One of the residents wrote the following which we feel is worth sharing.
OUR APPEAL
Our town must grow – everybody agrees on this, but it must be done in a smart way. Building new estates will have a huge, negative impact on the town’s traffic. Since the new estate was built at the back of Kingsgrove, the commuting time during peak times increased drastically and due to COVID (closed schools, working from homes), we can see only a fraction of the actual traffic. What is going to happen, when everything is back to normal? The town is going to be completely blocked! This is frustrating for all town residents, not only for the ones living in our area.
Planning is not only about finding some blank spots on the map and filling them in with bricks and concrete. Planning has a great impact on everyone living in the town! Using Six Lean Sigma techniques during the planning process is a good idea. One of the Lean Six Sigma techniques are about reducing unnecessary movement of goods and people. How does this apply to the town architecture planning? Quite simply! Instead of asking people to travel to their points of interest, MOVE PEOPLE CLOSER TO THEIR POINTS OF INTEREST! What are points of interest for people living in newly built estates (in opposite to the mature one, where older people live)? Nearly in all cases – schools and workplaces. What is the right solution then? Build new estates closer to the schools and to Dublin Road, to reduce unnecessary town traffic. This will help everyone!
All estates are going through their life stages – the same way as people progressing through theirs. Young estates have different needs than mature ones. Graysland/Kingsgrove area is an area that has his stormy childhood behind and their residents want to keep it that way. This area is occupied mostly by older people looking for some peace and quiet in their autumn stage of life. DON’T TAKE IT FROM THEM! They deserve it and we are hoping that you will respect their will. A new estate at the back of Kingsgrove made our lives already more difficult. Firstly we were living on building site for nearly two years and now the traffic at the peak time is as bad as we were living near a motorway.
There were very few green spaces left in our area. We don’t want to live in a concrete desert. Neither do our flying friends. Apart from often seen birds like blackbirds, jays, titmouse, or robins, we have here a few rare ones – like a goldfinch. They use our green spots as feeding and nesting grounds. Don’t take it from them and don’t take it from us. Expand the town building new estates on the edges of the town, leave us some space, LET US BREATH!
Editor’s Note
For those unfamiliar with Lean Six Sigma see the Wikipedia entry
The Illustration is from the publication that is available on Amazon