News

Controversial youth shelter is shelved

March 18, 2010

A village council has agreed to postpone a controversial plan to install a ‘teen shelter’ in a park.

Crowthorne Parish Council came under fire from people living near the Morgan Recreation Ground in Lower Broadmoor Road because they felt they had not been consulted over plans to build new play equipment and a teen shelter at the park.

Youth shelter anger boils over

But the council has agreed to put the plans on ice while it carries out an extensive consultation with neighbours.

Councillor Joan Newland said: “We’ve decided to shelve the shelter for now.

“We will store it in council premises and we will do a wider survey and hopefully we will get some positive feedback.

“I’m sure if we do a proper survey the people who say ‘yes, let’s have it’ will outweigh all the bad comments.”

People living in the area around the Morgan Recreation Ground went to the parish council meeting on Tuesday, March 2, to voice their disapproval of the plans.

The neighbours said they had not been told of the plans to build a new play area for younger children, an outdoor gym for people of all ages and a shelter for teenagers on the field.

Although the council received 240 responses to an earlier consultation on the project, neighbours criticised the survey saying that many of them had not been canvassed.

The meeting ended in chaos as tempers flared and stand-in council chairman Cllr Richard Price suspended the meeting as he couldn’t regain order among the 30 members of the audience.

The meeting was reconvened on Tuesday night and completed without incident.

Cllr Newland told The Standard that although the council would at least postpone the building of the teen shelter the rest of the project would still go ahead.

Patricia Wright, of Blake Close near the Morgan Recreation Ground, said: “At least that’s a move in the right direction – hopefully now they will talk to the people who are most affected by it now.”

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CrowthorneLad I am there in technicolour but I shall not be divulging the url as I don't want anyone disturbing me while I fish!

Gnome, A garden in Bracknell
19/03/2010 at 09:17

I hope this eventually goes ahead and the Parish Council don't bow to the NIMBYs who believe the Daily Mail when it tells them all kids are feral gun-toting monsters.

Megaman
18/03/2010 at 14:36

Agreed Gnome. They definately deserve to have a youth shelter. People should have not moved next to a recreation ground in the first place!.. Can you see yourself on Google Street View (in ref to your earlier post?!)