Now that there has been consultation, and a lot of people have looked at the plans for the new school, it seems that a few problems have come up. Some of this came up at the last Council meeting (see my post for last Wednesday), and here are a few more details.
Both Ellie Spencer, on behalf of the Beavers, and Gaynor, on behalf of the Youth Group, are concerned about using a room in the school for their activities - for a start, it's one more thing that the children are going into the school building to do, and it would be better if they could go elsewhere once in a while. And it's uncertain whether these groups will be able to put their artwork up on the walls, as other groups will be using the rooms, and so will the school during the day. There's also a storage problem - where will the Beavers or Youth Group be able to store their equipment? And will they be able to move furniture out of the way for their activities? And will they be able to kick a ball about in the hall?
Then there's the problem of the kitchen facilities. Will the Beavers - or, indeed, the WI - be able to have cooking activities, or a demonstrator coming in to do a talk involving cooking? It's also unclear how one would get from the school kitchen to the hall on the plans, and whether it would be possible to use the kitchens for tea and coffee making for different groups using the hall and meeting room.
Louise Christie has written a report about this, raising all the possible problems for so many different groups using the same space. For instance, she estimates that about 100 people can be accommodated in the hall. Are there enough toilets available for all these people, and is there a disabled toilet accessible to the library? Will the library be available in the evenings? And will the hall be used for jumble sales, or discos, or concerts? Will the hall be available for yoga classes during the day, or other similar groups?
The large meeting room is shown on the plans as having sofas, a meeting table and a pool table - but how can that space be used for U3A lectures, or for concerts, or talks - surely stackable furniture that could be used more flexibly would be better? And will groups like the Youth Group or U3A have access to the IT facilities within the school?
So it seems that there are some quite serious issues here that need ironing out before building starts, or Hay will end up with a new school, but unsuitable facilities for other groups that also need accommodating.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
didn't anyone think of any of this before condemning the community centre? perhaps it would be better (and cheaper) to keep it, re-roof it - and maintain it properly in future, rather than demolish it and sell the land for a pittance in order to throw up more inadequate facilities and then walk away and forget about them.
There was a serious attempt to get a new community centre for the Millennium, but it all fell through.
Yes - wasn't that Leon Morelli's plan? and wasn't there an appeal fund? and is there any money left in that, I wonder? Was there ever any money in it, or were there simply pledges involved? If so, maybe some of the people who were so concerned in those days would still make similar pledges for a new community centre. Do correct me if I'm wrong - I haven't checked, and my memory's not infallible.
If Morelli was involved then there certainly would have been money in it, but it's another question altogether as to where that money might be now....
Well, Iconoclast, I don't know, but the silence in answer to my questions, let alone yours, is positively deafening.
Speaks volumes.
...and yet PCC are still wanting to close Llanigon school and send the children to all this uncertainty for god know's how many years.....it's all a disgrace and everyone in the eduction deptment at PCC should get the sack. I know that's what would happen to me, working in teh private sector, should I mess up my job like they do!
Post a Comment