News

Just 26 respond to Cantley consultation

By Jon Nurse
January 18, 2013

Plans to bring new sports pitches and tennis courts to Cantley Park provoked just 26 responses.

Three options to improve the Twyford Road park were consulted on last November but the council was criticised for not informing neighbours with leaflets.

Residents at the North Wokingham Community Forum on Monday complained they hadn’t heard the consultation was taking place, saying the responses sounded ‘incredibly low’ and ‘pathetic’.

Paul Gallagher, chairman of Emmbrook Residents’ Association, said: "I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had pieces of paper saying the waste scheme is wonderful. To not do a leaflet drop in the immediate area was wrong. It should have been done to the people who are going to be directly affected. This was some poor judgement."

Councillor Angus Ross, executive member for environment, said the low figure was misleading and stated his intention to see all residents contacted when plans for the park enter its second stage.

He said: "It sounds low but a number of user groups [at Cantley Park] put in a joint response.

"It's given us things to think about before our solid proposal. Suggesting different options was a way of teasing out different thoughts and possibilities."

From the 26 responses - 19 were in favour of plans, with eight neutral and one opposed.

The most popular option was for a new five-a-side football centre with a gym and indoor tennis courts.

Countryside officer Andy Glencross said the council will investigate other possible extensions on private land before returning with a masterplan.

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Most recent user comments 7 of 7

I completed the survey, I dont remember an option to 'oppose' or 'agree'. The survey offered three scenarios on which we gave our opinion. It may have asked us to select a preferred option, without a choice for no option.

Therefore this report would appear misleading suggesting a majority in favour of plans.

Communication about the plan needs to increase.

GoJo
20/03/2013 at 18:23

LarryS - that's a very good point - it unfortunately tends to lead to different conclusions on different sides (either 'everyone must be in favour as they didn't reply', or on the other side 'there hasn't been any consultation' / 'I didn't receive anything through the post or a knock on the door to tell me about it').

I think if people genuinely care about this stuff, they keep in touch themselves with what is going on; whether it is via getwokingham/Wokingham Times, visiting the website, or involvement in residents' associations or similar.

If for every consultation there were massive leaflet drops, knocks on doors, whole pages taken up in Wokingham Times - there would be just be other things to complain about, like the environment or too much rubbish through the letterbox.

These consultations are usually live for a month or so and are publicised in numerous places for a couple of months in advance. If people care enough to complain about this kind of stuff after consultations have taken place, they should care enough to visit the WBC website or buy the Wokingham Times every now and again, or join their local residents association / become a councillor if extremely keen.

A draft of this masterplan was on the WBC website (as it had been discussed at the Council) months before the consultation, and numerous articles on getwokingham / Wokingham Times then followed, with it on the front page of the WBC website.

alex_f, Wokingham
22/01/2013 at 13:37

PD's RF - You are wrong. What this shows is that, despite what the Residents' Association, and most of the posters on getwokingham, would like to think, the vast majority of folk are simply not interested enough to respond to a survey. There's no defence - there's been plenty of debate about this. One or two of us might be concerned but we are very much in the minority.

LarryS
21/01/2013 at 14:17

Is Angus Ross the most useless councilor ever? All I ever hear about is his inability to undertake any of his roles thoroughly. Perhaps his role should be opened to scrutiny by the council to see how much success he has achieved since being in his current role?

Little Voice
21/01/2013 at 08:42

It's already been decided just like the Wargrave road debacle and all the other "consultations".

parlovero, Earley
18/01/2013 at 14:37

PG..It is not only about the immediate area. This is about a Wkm wide facility. I did complete the on line survey. However, the proposals focussed too much on football and I would like large bmx tracks to be considered amongst other requirements to attract young people. Cllr ROSS ...would you pls make sure that this gets a wider audience as I would like this to be what we all want for the benefit of wkm youngsters and adults alike. I note that the football league are now moving to 9v9 football by 2103, which will be funded by the Trevor Brooking initiative. So... the proposals should to reflect this change.