"Stuck in a traffic queue at peak-times for longer is small price to pay"
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Posts
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People say I live in cloud cuckoo land but how many people agree with this? If I still worked i would rather be home with my fish and chips in my lap watching Neighbours than stuck in traffic. I would say go and have your bumps felt at A&E Cllr Wynn but if you are like me then by the time its your turn you will forget what you went in for.
Haven’t they put a speed limit on the by-pass to lower fumes? Then why create more pollution with cars ticking over stuck in a traffic queue at peak-times … IS IT a small price to pay?
It all smacks of the greater good – “You Townies will accept being stuck in traffic for longer during rush hour so we can play fantasy city status games”. It might be suspected that certain councillors are wearing glasses so rose tinted they probably think Glyndwr sounds a lot like Gryffindor and Wrexham is being turned into bloody Hogwarts Harry Potter Land.
What is the point of having a Highways Officer who isn’t even allowed to express his own opinions or concerns and told not to recommend refusal at any costs.
Well thought out development of the town with carefully considered planning that includes dealing with key infrastructure issues – such as the roads is desired.
However, what we are getting is the equivalent of How Many Clowns Will Fit Into The Clown Car type planning and those with the biggest clown shoes honking their horns the loudest.
People who don’t travel in the rush hour do not give a flying fart about everyone else – Concillor Wynn I am talkin’ to you.
Something else that made me laugh was Lawrence Isthead, who stated in his report that “given that the units are solely for the use of students, I see no reason why any occupier should, or would desire to have a motor vehicle during their occupancy.”
I am guessing that Mr Isthead went to university at Hogwarts (link to Matt) and they all had broomsticks and owls.
Perhaps if our Chief Planning Officer lived in the area maybe his comment would not have been made but stuck in a traffic queue at peak times in and around Wrexham will not bother him as it will a fair number of residents/commuters.
But on the bright side guys and gals it will be more revenue into the councils pot so for those who will have a major problem with this all I can say is tough shit since as we all know money talks and the pound signs are so bright the eyes of those making all the decisions on our behalf are lit up with joy.
And Matt you are so right with your comments the long game by our masters in the guildhall is being played and I have to think their is a hidden agenda behind all this, time as they say will reveal all.The statement that the Vice-Chancellor of Glyndwr made has done absolutely no favours in terms of instilling a positive image of the university against the town.
The negative comments towards both the town and those in charge of dealing with planning have rightly seen much negative commentary on Facebook (for once the mob is spot on).
I previously criticised the councillors at the planning committee but the conduct of Glyndwr itself seems even worse.
First off Glyndwr seems to think that as a profit driven higher education institute it deserves some kind of special treatment when it comes to planning and should just get plans Carte Blanche pushed through and to hell with locally affected peoples lives. They rightly receive the same level of scrutiny as if a normal commercial venture laid forth plans (a building firm, a supermarket etc…) or a charitable organisation or the own local authority itself (plans to expand schools).
Wrexham is a working class market town with blue collar mining routes not a bloody University town – so planners aren’t going to roll over and do as they please. The town would still survive if Glyndwr didn’t exist – people barely noticed NEWI plodding along. Plus Coleg Cambria has been able to make bold transformation and expansion plans improving the quality of local education without stepping on anyone’s toes.
Glyndwr should be grateful that 7 out of 9 of their plans were approved – that to me shows an incredibly supportive planning committee and smacks of sour grapes that they are moaning about the 2 that didn’t pass.
If Glyndwr wants to start acting like a higher class of university and an economic powerhouse (what they are trying to project with their expansion) then they should realise that it’s not the council’s responsibility to pass their developments that will generate revenue to fund other expansion – it is the university’s responsibility to have a decent level of business acumen to actually find viable funding options for their expansion – rather than some cowboy roughshod usage of land and housing slapped down with little to no respect for the local infrastructure.
They could access grants, they could look at attracting more overseas students, partnering with industry – there are many other revenue generation plans for an aspiring academic institute to expand. Most universities haven’t had land to dispose of that they can make a quick buck from. Alternatively they could look at the rejected planning applications and submit more acceptable and improved viable proposals.
If Sainsbury’s put forth plans that were rejected they’d have to suck it up rather than say ‘well it’s down to the people of Wrexham’.
There is also a certain level of exaggeration of the importance of their brand when they imply that businesses in Wrexham will not gain access to sufficient skilled workers if Glyndwr is unable to expand their education offering.
The fact of the matter is people will go off and study elsewhere regardless of the strength of the local offering and yes some will permanently relocate – but the strength of recruiting locally the right mix of skilled talent will hinge on a broad range of factors well beyond University presence.
Milton Keynes for example has a strong tech cluster with no decent university to speak of.
I just think if you start getting hoity toity Vice Chancellor Professors talking down at the town – then you’ve lost the local community. I even noticed Trevor Coxon gave them quite a searing put down on the Facebook comments of the Wrexham.com link of the article.
I`m guessing Matt wasn’t one of the thousands of students who got their further education whilst plodding through NEWI. You do have a post 16 further or higher education, don’t you??
Bigger gripe for me is the willingness of the Council to “gift” land (on Dean Road) to a commercial enterprise, for that enterprise to then sell at a profit.
The council have a track record on this front, the prison land was gifted to WAG, iirc the council then paid for fencing the site.
WCBC appear to have no commercial acumen whatsoever, or certainly a fixation with maximising financial loss and minimising revenue.
Planning in Wrexham needs looking at; something stinks.
What sort of economics do the university teach? They make all these plans to build but they haven’t the money to do it with!
It’s like when Baz from wethers wanted to build a palace so he sold his cow and bought some beans and ended up with lots of gold. But then he couldn’t get planning permission. In the end he gave up and moved to a Wales and West house.
The moral of that story is don’t drink and write on an empty stomach. Cheers.
Ps the beans were magic
I admire the Highways Officer for standing up to the bullying of the Planning Officer (Just wish he had done it a few years earlier). I most certainly have no respect for the Vice Chancellor for throwing her toys out of the plan and now quite willing to appeal even though she knows that if she wins WCBC will have to pay the costs.
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