The palms in Torquay were surely part of the town's overall attraction? If they were presumed to be in a "bit of a state", then surely that is down to lack of basic maintenance by the council and whatever they replace them with will also be subject to the same inattention. Perhaps the residents should withhold their Council Tax payments until the authority takes notice of their comments/wishes ?
As has been said, it seems that there was a consultation in 2019 … but people have short memories and some folk only express a view after the event (Brexit anyone?).
It’s in councils’ interests to please all the people all the time, but we all know that’s impossible … what’s also impossible is to maintain amenities and services to a previous standard on what is, in effect, a reduction in available funds … but sometimes substantial extra money is available in the form of grants for big projects … my guess is that this is one such.
Gt Yarmouth has recently been awarded £10 million of Lottery Funding to repair and revamp the Winter Gardens which had fallen into disrepair due to a lack of finance for maintenance. Interestingly the Winter Gardens were erected in Torquay and sold and rebuilt in Gt Yarmouth at a later date.
Those funds wouldn’t have been available for ‘maintenance’ … they’ll have had to come up with some pretty striking proposals to get the funding, and that saying about not being able to make omelettes without breaking eggs comes to mind.
I expect in years to come a generation of Torbay residents who’ve only ever known the revamped seafront will raise merry hell next time it’s re-vamped.
In between times they’ll have voted for whichever party promised to reduce council tax and business rates etc.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Not at all. The most interesting aspect of the story is the context of councils across Britain are treating mass tree removal with or without consultation. Many thousands of street trees across London (and presumably everywhere else) are facing the chop for insurance and no-hassle purposes. HS2 bulldozed 18 ancient woodlands. Development is planned to flatten forests up and down the country.
@Fire this thread is about Torquay's palm trees but yes, British councils do seem to have a cavalier attitude to trees in urban and suburban areas which is odd given that research shows that streets and squares with trees are cooler in hot weather and have cleaner air and less flooding than those without.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Presumably more funding available to plant new greenery than funding for maintaining what you already have in situ ? Cash handouts are always popular wherever it comes from. At the end of the day, constant renewing is pointless whether it be in a domestic or inter/national situation if maintenance/care costs are not part of the equation. Many councils in England ( maybe the UK ? ) are whinging about being on the point of bankruptcy - maybe time to look at where the money goes overall. Whilst the UK is regarded as a" rich" country, there's a few people here who would be querying that given the amount of cash floating about for some projects. No wonder some countries look at the UK ( and other rich western countries ) somewhat askance if/when they read about Torbay Palms and similar subjects. Yes - The more things change, the more they remain the same
Talking of funding … while the gap between rich and poor is so wide and continuing to grow, there will always be plenty who see their only hope of improving their lot to be risking a few pounds on the Lottery each week … for all the ‘feel good’ lottery funded projects. … that way the councils can keep the business rates etc down.
I’ll never forget a day at work back in the late 90s when I took a phone call from a hugely successful music star … he made the call himself rather than getting someone from his management team to make it because, as he said, it was his personal decision … he went on to say that he had discovered that the event he’d been engaged by us to perform at had an element of Lottery Funding … he said that it was wrong that culture and the arts should be funded by a tax on the aspirations of the poor and he’d made a decision not to be involved. This cost him money … and earned him my respect.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
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They should be fine if they are planted into the right substrate - that is to say, very sharp drainage.
https://www.torbay.gov.uk/news/pr8170/
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
It remains to be seen how well the new design is implemented and how well it lasts, given squeezed funds for maintenance and upkeep.
Cash handouts are always popular wherever it comes from.
At the end of the day, constant renewing is pointless whether it be in a domestic or inter/national situation if maintenance/care costs are not part of the equation.
Many councils in England ( maybe the UK ? ) are whinging about being on the point of bankruptcy - maybe time to look at where the money goes overall.
Whilst the UK is regarded as a" rich" country, there's a few people here who would be querying that given the amount of cash floating about for some projects.
No wonder some countries look at the UK ( and other rich western countries ) somewhat askance if/when they read about Torbay Palms and similar subjects.
Yes - The more things change, the more they remain the same
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.