BLYTHE BRIDGE RAILWAY STATION.   

Blythe Bridge Railway Station, the only one in the Staffordshire Moorlands was the first station on the North Staffordshire Line to be officially adopted.  

FLASHCAM DETERRENT CAMERA FOR BLYTHE BRIDGE RECREATION GROUND FUNDED BY A BIG LOTTERY GRANT.

Thanks to a Big Lottery grant of £8000 awarded to Forsbrook Parish Council, Blythe Bridge recreation area has benefited from a Flashcam Deterrent Camera System, which has been installed for community safety and to help to deter any vandalism to newly installed play equipment.    Feedback so far has been very positive – parents feel their children are now safe playing in the area and there has also been a noticeable increase in the number of children using the play equipment and recreation area in general.    

The Big Lottery Fund distributes half of the National Lottery good cause funding across the UK.   The Fund aims to enable others to make real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need.   

Playbuilder Scheme. 

In 2008 Forsbrook Parish Council received details of the above scheme.   As we only had a fenced in children’s play area for the young we felt that this was an ideal opportunity to provide much needed facilities for the area.   We had the space, we had the demand and we felt we could meet the criteria and deliver the project.    The Chairman and clerk attended the seminars, which were very well organised and informative and encouraged us to complete the bid of intention followed up by the in depth full application.    Playdale Playgrounds Limited were contacted as they supplied equipment which the youth had identified they wanted in particular a ‘zip wire’ and which we felt met the criteria.  They were very supportive, undertook a site visit and produced an artist’s impression together with layout and quotation.   Between the closing date for applications and the date when successful bidders were announced we kept our fingers crossed.   We felt we had done enough but also realised there were many other town and parish councils bidding for the same funding.  In June we were delighted to hear that we were one of the ten bids that had been successful. We were keen to have the equipment installed for the beginning of the school holidays and were in a position to place the order immediately.   Local schools were contacted and asked to enter a competition for suggesting the best name for the new play area.   What a revelation this was – almost 100 entries, all extremely good making it difficult for Councillors to choose a winner.   A prize of £50.00 was awarded to the overall winner whose suggestion of 'BUZZIN' is now going on the official signage and £25.00 to the winner of the primary school entries.  Contractors arrived on site on Monday 13^th July.   Everything went according to plan and the equipment was installed and ready for use the day before the school holidays.   User numbers are being monitored but from only the few very young children using the existing play area we now have 40/50 using the new equipment at any one time.   What is also a welcome sight is that parents and grandparents, aunties and uncles are taking their children to the area and probably enjoying the facilities as onlookers just as much as the youth, which also has the desired effect of bringing the young and older generations together.  The official opening day was held on 16th September 2009.   All in all you could say what an ‘adventure’.   Community involvement has been paramount, the excellent support and encouragement we have received from Renee Hardman and her team at the County Council and Arne Swithenbank from the District Council made the visions a reality and an end project to be proud of.  One quote from a young boy using the facilities was “aren’t we lucky, who has given us all this”?   Not all presents come gift wrapped!                                      

PEDESTRIAN CROSSING - FORSBROOK

Members of Forsbrook Parish Council are as aggrieved as residents at learning that a pedestrian crossing in Forsbrook has now been identified as low priority as it no longer meets the government criteria for funding from the Local Transport Plan.

This is in spite of receiving a promise from Staffordshire County Council at a public meeting in 2005 and the Council receiving written confirmation that a signal controlled crossing was being installed.

Forsbrook Parish Council has never given up the fight and has been in dialogue with Staffordshire County Council who have drawn up plans to provide a pedestrian refuge.   Unfortunately these proposals raised several safety issues and residents who attended a Council meeting in November 2009 were unanimously opposed to this particular scheme.   County Councillor W. Day, after carefully considering the proposals felt that he could not endorse this scheme.   You can say we are now back to square one – but will not give up this battle.