Hazard!

The railings to the rear of Polden House are very loose, there could be a nasty accident if they are not secured. Alf Havvock our local Councillor is on the case, so hopefully such a severe health and safety risk will be addressed very soon. I will post pictures tomorrow.

More Facilities Needed For Families

When the local authority place children in tower blocks, a duty of care must exist to them to make sure there are facilities locally to underpin their needs.
I know we are in close proximity to Victoria Park, which is improving all the time, but when children are younger they need to play closer to home.
Polden Tenants forum are planning to bid for money to improve the green space between the tower block and the pub. It would make a fantastic family area rather than a dog toilet (there is an unused dog bin a few metres away from this area)
A range of facilities could be included in this space such as a built in barbecue area, extra benches, a small adventure playground, plants and flowers and new railings with a suited lock on a gate so safety would be ensured.
This could be achieved easily with a little partnership working and support from local residents.

End of an Era

It is the end of an era at Weston-super-Mare today as the Grand Pier was razed to the ground in a fire which took hold so quickly that nothing could be done by the emergency services to save the historic building.
There have been a spate of seaside fires in the last few months, many of which have been deliberately started, lets hope this one was an accident.
Luckily, no one appears to have been injured in this tragic fire. The pier has been an iconic part of Weston's seaside culture for 100 years, I have linked the official site here, it contains some photos and memories and is worth a visit.

Tenants Meeting 2pm Today

The regular Tenants meeting is taking place at 2pm in the meeting room at Polden. A reminder to all to lock up their cars and to buy good alarms will be issued as there seems to be a spate of vehicle thefts and thefts from cars in the area.

POLDEN WATCH!

Who says that office furniture doesn't grow on trees!
Update................... The office chair was at the bottom of Windmill Hill yesterday afternoon, perhaps it fancied a vacation!

PRIORITIES FOR WINDMILL HILL

At today's Tenants forum we will be asking what the 3 priorities should be for the Community Policing team as there is very little input from the residents of this part of Windmill Hill.

Priorities established on 14th July 2008

1. Anti-social behaviour at Victoria Park.
2. Cotswold Road - Drug dealing/Anti-social behaviour/Vehicle crime (to include the burial ground and the telephone kiosk, Windmill Hill).
3. Oxford Street / New Walls - Drugs / Anti-social behaviour.
If anyone wishes for priorities to be put forward we will be publishing details of the Police and Communities Together (PACT) meetings on this blog.

The priority the Tenants of Polden House wish to put forward to the next PACT meeting is that the throwing of items from windows and balconies from the tower blocks on Windmill Hill should be addressed as it is only a matter of time before a passer by is injured as some large items are being thrown.
Also at the meeting:
We discussed the need to address facilities for children living and visiting Polden. There is a fenced off area between the Rising Sun Pub and the tower block that would be perfect for a dedicated family area. At present dogs are being exercised, which puts some parents off using it with small children due to the risk of toxoplasmosis. We will be writing emails to the grounds maintenance team and asking if turning the area into a family garden could be considered as a project, perhaps including a built in barbecue area. It was also agreed we would ask the pub Landlord if we could have a mural on the wall.
Another idea discussed was that representatives of the Tenants Forum would make an effort to welcome new Tenants to the block and encourage them to join the Forum.
It was also mentioned that the trees should be kept safe on the site as they hang over onto the pavement. We were informed some time ago that the trees had self seeded - this on further investigation seems not to be the case as the Residents were approached by post and asked if the trees should be planted or not, it was decided to plant them. We are going to ask if they are on the grounds maintenance spec for the site.
It was also decided that a newsletter should continue, and we should include features for children as well as for the adults, so we will edit accordingly. This will be a monthly project and any Tenant can contribute. Just write your article and post it through the letterbox of flat 1.

NEXT RESIDENTS MEETING @ POLDEN

The next Tenants meeting will be held in the meeting room at 2pm on Monday 21st July. The newsletter is now ready to distribute and includes a questionnaire about the optimum time for future meetings.
We will be posting some of the articles on this Blog in the coming months, and Tenants who have access to the Internet will have a chance to opt out of getting a paper copy of the newsletter to help reduce our carbon footprint.
On a more serious note, a couple of Tenants are throwing their rubbish out of their windows - this will be discussed at Mondays meeting, as apart from being disgusting behaviour & a health hazard, it is extremely dangerous to anyone underneath when it is thrown.

..........Tilting @ Windmill Hill

I cannot take the credit for the blog title, it was on a t-shirt printed by a Caretaker who recently retired from looking after the tower blocks situated on the hill - in reference to Don Quixote and the pointlessness of fighting what you perceive to be a giant.
Windmill Hill in Bristol is a mixed tenure area, it has some amazing views of Bristol especially from the tower blocks Polden and Holroyd House, yet they are unpopular with some locals and with prospective tenants as they have been neglected due to lack of funding.
A Tenant Forum has recently been established within Polden House to try to redress these issues. This blog will follow Polden's progress and also include local news.

Welcome........

.........To Tilting at Windmill Hill! Please leave comments and check back regularly for new posts (I am aware there will be grammatical and spelling errors :-)
Even if you reach this page in error, stay and make friends. I reserve the right to delete and moderate comments if they contain personal attacks on people, but hope I won't need to.