Post by Dave on Jul 25, 2010 20:48:56 GMT
The Rescue (who the hell was running things) & The £3.000.000 Bye Question
Health and safety, don’t you just love those words and you can get away with nearly everything these days it seems by just using them. I’m sure Bye will stick closely to them in his defense for wrecking Rock Walk forever and Carol and I heard them used this afternoon and as a result people who needed urgent medical attention, waited more than an hour before they received any.
Lets deal with Wreck Walk first, I read in Saturdays Herald Express how those ugly blue boards that ran the whole length of Wreck Walk placed in the middle of the road so only the road on the theatre side has been able to be used as a two way road had been taken down after being up for the last two and a half years.
Replacement metal fencing panels have been put in their place to allow residents and visitors to see progress on the works which have been carried out over the last two and a half years.
A council spokesman told the Herald : "As the Royal Terrace Gardens project nears completion, the present blue hoardings need to be removed to allow a 250-tonne crane access to various parts of the site. The crane is essential to carry out the final works to the link path and the viewing platform”.
"The council is taking the opportunity, as the hoardings are removed, also to allow the highways department to carry out the carriageway and footpath restoration works while the main works are ongoing rather than waiting until the end of the project, which could have potentially delayed opening by 10 days.
"In addition, as we enter these final stages of the project, we want to give both residents and visitors alike the opportunity to see how great the whole area now looks and watch the final works taking place."
With the news I could at last see just what has cost over three million pounds and bearing in mind just how beautiful Rock Walk was and also bearing in mind all the hype we have been hearing about how great and wonderful this new attraction now called Royal Terrace Gardens is and how its going to be the jewel in Torbays crown, I just had to go over to Torquay with Carol to see it.
It is being reopened in a few weeks and what the council man did not say was that along with doing the path etc, parking meters are being installed the whole length of Wreck Walk and I believe that side of the road will only be used for parking and the other lane that has been two way while all this has been going on will remain as it is now.
We parked a road or two behind the railway station and as luck would have it right next to a path that took us over the railway line and came out right beside the train station. For such a hot sunny afternoon there did not seem very many people around as we walked along the seafront heading for Wreck Walk. The UGLY balloon was up in the sky with just two people on it, well you need to be rich to go on it anyway and I still hope the guy will just give up and cut his loses and stick a bloody big pin in it and rid our seafront of the ugly thing.
Well when I got to Wreck Walk and walked along it( on the theartre side) I almost cried I really did, it looks a mess and just what has three million pounds been spent on? I saw the plans of the new walkway that will lead to the new viewing platform and they looked good, but when you see them in the flesh you wonder who came up with the idea as they look horrible and I understand there is already a problem with them as far as being safe is concerned.
I said on here two years ago I felt I would never see Rock Walk ever again before I die as it once was, today that has been confirmed I’m afraid. We carried on walking toward the harbour past the fenced of Banjo and the fenced of walkway that were both fenced of for, yes you got it right the first time, HEALTH & SAFETY REASONS. Why was Rock Walk not left alone, it really was OK and the money spent on sorting out the Banjo area instead.
Mind you we have been fed the yarn for years now how the whole of Princess gardens are sinking and yet there is no evidence you can see of that happening, its going to sink if Bye gets his way and builds a hotel, shops and tower blocks that will be higher than Wreck Walk on them, lets hope we get him out before he signs any more papers, shakes hands with any other developers who will only build things that will destroy the one thing that Torbay has going for it, yes its natural beauty.
It has to be said that the inner harbour has been greatly improved with the building of a sill that keeps it full of water all the time, no more mud to look at when the tide goes out and a new bridge that goes over the sill, a welcome shortcut to get you over to where Living Coasts now stands, that whole area has also greatly been improved from what it once was, the only shame is the neglect to the D Day landing slipways that now have the new walkway going over the top of them.
While we were on Haldon Pier the place I stood and watched that exciting power boat racing, an ambulance came rushing in with its lights flashing and reversed up to the walkway that the ferry uses. Out they jumped and walked down it to be greeted by the two crew men of the harbour boat.
They were in talks for a good 15 minutes and then they went and got some kit from the ambulance while the crewmen got some life jackets ready for them to put on. then one of those paramedic cars came rushing to the pier and he got out and started talking to the two ambulance crew members and after talking to someone else on some held hand radio, we heard him say to the harbour boat crewmen that he was sorry but due to HEALTH AND SAFETY REASONS, they could not get on their boat.
More talking took place and now it was half an hour since the ambulance had arrived and then we heard what might have been the harbour master himself saying that the lifeboat had now been called from Brixham. We moved over to the other side to look out to sea and over toward Brixham and shortly we saw the lifeboat heading over the Bay, only it went around the corner maybe near Hopes Nose? The harbour boat also headed that way at great speed.
Carol said that we should see this to its conclusion seeing we had been watching what had been going on for so long now and it was a another good half an hour or so before the lifeboat came around the corner and headed for the harbour.
When it docked I think there were three people it had rescued, one was walking,( carrying some sort of board that may be the sort that gets towed by a speed boat) one was taken to a second ambulance that came sometime after the first one and one person was clearly more injured laying at the back of the lifeboat on a board and receiving treatment from the lifeboat crew.
With much more talking now going on it was another 15 minutes before they got him off the lifeboat and up to the ambulance. It was time to get some food and as we walked past the ambulance the doors were open and it was clear to see the person was suffering from shock and was being treated for it before heading off to the hospital.
We got a nice takeaway and returned to the new seating by the D Day slipways and after enjoying our food we set off back on the walk along the seafront to get to our car and back home.
Back to work tomorrow for both of us and the alarm is going to go off at 4.50am, who invented work? Did they not know holidays were much better fun.
Health and safety, don’t you just love those words and you can get away with nearly everything these days it seems by just using them. I’m sure Bye will stick closely to them in his defense for wrecking Rock Walk forever and Carol and I heard them used this afternoon and as a result people who needed urgent medical attention, waited more than an hour before they received any.
Lets deal with Wreck Walk first, I read in Saturdays Herald Express how those ugly blue boards that ran the whole length of Wreck Walk placed in the middle of the road so only the road on the theatre side has been able to be used as a two way road had been taken down after being up for the last two and a half years.
Replacement metal fencing panels have been put in their place to allow residents and visitors to see progress on the works which have been carried out over the last two and a half years.
A council spokesman told the Herald : "As the Royal Terrace Gardens project nears completion, the present blue hoardings need to be removed to allow a 250-tonne crane access to various parts of the site. The crane is essential to carry out the final works to the link path and the viewing platform”.
"The council is taking the opportunity, as the hoardings are removed, also to allow the highways department to carry out the carriageway and footpath restoration works while the main works are ongoing rather than waiting until the end of the project, which could have potentially delayed opening by 10 days.
"In addition, as we enter these final stages of the project, we want to give both residents and visitors alike the opportunity to see how great the whole area now looks and watch the final works taking place."
With the news I could at last see just what has cost over three million pounds and bearing in mind just how beautiful Rock Walk was and also bearing in mind all the hype we have been hearing about how great and wonderful this new attraction now called Royal Terrace Gardens is and how its going to be the jewel in Torbays crown, I just had to go over to Torquay with Carol to see it.
It is being reopened in a few weeks and what the council man did not say was that along with doing the path etc, parking meters are being installed the whole length of Wreck Walk and I believe that side of the road will only be used for parking and the other lane that has been two way while all this has been going on will remain as it is now.
We parked a road or two behind the railway station and as luck would have it right next to a path that took us over the railway line and came out right beside the train station. For such a hot sunny afternoon there did not seem very many people around as we walked along the seafront heading for Wreck Walk. The UGLY balloon was up in the sky with just two people on it, well you need to be rich to go on it anyway and I still hope the guy will just give up and cut his loses and stick a bloody big pin in it and rid our seafront of the ugly thing.
Well when I got to Wreck Walk and walked along it( on the theartre side) I almost cried I really did, it looks a mess and just what has three million pounds been spent on? I saw the plans of the new walkway that will lead to the new viewing platform and they looked good, but when you see them in the flesh you wonder who came up with the idea as they look horrible and I understand there is already a problem with them as far as being safe is concerned.
I said on here two years ago I felt I would never see Rock Walk ever again before I die as it once was, today that has been confirmed I’m afraid. We carried on walking toward the harbour past the fenced of Banjo and the fenced of walkway that were both fenced of for, yes you got it right the first time, HEALTH & SAFETY REASONS. Why was Rock Walk not left alone, it really was OK and the money spent on sorting out the Banjo area instead.
Mind you we have been fed the yarn for years now how the whole of Princess gardens are sinking and yet there is no evidence you can see of that happening, its going to sink if Bye gets his way and builds a hotel, shops and tower blocks that will be higher than Wreck Walk on them, lets hope we get him out before he signs any more papers, shakes hands with any other developers who will only build things that will destroy the one thing that Torbay has going for it, yes its natural beauty.
It has to be said that the inner harbour has been greatly improved with the building of a sill that keeps it full of water all the time, no more mud to look at when the tide goes out and a new bridge that goes over the sill, a welcome shortcut to get you over to where Living Coasts now stands, that whole area has also greatly been improved from what it once was, the only shame is the neglect to the D Day landing slipways that now have the new walkway going over the top of them.
While we were on Haldon Pier the place I stood and watched that exciting power boat racing, an ambulance came rushing in with its lights flashing and reversed up to the walkway that the ferry uses. Out they jumped and walked down it to be greeted by the two crew men of the harbour boat.
They were in talks for a good 15 minutes and then they went and got some kit from the ambulance while the crewmen got some life jackets ready for them to put on. then one of those paramedic cars came rushing to the pier and he got out and started talking to the two ambulance crew members and after talking to someone else on some held hand radio, we heard him say to the harbour boat crewmen that he was sorry but due to HEALTH AND SAFETY REASONS, they could not get on their boat.
More talking took place and now it was half an hour since the ambulance had arrived and then we heard what might have been the harbour master himself saying that the lifeboat had now been called from Brixham. We moved over to the other side to look out to sea and over toward Brixham and shortly we saw the lifeboat heading over the Bay, only it went around the corner maybe near Hopes Nose? The harbour boat also headed that way at great speed.
Carol said that we should see this to its conclusion seeing we had been watching what had been going on for so long now and it was a another good half an hour or so before the lifeboat came around the corner and headed for the harbour.
When it docked I think there were three people it had rescued, one was walking,( carrying some sort of board that may be the sort that gets towed by a speed boat) one was taken to a second ambulance that came sometime after the first one and one person was clearly more injured laying at the back of the lifeboat on a board and receiving treatment from the lifeboat crew.
With much more talking now going on it was another 15 minutes before they got him off the lifeboat and up to the ambulance. It was time to get some food and as we walked past the ambulance the doors were open and it was clear to see the person was suffering from shock and was being treated for it before heading off to the hospital.
We got a nice takeaway and returned to the new seating by the D Day slipways and after enjoying our food we set off back on the walk along the seafront to get to our car and back home.
Back to work tomorrow for both of us and the alarm is going to go off at 4.50am, who invented work? Did they not know holidays were much better fun.
