Queen’s Park and Charminster

As part of the council’s budget for 2024-25, the libraries service has to cut spending by £500,000. This is really unfortunate, as I believe that libraries are a very important community space and council service, representing warmth, learning, and opportunity throughout BCP. Sadly, Charminster Library isn’t insulated from these cuts, and one of the main…

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We were dismayed to read this news yesterday when a resident shared it on a local group chat. I was even more dismayed that this was the first I’d heard of it. I promised to follow up on this at council last night and so, as a group, we asked questions about it and made…

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Each day, more and more people switch to electric vehicles, for cheaper running costs, cleaner air, and a healthier planet. Councillor Sharon Carr-Brown and Chris Talman are keen for everyone to be able to make this transition, but we’re concerned that BCP Council’s latest Public Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy (PEVIS) falls short of one of…

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A couple of weeks ago the underpass from Queen’s Park to Holdenhurst Rd near the football ground was flooded. I’ve told the Council and they’re assessing it. Today, fellow Labour Cllr Anne-Marie Moriarty and I took matters into our own hands and swept it clear of broken glass, litter and pine needles. We’ll keep doing…

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Chris and I had a cracking afternoon on Sunday talking to residents about what they’d like to see in Cyril Park’s future. Voting by pine cone is now a thing and lots of ideas were shared. 🙂 Thank you to everyone who came along and to those of you who’ve responded online. It all goes…

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It was lovely to meet Park School’s headteacher, Mrs Dowler, yesterday. We had a wide-ranging discussion about traffic congestion, parking, noise, litter, community links and the school’s future plans. The school is a longstanding feature of the Queen’s Park area and it was great to start working with her so positively.

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Chris and I had a really useful meeting with Martin Whitchurch, Lead for Greenspaces at BCP and the man to talk to about what can be done to revamp Cyril Park. So many people have told us how they want this area to be better – the play equipment fixed, the grassy areas looked after…

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Sharon and Chris had an incredibly productive meeting with Chris and Steve from BCP Parks today. We discussed: 🌾 Raised residents’ concerns over overgrowth, fly tipping and the condition of the play equipment. ✂ Identified areas where extra mowing is needed around the edge and the perimeters of the meadows. 🌻 Explored how the meadows…

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Thanks to the Neighbourhood Police Team for an incredibly productive meeting this afternoon. Working with my fellow ward councillor, Alasdair, we discussed how we can improve community engagement to ensure crime gets reported and acted on. We highlighted drug dealing and car crime as particular problems locally.

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