From rob63jordan at googlemail.com Sat Oct 10 22:08:00 2009 From: rob63jordan at googlemail.com (Rob Jordan) Date: Sat, 10 Oct 2009 22:08:00 +0100 Subject: [Southampton Cycling] test message Message-ID: <1f11e71d0910101408u253028bbw19b702cc98e28da0@mail.gmail.com> here's the first message to the list -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.southamptoncyclingcampaign.org.uk/pipermail/sotoncycling/attachments/20091010/dc1075d7/attachment.html From jordanma at jordan-maynard.com Sat Oct 10 23:03:50 2009 From: jordanma at jordan-maynard.com (jordanma at jordan-maynard.com) Date: Sat, 10 Oct 2009 23:03:50 +0100 Subject: [Southampton Cycling] first message to the list Message-ID: <20091010230350.ferh7l3eo0wws484@www.jordan-maynard.com> first message to the list From rob at jordan-maynard.org Thu Oct 22 10:47:13 2009 From: rob at jordan-maynard.org (Rob Jordan) Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:47:13 +0100 Subject: [Southampton Cycling] Fwd: Please Don't Go Ape in our Country Park In-Reply-To: References: <13B0DE32CCA0C1499BA638270A8F90C19495074B1D@UOS-CL-EX7-L4.soton.ac.uk> Message-ID: <1f11e71d0910220247r2262d595wcca59117a2844443@mail.gmail.com> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: rebeccac at physics.gla.ac.uk Date: Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 4:34 PM Subject: Please Don't Go Ape in our Country Park To: "mair+bikeuser at maircrosoft.com " < mair+bikeuser at maircrosoft.com > Dear Cyclists, I wondered if your members would be interested in this story - it will impact on the cycle routes. Journalist James Maden has written an extremely positive piece on Fri 16th in the Daily Echo about his great day out at Go Ape. His description of his wonderful experience has an electronic vote counter underneath it asking whether the people want a Go Ape development in Itchen Valley Country Park. The article implies the protesting local residents are simply NIMBYs but its not just be the neighbours who are unhappy. I live 5 miles away, and I also work sometimes in Glasgow where Go Ape recently cancelled plans to build in a public park. In Glasgow, there was so much opposition (when people finally got the full picture). www.savepollockpark.com shows another side to this Go Ape story. The Itchen Valley Country Park plans mirror Pollock because they will restrict access to a public park. In March 2007, the PM stated : ?We will continue to robustly defend the Green Belt?. The proposal to build a Go Ape in Itchen Valley Country Park will destroy public green space. Morally the park should be defended for the "Common Good" (museums, schools, parks) its what makes our communities and it should be cherished and kept free for all. In the right place ? the Go Ape experience can be a great attraction. But that ?right place? is a large and remote wooded area. Go Ape have discovered their business is extremely lucrative and want their new sites close to cities regardless of how much woodland they take from the urban public even though research shows that walking in green spaces does wonders for the physical and mental health of city people. Go Ape will impact on most of the Itchen Valley Park woodland and entry will be at least ?40 for one adult and a child. Go Ape should be seeking private land and we should be allowed to walk in our public parks for free. Clearly the Daily Echo cannot have a meaningful vote if the article above the counter does not present both sides of the argument. James Madden?s is 100% on the side of Go Ape. Anyone with any issues about public green space just sounds like they are trying to spoil the fun. http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/search/4686858.Tree_top_plans_met_with_hostility_from_protesters If any of your membership shares our opinion on this, I wondered if they might write to the Editor of the Daily Echo. Asking them, in the interests of balanced reporting, to present the alternative aspects of this important debate. Particularly when asking readers to vote on an issue. Go Ape are an experienced developer, placing a lot of advertising with local papers and making bogus cuddly ?Eco? claims. Other sites recount tales of environmental promises broken. The Daily Echo needs to know Southampton cares about its parks. The park belongs to the public and Eastleigh Council should consult with them properly, fairly and honestly. There was a meeting that people were invited to but were given 48 hours notice. That doesn?t count as consultation - if it is not widely publicised with plenty of notice it is just cynicism. Would your members consider clicking NO for us or writing to the Editor? ian.murray at dailyecho.co.uk regards Rebecca Dr Rebecca Crawford -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.southamptoncyclingcampaign.org.uk/pipermail/sotoncycling/attachments/20091022/2c9b71b7/attachment.html