I Despair

I REALLY do!

Today I have had to take my car for her exhaust to be mended, and so am subjected to the delights of the public transport system here. Well I can report that it's OK at the moment, the bus was on time, though the driver wasn't English and communication was shall we say, interesting.

That is NOT why I'm despairing though. At the top of our road, on the corner, opposite a school, there USED to be a lovely Edwardian house which was used as a Nursing Home. Recently it was demolished, and we have been waiting, not hopefully, to see what would be put in it's place.

Thanks to walking past it, I was able to examine the small print on the planning papers. NINE FLATS!! Nine more families in a small space, with no parking due to the school, so the rest of the road will be even more clogged up with cars.

This is happening all over Portsmouth at the moment, every available space is having flats built on it, many of the old local pubs have closed and been demolished....for flats, causing a great deal of concern with regard to jobs and general socialising facilities, not everyone likes the cold impersonal aircraft hangars of the big chains do they?

I have joked that it's NOT global warming that will sink the city, but the weight of thousands of empty flats. DO they not realise there is a credit crunch? People CANNOT afford to buy these flats!

Then there is the issue of the local infrastructure. Schools around here are already crowded, Doctors are now refusing appointments of more than 10 minutes unless it's soemthing very serious. NHS dentists are a rare species, and more and more of those are turning to private practise. The police and emergency services are already stretched to their limits, and the local fire station is likely to be closed due to cutbacks.

SO what will there be available for all these people they expect to buy all these flats? NOT good quality services that's for sure, and that is no reflection on any of the services mentioned, it's simply that they only have so much in the way of resources.

This outright rape of our country has got to stop, and stop soon, or there will be nothing left but huge sink areas, blocks of flats that no one can buy that will either be turned over to social housing (which we DO need but not at the expense of everything no matter what!), or left empty, and attracting all the crime and violence that seems to stick to those empty uncared for areas.

There are not enough jobs to keep people employed here, thus they have to commute, and we all know what that can do to the environment. Not to mention that this is an ISLAND with TWO roads off it, the congestion is bad enough as it is! Not everyone will be able to use bikes or car share to get off the island to their place of work will they?

We have already become a city of one way streets and 20mph limits, so the traffic that IS here is crawling, or the drivers become impatient which leads to more road rage and accidents. Pollution is also high, mainly in the centre of the city, but it's not good anywhere else either. Our children are breathing in all the diesel fumes etc, every day as we walk them around in their buggies.

I despair for this city, for the people living here, and for the businesses here trying to keep ahead of the supermarkets. I HOPE there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but I fear not, and it's a very very long tunnel as it is! No wonder so many people are trying desperately to escape!