This morning, Change.org sent me a petition that sounded as no more than an attack on the Portsmouth Lib Dems, but I’ve been in Portsmouth for enough years and in enough contexts to have learned to never take anything at face value there.
The petition was anonymous and contained no links.
It did refer to a Facebook community that gives a little bit more clarity, but not enough for me to be able to assess what is going on.
As I am currently abroad, I can’t access the planning documents and the report received by Portsmouth City Council (PCC), but at first glance, from what I read on the web here and there, it sounds to me as if PCC made the right decision. If that is the case, however, then they are also being very sloppy in their communications, apparently. It’s ticking people off because they feel that they are being lied to.
I searched a little.
Ah, so GVJ is chair of the planning committee these days. (Doesn’t that clash with his friendship with one of Portsmouth’s property owners/developers? I assume he doesn’t have the last word, though.)
I continue to have the impression that this is similar to non-issues that a lot of noise was made about while I was a member of the Portsmouth Environmental Forum (briefly, until it folded), but that PCC is being clumsy in its communications approach. I still can’t tell what exactly is going on.
- Pool in Eastney will be demolished.
- New facilities will be created at Bransbury Park.
- End of discussion?
Did this pool have such a strong community role in Eastney? Is that what the noise is about? It’s been closed for 4 years. There occasionally is an overly strong emphasis on dust-covered history in Portsmouth and that is holding Portsmouth back but PCC is anything but innovative and tends to go for “more development” and for “bland and characterless”. Still, it does a lot better than Southampton.
I haven’t signed the petition yet. It sounds too much like sheer pettiness.
I’ve asked the protesters/petitioners to send me the planning documents and the report(s).
