Hiroshima Day - Weds 6th August

The Town Council will once again hold a short memorial service in the Amnesty Peace Garden of the Chantry, Morpeth, to commemorate the tragedy of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on 6th August 1945.

The format will be the same as in previous years:
assemble at the Chantry at 8:00 am and walk to the Peace Garden where there will be a brief address followed by a one minute silence at 8:15 am - to mark the exact time the atomic bomb fell - and finally the laying of paper origami cranes on shrubs.
Breakfast will then be served in the St George’s Church Hall.

The Rector or Morpeth, Reverend Robert Mclean has kindly agreed to lead the service this year.

Hiroshima Day is not a formal occasion, but a very sincere and simple acknowledgement of what happened and should never be allowed to happen again. Indeed, in the light of terrorist atrocities around the world, remembering tragedies such as Hiroshima may eventually make all nations realise the need for peace. The service has now become a respected observance in the town, and the Town Council welcomes all wishing to attend.

Considerate Constructors

The early signs are that the contractors (Maunsell), the County Highways Team, Dransfields, the Borough Council - most people involved in the Town Centre redevelopment are prepared to be flexible and try to minimise disruption.

A first indication of this spirit occurred yesterday: Maunsell have built their compound in Lumsden Lane car park and according to the plans, have left a hammerhead turning point for lorries and kept Lumsden Lane itself, leading into the Market Place, open for pedestrians.

Then on Friday, M&S suddenly realised that their delivery lorries might block the pedestrian route and create health & safety problems. On Monday, Maunsell reviewed possibly safety problems to pedestrians with their deliveries to the compound. The immediate maximum safety solution was to exclude pedestrians altogether by closing off Lumsden Lane - and the request to do so went into Highways.

And here's where the thoughtfulness and flexibility comes in - Highways delayed implementation a couple of days to sound out other views.

So - yesterday, I, together with the owners of Boulevards and Jewellers Guild (who depend on Lumsden Lane for passing trade) persuaded Highways (thanks!) to investigate a less drastic option: keeping the Lane open but monitoring problems. I hope M&S will work with us on this.

I also hope that lorry drivers and pedestrians are sensible and alert to the dangers - I don't want this new-found flexibility to lead to injury or worse!

Contact phone numbers for Maunsells and for Highways have been issued against any problems arising.

BUG at County!

I gather a 'bicycle users' group' (or BUG) has been launched by staff at County Hall to promote cycling and lobby for better provision for cyclists. Main contact is Paul Martin, the red bearded librarian in Morpeth Library.

I'll post more information when I get it - meanwhile more power to their knees! (?)

Post Office in confusion

Nice point made by Cllr David Parker at the public scrutiny meeting on proposed post office closures at County Hall yesterday (Friday)...

All the consultation on the proposed Network Change closures assumes the Morpeth Main Post Office is in Back Riggs - so post office users from Mitford or St Mary's Field are being referred to Back Riggs as their 'nearest'. Unfortunately - the Back Riggs Post Office is due to close at the end of October, and even if it is 'saved', it will be somewhere else in the town. So as David says - the consultation is flawed and should be withdrawn.

Personally - I think the consultation is also flawed because there seems to be no requirement to have a 'sustainability appraisal'. Government legislation requires all local authority plans and strategies to have an appraisal - I'm surprised that the Post Office Network Change strategy doesn't. Such an appraisal would immediate flag up things public transport access, and how other community activities and local businesses depend on the local post office.

Any delay in the closure programme would be useful - because it might give the new unitary authority a chance to get it's act together and 'do an Essex' to save the post offices. Or at least work with parish councils, community groups etc to provide 'Plan B' alternatives if the Post Office goes ahead with closures based on a very narrow concept of what a post office is about. It's reminiscent of the flawed analysis Beeching used when he just looked at ticket sales to determine which rail stations to close.

Dransfield start work!

Finally, the Town Centre development has got underway - well, the works compound has been constructed, and work on the new bus station should start next week (Mon 21st). For a while there, I was horribly afraid they'd stop with what they've got so far - the filling station and car park (which wouldn't have got planning permission on their own).

Dransfield are holding a 'prestigious ceremony' to launch the work - with 'local dignitaries, stakeholders and retailers' on 24th July - at the Comrades Club. Don't know if they'll give Irene Brumwell, the Castle Morpeth Mayor a pneumatic drill to 'cut the first tarmac' - I'd like to see that! Oh - of course, I got an invite - unfortunately, I'm 'not available to attend'. Such is life.

I don't think they'll starting on Back Riggs or the Sanderson Arcade proper till November or December, because the Main Post Office there isn't due to close till October. And I'm sure they'll ease up in the Morpeth Christmas shopping jamboree... after all, this is a private sector development, and it's in their interests to keep Morpeth a 'vibrant shopping centre'