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Ham-fisted Sandwich Board Policy
31st January 2010

Last year, Brentwood spent £7m of their residents' money making the High Street look pretty. As part of these works, the unsightly proliferation of sandwich boards had to be removed. This would have been a good time to consider sandwich board policy, to consult with all interested parties (including able-bodied and disabled shoppers, and mothers with babies), and to produce clear and simple guidelines. So that didn't happen.

Instead, a few weeks ago the major works finished and one by one, the sandwich boards crept back. With the tacit approval of the Council. And we struggling pedestrians, wheelchair users and pram-pushers again had to form patient queues by each sign, and filter past in single file.

Then wonder of wonders, two weeks ago, the Council decided to take action. Traders were summarily given 48 hours to remove the "illegal obstructions" from outside their shops. Hurrah!
At last the council was supporting the ordinary citizen against the tacky commercialism which was blighting the High Street. Double Hurrah!
The Council was striking a blow for the blind and partially sighted, the wheelchair bound, the pushchair parents and those who like to walk arm in arm, providing free unobstructed transit for all ! Triple Hurrahs for Brentwood Council !

But even before the sound of the cheers had faded, the Council had done a U-turn. The traders have whinged and complained, and in response they will now be consulted on the ban. "We're not saying traders can't have any boards at all, we need to decide on a protocol going forwards" says council leader Louise McKinley. She didn't explain why she hadn't decided on a protocol while the boards were absent due to redevelopment.

I wonder what this consultation will reveal. I have no special insight, but I'm willing to bet good money that the traders will want their ugly placards back - duh, that's why they kicked up. Incidentally, I'm still waiting for announcements about the consultation with High Street users, who picked up the bill for the re-development and are severely inconvenienced by these illegal obstructions.

What really grates is that the reason for the ban in the first place wasn't aesthetics, disability access or improving pedestrian traffic flow: it was the terrible twins of 'elf&safety, and fear of litigation. A two year old child (presumably under inadequate parental control) tripped over one of these signs but wasn't hurt. Go figure.

Thorndon Park Den Building
10th January 2010

All the great exponents of bushcraft teach a respect and awareness of the environment. The idea is to leave as little a footprint as possible. So what is it that they are teaching children in Thorndon Park? They purport to be teaching shelter-building, bushcraft for beginners. What they do may be a controlled-fun outdoor activity, but judging by the sad collections of leaves and sticks that now litter many Essex parks, they certainly aren't learning anything about a serious practical skill. The bundles of neat pre-cut staffs left surplus to requirements suggests they're not learning anything about woodcraft or material selection either.

Yes, it's an excuse to get kids out of the classroom, but when PIRLS found that the literacy level in England's 10 year olds has fallen from 3rd to the bottom (19th place) amongst the developed nations, one does wonder whether we've got our priorities right. In our politically correct, health & safety world this sort of sanitized, spoon-fed, organised "play" (with a bit of KS2 educashun-speak to justify it), is probably the worst of all worlds - not learning real practical skills & knowledge, nor being left to explore creatively the wonders of nature.

As one community respondent said so eloquently to the Thorndon Country Park Consultation (2005):

The woods have been adequately maintained for the last twenty-five years I have lived here - just keep it that way. When I first took my children to the woods, what made it special was the feeling that we where somewhere no one else had walked - it gave my children a sense of adventure. The more you organise and manage how people/children spend their time, the more limiting the imagination of the child and less pleasing for every one

But much more to the point, the children are clearly are not being taught the fundamental principle of outdoor ethics: "Leave No Trace". After each organised school trip to Thorndon Country Park, more and more of these shelters are left as a blot on the landscape.
It can takes years for these things to break down, meanwhile other park users have to put up with their detrimental impact on the visual amenity. Another non-PC way to put it is that they look like crap, and you half-expect to see a homeless drug-addict sleeping there.

We are priviledged to have such beautiful woodland so near and so accessible to Brentwood residents. We all need to respect it, and that means teaching the next generation to have that respect too.