Car Park Extension

So what? I hear you cry. So, Stroud's Church Street Car Park has 36 more spaces? Big fat hairy deal....

Actually, it is. The parcel of land on which these new spaces are located has been set aside and left in a horrid mess of rubble for more than 30 years. There was a partly-contructed wall, and some bit of gravel – you get the idea? The Council had owned the land since the 1970s, when there was a lunatic idea to build a flyover road from the bottom of Stroud at Beeches Green, where the Cheltenham and Gloucester roads come in, to the top of the High Street. Stroud is on a steep slope, and this flyover was to cut through the Shambles marketplace and the Old Town hall, one of Stroud's most notable buildings. Fortunately, a rooftop protest group sprung up and occupied some houses that were scheduled for demolition. The two houses were later demolished (and 30 years later two more houses were built on the land where they used to stand) and the group went on to form Stroud Preservation Trust, of which CleanSteve is a trustee. They continued, and saved the High Street from being torn limb from limb.

You can read about it in the book Stroud: a town changed by community activism, with some portrait photography by CleanSteve. The Plotter of Gloucester by Clare Toy is a satirical look at the stupid scheme.

By complete coincidence, CleanSteve has blipped the spot on the other side of the road from the car park, and added another historical note!

The ridiculous road was never built, and a bypass was constructed instead. That was built over the bed of the then-defunct canal. Last year, the canal was re-constructed.... plus ca change!

So, the grotty bit of land was finally released by the council, now that the road hasn't been built, and wasn't built, 40 years ago! 36 new spaces have been added to the short stay council car park, making it 50% more capacious than its previous size. Good for the market traders, the shopkeepers and the shoppers! Also, it's good news for me because now that the work is complete, I can once again take the short cut through the car park, the St Laurence's church yard and Bank Gardens to the library!

Excellent training about autistic children and their behavioural meltdowns this evening, organised by the Gloucestershire branch of the National Autistic Society. As it's now late, I won't say more, but the speaker was the renowned Geoff Evans from the Options Group.