses they should of formed much more of the decision making process around this particular piece of road as its clearly dangerous and is only a matter of time before there is an accident here.

Having looked into this I have been told the issue is because Crawley Borough Council own the land either side of the road whilst West Sussex County Council own the road itself and they could not agree and that's why the road is not wider. This is ridiculous in itself as the 2 Councils are meant to work in the best interests of the PEOPLE!

This needs reviewing and the entrance way needs to be reshaped or widened to make it more suitable for buses and cars to be able to pass each other!

Queens Square To Late To Save It?

For years as a child I loved going to town with my parents (unlike most kids now) and Queens Square was the main reason for this, it was a vibrant place with many different kinds of shops and over the years we have seen these stores move in to the County Mall or out of town to superstores in the case of a few & some have gone out of business completely.

But it appears that in the last few years there has been a mass exodus of stores from Queens Square to the County Mall leaving Queens Square a baron empty place with only a few small shops worth visiting.

With the exception of Starbucks Coffee opening recently I can not remember the last time a major brand decided to open a store in the square in fact its quite the opposite I feel more of the stores and brands that have long been the corner stone of Queens Square are looking for alternative options and the viable option at this time is the County Mall as I would imagine that the foot fall they can offer these stores is a huge increase on what is on offer in Queens Square. Has the square now just become a place to get a foothold in the town and see if there is a demand for your product before moving into the mall to maximise the demand with the increased foot fall.

In the recent past we have seen Next & Primark move in to the mall which were 2 of the main reasons to go into the Square and now The Body Shop are on the move to leaving only New Look, Deichmann & Ann Summers as the main shops left the rest are coffee shops or pop up shops that seem to last for five minutes and Pound Shops that will not be likely to move into the mall.

Now it appears the answer is the redevelopment of the square which the Council are going to fund and have come up with 3 options. 

 

*Pictures from Crawley Borough Council Website.

I have to be honest I like the look of these options but my question is this. What is the point? The reality is the Square has been in decline for years and only now are they taking action it seems to me a bit like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. This will not bring businesses back to the Square so what is the future for the Square?

I do not have the answer but surely with this fantastic layout on the square and the works completed the town could target restaurants & Coffee shops to have a fantastic open plan eating complex rather than trying to compete with the Mall and just accept they need a different approach.