by Bob Jefferson » 17 May 2008, 10:44
Stephen Hawkins has chosen to deliberately misunderstand SM and knows perfectly well that he was referring to the park in its entirety. The term Portobello Park has been used by the Council to differentiate it from the golf course but is, as Epykat is fond of reminding us, an artificial construct.
Looking at the aerial map reminds of us two things. Firstly, this is a huge area of green space, dwarfing other local parks. Secondly, it is slap bang in the centre of the catchment area served by the school.
I personally believe that the area occupied by the golf course could be put to much better use for the whole community, but what really strikes me as ironic is that Councillor Hawkins and his merry band of PPAGers are happy to defend the rights of a relatively small number of golfers and grant them, effectively, exclusive use of the vast majority of this green space while simultaneously seeking to block the use of a much smaller section that would meet the educational needs of literally thousands of local children for generations to come.
I don't get it. Maybe they just don't like children?