Last Wednesday Raymond Elsmore, 82, suffered fatal injuries when he was hit by a car near the junction of Tempest Avenue and Cornelius Drive at about 3.05pm. Raymond was a well loved lollipop man, well known to the local community.
Mr Elsmore was on duty at the time and wearing his reflective uniform. The driver of the car, a 21-year-old female, was uninjured and was arrested at the scene on suspicion of causing death by careless driving.
I don’t know what the conditions were like when Raymond lost his life, nor do I know which direction the car that took his life was traveling. But it is possible that the low height of the sun could have been a contributing factor.
On Sunday afternoon, around 3 o’clock, I was traveling along Tempest Avenue coming from the Tesco’s store, heading towards the spot where all the flowers are laid. The sun was very low in the sky and directly in front of me i.e. appearing right in the middle of the road and I really couldn’t see the road ahead clearly. What I could just make out was a police car stopped in the road with its lights flashing. On the grass there was a policeman apparently taking photo’s of the police car. I started to indicate to pull round the police car and only at the last moment did I see that there was a police woman, in full reflective jacket, stood in the road with her hand up requesting me to stop. My point is that, even though I wasn’t traveling very fast, without the police cars lights I would not have been alerted to the possibility of someone being in the road.
Quite rightly there is a rising call for the council to make this road safer. They obviously saw the need for a lollipop man perhaps with Mr Elsmore’s tagic death they will seriously consider adding some traffic calming measures. This road is a rat run at all times of the day but becomes more so during the evening and morning commuter times.
Mr Elsmore’s death is a tragedy and my thoughts are with his family and friends.
There are mindless thugs out there who don’t think twice before attacking the elderly, the frail and the disabled
It makes me ashamed to think that there are such cowardly people walking the streets of this country, makes me ashamed to be English.
The News has recently reported this attack on a partially sighted man from Fareham.
Richard Twose, who is partially blind, was walking Bates near his home on Redlands Lane, Fareham, when he heard the dog yelp out in pain.
The 35-year-old told The News: ‘I’d been in the house all day so I felt guilty that I hadn’t walked Bates.
‘I decided to take him out for walk. That’s when I heard him yelp in pain.
‘I turned around and a split second later I was pushed into the fence and kicked in the stomach.’
There is no way that Richards attackers didn’t know that their victim was blind and the fact that they attacked his guide dog first says a lot about their mentality.
Someone out their knows who these cretins are. Do the right thing and hand them over to the police
Still on the subject of cowardly attacks, recently a man riding his mobility scooter was attacked …..
Thugs tried to rob a man riding a mobility scooter. The gang struck in Waterlooville, with one of the attackers brandishing a knife at the 61-year-old victim. But the disabled man punched the youth in the face before riding away to make his escape. The incident happened just before 4pm on Wednesday, November 21 at the junction of Mill Road and Novello Gardens.
Police said anyone with any information is asked to contact Det Con Smithers at Waterlooville Police Station on 101 or call the charity Crimestoppers line on 0800 555 111 where information can be left anonymously.
I would never advocate vigilantism but a part of me hopes that the attackers of these two victims are identified, and that they get their just deserts. I say this because my fear is that the punishment that they will receive at the hands of the courts will never match the hurt and trauma meted out to their victims.
On Saturday 16th September, 2011 our local Tesco Express was burnt out. Along with the Tesco store we also lost our pharmacy and a Chinese take-away.
The News reported Thursday 29 March, 2012 that ….
Officials at Brookton 2000 Ltd, which owns the site, said they were working up a planning application for the rebuild of Tesco and the pharmacy.
Daniel Kaye, director of Brookton 2000 Ltd, based in Chandler’s Ford, said: ‘We have a team of professionals appointed and we are working on submitting an application. Then it is in the hands of the local authority.
‘Once we get planning permission, we can look to appoint contractors.
‘Unfortunately these things take longer than members of the general public think.’
Mr Kaye said the shops would be back open in 18 months’ time at the very latest. But he said he hoped the rebuild would be sooner.
On April 8th of this year I posted about how long it was taking for any work to begin to replace the afore-mentioned business premises.
Fort Lavender
Fifteen months have gone by since the fire and nothing seems to have happened on the site.
15 months on – Our Local Shops – Lavender Road, Waterlooville
The photo above shows that the roof has gone from the pharmacy and supermarket areas. The blue tarp covers some part of the chinese take-away roof where the fire brigade broke through, presumably to ensure that the fire wasn’t still burning out of sight.
The approval of the application, on 21st August, comes with some conditions.
1) The development hereby permitted shall be begun before the expiration of 3 years from the date on which this planning permission was granted.Reason: To comply with Section 51 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004.
So we could be waiting some time before the rebuild gets started. It would have been better from a residents perspective if the council had enforced a more stringent timetable.
3) No development hereby permitted shall be commenced until a detailed soft landscaping scheme for all open parts of the site not proposed to be hard-surfaced has been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. Such scheme shall specify the proposed finished ground levels in relation to the existing levels, the distribution and species of ground cover to be planted, the positions, species and planting sizes of the trees and shrubs to be planted and/or retained, and timing provisions for completion of the implementation of all such landscaping works.
The implementation of all such approved landscaping shall be completed in full accordance with such approved timing provisions. Any tree or shrub planted or retained as part of such approved landscaping scheme which dies or is otherwise removed within the first 5 years shall be replaced with another of the same species and size in the same position during the first available planting season.
Reason: To ensure the appearance of the development is satisfactory and having due regard to policies CS11, CS16 and DM8 of the Havant Borough Core Strategy 2011 which form part of the Local Development Framework and National Planning Policy Framework, March 2012.
It’s good to see that work cannot commence until the really important issues have been thrashed out. I would have thought it was more important to get a major part of the local infrastructure reinstated i.e. rebuild and reopen the stores, rather than argue over the type of shrubs to be planted.
4) The buildings shall not be occupied until space for the loading, unloading and parking of vehicles has been provided within the site, surfaced and marked out in accordance with the approved details. Such areas shall thereafter be permanently retained and used solely for those purposes.
Reason: In the interests of highway safety and having due regard to policy DM13 of the Havant Borough Core Strategy 2011 which forms part of the Local Development Framework and National Planning Policy Framework, March 2012.
This condition has me confused. The original goods entrance and specifically the area immediately in front of it appears, according to the proposed ground floor plan, to be allocated as disabled parking. If this is for the “sole” use of the disabled, where will goods vehicles load and unload ?
According to the plans there will be a new construction and entrance at the northern end of the building, immediately adjacent to Lavender Road. If that is intended to be used as the main goods entrance into the building, implying that the goods vehicles are to be parked in Lavender Road, we will have a road safety disaster on our hands. The parking of articulated lorries in this area of the road has already caused several near misses to my knowledge.
I would have preferred to have seen some provision for goods vehicle access or at the very minimum a restriction placed on the supermarket operator to only use small to medium-sized vans for the delivery of stock. It isn’t only Tesco vehicles in the past that have caused problems as I have seen articulated lorries delivering milk and bread to this site.
So, when are we going to get our local shops back ?
The pharmacy has been trying to maintain its presence by operating out of a converted industrial container. Word from the container has it that they will be returning to a proper shop around Easter 2013.
Mr Daniel Kay, that’s 20 months. not “18 months at the latest” ….. nor is it “sooner”
Some of the folks who used to work at the burnt out Tesco Express have been redeployed to Tesco’s Grassmere Way Store. Or maybe that’s Tempest Road. Not sure since Tesco can’t seem to make up their own mind according to their own web site. As we locals know Tempest Road is actually Tempest Avenue. But I digress.
Having spoken to some of the Lavender Road expats it seems that they have not heard anything about Tesco resuming operations.
Is this because Tescos will not be coming back ? If not, then who will be operating from the rebuilt store and when ?
By the way, going back to the Tesco website, they don’t seem to have noticed that their store is no longer open. They still show the Lavender Road store as being open seven days a week.
Our house is a much quieter place since Pippa the Shih Tzu was picked up this morning. She has gone back home to be with her Mum who had been in hospital following an altercation with a paper boys bicycle.
Pippa
We think Pippa new something was afoot. Something in the way that she was following me around, being more of a shadow than usual. However, when she was collected she ran out the door and was gone without a single look back.
How is that for gratitude after we took you in ?
We will miss her company and her funny little ways but she is where she should be. Her Mum has missed her and they will be good company for each other.
So says Councillor Mike Fairhurst following last nights decision to allow 92 new homes at Scratchface Lane, Bedhampton.
Many councillors obviously feel that local councils will be held to ransom by the spending power of big businesses who due to their wealth can afford a war of attrition. They know that local councils are on tight budgets and cannot afford the costs associated with going to appeal and losing. Once central government inspectors have voted against local council decisions the flood gates are opened.
‘I’m exceedingly angry. I would reject this but I can’t. I’m up for a fight as much as the next man. I don’t like being dictated to by some bloke in Bristol (the planning inspector).
‘But I have a head as well as a heart and I ask myself what will happen if I reject this? The application will go to appeal, that’s a certainty. It’s not like we will pay the fine and not get the houses. We will get the houses anyway. In a word, we’re stuffed.’
This development will go ahead and the local residents will be the ones who pay the price.
The roads in this area are quite narrow and the egress to main exit routes already become quite congested. This development is too large for the area and any concerns about motorway noise have already been disregarded.
Jim Graham a resident of Brooklands Road, the main site access, says
This has been going on for five years now. All I can hope is that the borough does not live to regret this decision.
Mr Graham, Havant Borough Council won’t regret this decision. They will take their tariff from the developers and will happily collect the council tax from the new residents. It will be the current residents in the area that will regret this decision, who will have to put up with the additional traffic. It will be the new residents who will have to put up with the noise and the dust from the motorway.
I am afraid the council will not regret this decision, they will just move on to their next planning disaster of which they have many on the boil.
The application can be viewed at Havant Borough Councils planning pages HERE
I was peering out into the garden where the weather is decidedly foul when I spotted this fellow, young Tufty Fluffytail, sheltering from the wind and rain.
How many of you out there remember the real “Tufty” ?
A rather dull afternoon, weather wise that is, spent between Portchester Castle and The Royal Victoria Country Park at Netley. This was the day that I smashed my lens. Portschester Castle Keep was closed as was Netley Abbey , another venue on our itinerary. Just few snaps taken in poor conditions before we retired to The Fishermans Rest at Titchfield for a spot of lunch/dinner.
WrAnTz 