Ben and Jerry’s Sundae Festival caught our attention yesterday and we rolled up to the cordoned off part of Heaton Park with a lovely big Helter skelter inside. Once inside we discovered a lovely atmosphere with lots of space and apparently around 7,800 people in to take part in the activities. The first port of call was obviously to find and eat some of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Then wander off and listen to the bands on the main stage and the acoustic stage.

However, as we had the children with us we got distracted by fun events like toe-wrestling! And as we wandered round we collected more ice creams. Although remind me to get in training for when I get the children a smoothie next time as I had to cycle to power the smoothie liquidiser! Still the smoothie was yummy.

The toe wrestling was fun with grown men, and women, taking their shoes and socks off and intertwining their toes and an Americanised presenter whipping the crowd into a frenzy (of laughter).

Wythenshawe community farm was showing cows and sheep in the area near the entrance, which was great for the children to have a look at.

Meanwhile, back at the toe wrestling, once the winner was acclaimed we moved on to the Helter skelter where we queued excitedly, still finishing off our second ice-cream. I got the feeling we were a bit behind in the ice cream stakes.

Then the children got to zoom down the slide. Although it doesn’t got particularly fast there’s something fun about going down a helter skelter, especially on a lovely sunny day!

Eventually we decided to go down to the main stage and listen to the bands there. We saw Fun Lovin’ Criminals and a couple of others. Generally a good time was being had by all, lots of rugs spread out, a genial crowd, people having a great time and a serious number of people standing up and waving towards the stage.

If this show is publicised better next year it’ll be great to go as I’m sure the people who went this year will be back next year as well.

The general consensus after we tiredly walked home was that we’d all had plenty of ice cream and we’d had a good time too.

Today is the Heaton Park Treeathalon. Last year it was great fun with the lumberjack “competition” and all the little stands and of course the 10k run that finishes near Heaton Hall.

The weather looks fantastic and I’ve been across and there’s a hive of activity with people getting stuff ready, putting up signs and getting the coffee wagon sorted. Although I noticed the coffee wagon is not just bog standard coffee it also sells cappuccino too!

There are some craft-type stalls and there’s a mini assault course for children.

I suspect it’ll be fairly busy just from all the runners that will be circulating.

Like I said, last year was great, and funnily enough sunny too.

I noticed the St Margaret’s entrance car park (the one near the children’s large play area) was looking half full but I suspect that all of the spaces will be gone by midday.

Heaton Park is hosting a real 80’s music celebration tomorrow (14th August 2010). Rick Astley will be performing in a concert with other stars from the 80’s including:

• - ABC
• - Belinda Carlisle
• - Go West
• - Mica Paris
• - Tony Hadley

Currently the weather here at Heaton Park is looking particularly unpromising. Still we’ve only had a little bit of rain here today. Although nothing like the floods down the dual carriageway yesterday during the country-wide cloud burst.

I’m not sure whether it’s sold out yet. However, I believe they’re having a box office on the day which is available after the gates open at 5pm.

The actual concert starts at 7pm and it sounds like it should be a bit of fun. And a real magnet for the people who liked and listened to 80’s music.

I must admit although I enjoyed some 80’s stuff, like the Eurthymics and others my musical tastes probably stick around the 60’s and 70’s with a large helping of Gilbert and Sullivan thrown in.

Anyway, if you’re planning to go take comfort from the fact the last big concert there seemed very well organised and there was pretty much no trouble at all.

If you’re coming from further afield there is parking in Heaton park itself, although it costs money. It also has it’s own Metrolink station (Heaton Park) which is the one I’d use to get there. The other Metro station is Bowker Vale and it takes 12-15 minutes to walk to the park from there.

Anyway, if you’re going have a great time and let me know whether you enjoyed it.

Well, it’s a done deal. Heaton Park will have a new sports development.

Of the 3 councillors I contacted 1 replied immediately and one after they’d attended the planning meeting.

As to what they said…

Both councillors made the point that the development was part of the Restoration Masterplan for Heaton Park agreed by English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund some 12 years ago. 

“This part of the park was designated as a Sports Zone in 1998, at the behest of English Heritage Lottery Fund as a condition of providing a substantial grant for renovation of the park to bring it back to its original condition. This included the removal of bowling greens and tennis courts from within the view of Heaton Hall, to be relocated to this site. The bowling greens were established there with a clukbhouse from funds for the Commonwealth Games and this latest application completes the promise to provide tennis courts again.”

One of them also noted that they’d visited Heaton Park for over 50 years and…

“would not tolerate any ‘eating up chunks of land’.  The Council are mindful of the prestige of the Park and indeed are the very ones who care for and look after the Park.  The Council would not tolerate any misuse of the land.”

As to the objections the councillors said,

“I have to tell you that I have received more comments in support of this application than opposed to it. Most of the objectors come from the Prestwich area of Bury, despite their own Council supporting the application on the grounds that they need increased facilities of this nature in their area.”

“For information, Planning only received 14 objections for Hr Blackley residents.”

Obviously, if people aren’t aware of how to complain that tends to reduce the number of objections. However, it’s perfectly clear that the time to object was in 1998 when the original agreement to renovate the park was made. Would we have objected then? I think the answer is probably not.

The only problem I see is whether my definition of “misuse” of the park would be same as the councillors.

So, let’s see what happens with the park and whether the councillors, and future councillors, follow the line they say they will.

Heaton park is still under threat as the Manchester Town Hall planning committee meet to rubber stamp the recommendation by the town planners to allow the go ahead of a sports complex at Heaton Park.

This is the continuing struggle of the council in what seems to be a concerted effort to use the green space they have stewardship for on the behalf of Manchester residents.

And to me stewardship doesn’t mean taking what belongs to me and then giving it back to me smaller than when I originally gave it to you.

It seems as though the council may be thinking of all the business rates they can get in from the complex, rather than the green lung that Heaton Park has always been for Manchester residents.

The council agreed to let flats be built within the Heaton Park perimeter a few years ago. OK there was already a building there, but it was low rise – not several floors to spoil the view. And recently of course there was a strong pressure to move King David’s school to the park.

Now the sports complex.

Is it any wonder that the Manchester residents, me included, really think that the council aren’t interested in maintaining the Heaton Park green space for current and future residents of Manchester?

Do you really believe that the sports complex is the only development that is going to be allowed in the park? What happens if it becomes successful? More football pitches, more parking, more food outlets needed?

What about future planning applications? They’ll have even more of a precedent to allow development to continue in Heaton Park. Does this mean Heaton Park would no longer be the largest municipal park in Europe? What then, it becomes the largest park in the UK? Further development and it becomes the largest park in North Manchester? All because the council was too short-sighted to see the future.

And why build the development on Heaton Park anyway?

There are massive numbers of brown field sites that could be used to put sport complexes on. May I suggest that the Manchester Town Hall Planning Committee seriously consider the importance of the park to the Blackley, Cheetham Hill, Crumpsall, Moston, Middleton, Prestwich and Whitefield communities and to all Manchester residents who currently come over for concerts and events and for just simply taking a lovely walk somewhere that seems to be outside Manchester while still being in reach.

If you want to make your voice heard email your councillors (see www.writetothem.com to find your Manchester councillor) and let them know your feelings.

If you can get out of work for a while there’s a meeting in front of Manchester Town Hall at 1:30pm and people are going to go into the planning meeting with a spokesman to put the pro-Heaton Park voice forward.

Speed cameras for a road that sees very little traffic seems very strange.

For some months we’ve been driving up Victoria avenue, from the Heaton Park end, and seen the huge poles that look like fat lamp posts. Then overnight they were transformed into camera gantries with an arm extended over the road way with 2 cameras on it. One cameras is aimed in one direction and the other in the opposite direction.

There are actually 3 gantries over Victoria Avenue, although one has no cameras on it yet. And just for good measure near the lights with the intersection of Rochdale road there’s another pair of cameras on a more normal size camera stand.

The cameras all seem to be the average speed type. And interestingly enough there is a stretch near a school that has a permanent 20mph speed zone which is going to make a lot of income for the camera operators because people will think it’s 30mph outside school hours.

There’s been an enormous investment in cameras for one short piece of road.

There haven’t been large numbers of accidents, as far as I’m aware, that were caused by speeding drivers.

The traffic volumes seem quite low and I use the road every day and at different times of the day too. For instance, after about 8pm the whole road goes very quiet anyway.

It does make you wonder whether some of the money that comes in from other speed camera schemes has to be spent on road safety. And therefore this is one way of spending that money, and at the same time getting more revenue.

Just so you know the first speed cameras are at the bottom of Victoria Avenue on the left hand side as you head up it.

The second set of cameras are also on the left, near St. Claire’s School and opposite Thompsons chip shop and the third gantry is opposite Boots.

If you want to help save Heaton Park from being slowly nibbled to a “death by development” sign up for the “Save Heaton Park petition.”

The application is for:

“Proposed sports development comprising of: detached building to form changing rooms with ancillary store, multi use rooms and cafe bar, together with the formation of 13 small-sided football pitches, six tennis and netball courts, skatepark and climbing wall with associated parking, landscaping, boundary treatments and associated floodlighting.”

In addition you can object to the planning permission.

If you live near the park you’re a neighbour and there’s plenty of reasons to put for objections – I wonder how many of the trees have preservation orders on for instance?

The problem appears to be that Manchester council wants to improve facilities at Heaton Park. A good motive!

However, they’re currently talking to an organisation that plans to put a number of different sports facilities there, including tennis courts and football pitches. And of course they’ll charge for these facilities to be used at peak times.

Firstly who defines peak times and secondly, and more to the point, why can’t they develop all these sport facilities elsewhere?

There’s plenty of land around Simister or other parts of Prestwich that could be used. There’s also plenty of land around between the M60 and Middleton that could be used, including an ex-mega car sale facility that already has massive amounts of parking.

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Well we had a beautiful day on Thursday, 4th June. Friday was great until about 4pm and then the heavens opened.

Today? Well Saturday is looking gloomier.

Basically, today’s weather has been a lot more of the same. It’s chucking it down. I can see a couple of very bedraggled marshals standing at the front of the main gates.

It has brightened a little since about 8:30am but it is still pouring down.

Luckily the concert site is up on a rise so there is reasonable drainage down into the rest of the park.

Hopefully, the weather will clear but at the moment it looks as though it wants to keep going all day.

Good luck if you’re coming to the concert today!

I live right outside Heaton Park where the Oasis concerts are being held.

Looking around the area my advice would be to use the park and ride facilities at Prestwich and elsewhere or to come by tram, arriving either at Heaton Park or Bowker Vale tram stations.

Otherwise it will be a complete nighmare for you. Traffic is fairly nose to tail with the quite small amount of rush hour traffic we normally get on Middleton Road. So you can imagine what it’s going to be like with a vast army of concert goers.

Basically the Middleton road and Sheepfoot Lane roads are completely coned off to prevent parking. And I know that Heaton Park has some parking inside but there’s no way it’s going to be able to meet the needs of the estimated 70,000 Oasis fans. And I suspect it may be all be used up by the buses that will be running into the park anyway.

And just in case you’re thinking of coming on the motorway and parking in the big car park at the Heaton Park Sainsbury’s there’s a notice warning for you not to go in as they’re closing the gates.

Also if you’re thinking of trying to go up Victoria Avenue it’s going to be blocked to concert traffic and all the way up the road is coned off.

Finally if you’re thinking of sneaking in and parking between cones or in a spot that looks vacant the police are operating a tow-away zone.

Obviously we don’t know whether it’s really going to be a nightmare but after years of living here and seeing the arrangements normally made for concerts these go way beyond what has been done before.

So like I said before make it easy on yourself and use public transport.

And then you can enjoy the show!

Heaton Park is still (probably) Europe’s biggest municipal park. I live near the main gates and obviously enjoy walks in the park with my children. Over the last few years there has been a lot of improvements carried out in the park.

However, there also seems to be an attempt by the council to eat away at the park.

They built two new car parks, one for the new children’s playground reached via the St Margaret’s entrance.

The other car park leads directly from Sheepfoot Lane.

There was also the idiotic idea that a school should be transferred into the park. Yes it’s land, but it’s not meant for development – it’s meant for all of Manchester’s people to use.

And now the council are building two pedestrian gates on the Bury Old Road side of the park. Presumably because of the Oasis concerts scheduled for 4th, 6th and 7th June this year.

It makes you wonder how we’ve coped with "only" having the gates we have at the moment, which to give them their due do seem to be able to cope with quite massive amounts of people.

For example, there are actually two large gates very close to the two new ones plus a smaller pedestrian one nearer to the Heaton Park metro station. And of course a little further down Sheepfoot Lan we’ve the gates to the new car park and another gate a little further down from there.

Obviously I’ve a vested interested in the park remaining undeveloped, that is as a park, because I live right next to it.

But more than that, I really believe this park is the jewel in the Manchester’s crown of greenery and to chip away at it is like chipping  away at a flawless cut diamond it devalues it’s use to future generations of Mancuions.

Hopefully, these gates are as far as the council are nibbling away at the park. However, I’m not holding my breath!