By Denis Campbell

A periodic rant about UK, Welsh and local government group thinking (as much of an oxy-moron as ‘postal service’ or ‘military intelligence’)

Today’s Topic: The Leisure Centre Construction Project

When overlapping budget requests require funding from different sources, then that leads to cancellation of ½ of the project midstream defeating the broader purpose of promoting a healthier lifestyle (which then hurts the broader impetus for health that helps an overburdened NHS health system battling with 1/3 of its treatments for illnesses related to obesity and drink abuse), one has to ask who in government is ‘thinking’ about the bigger picture?

Times are tough across the UK. The Welsh Assembly Government and Local Councils face huge shortfalls and with tax receipts down as a result of the ongoing recession and social payments for the unemployed going through the roof, pain is felt across the board.

In the Vale of Glamorgan the Llantwit Major Leisure Centre (a place where I left some 4 stone through exercise the last year) has been turned into a perpetual construction zone for the last 3-months to build handicapped accessible facilities (for which funding comes from one source within the Welsh Assembly Government). While in there, the local Council was funding the renovation of changing facilities built around the time the Beatles formed as a band. Indeed the entire building is held together with chicken wire and baling string.

UK Progressive learned that even though work crews are in the centre and have torn it up completely, the approved money for finishing the renovation of the changing rooms has been rescinded. So once finished with the handicapped access changing rooms, parking spaces and indoor ramp elevator, the old changing rooms and stalls will go back to what they were because there is no money to finish the job.

So fitness facilities that are needed even more in this environment and are already cut to the bone, so much that one of the managers said, “without the revenue they get from the lobby vending machines we might not be able to stay open” run further down with no hope of renovation. And those vending machines get traffic from the Comp school next door which bans them so the students go  there yet both facilities are run by the same government?

Down is up.

Now because the school and centre share a parking lot that was small when it opened, it made sense to expand the lot and put in handicapped parking spaces. The lot has been so busy at times during the weekday that people resort to parking on the sidewalks.

Imagine everyone’s surprise though when instead of heralding the opening of the new parking spaces, six were taken away by a shining new bicycle storage shed! So in essence a band of 8 parking spaces in a lot that at best had 50 spaces to begin with but brought people from far and wide to exercise, has been removed with parking on the street creating a blind entry traffic hazard on the roadway.

I wish I could make this up.

One of the workers said: “there were at least four other places where that shelter could go. None of them would not take away parking places, but the school just unilaterally decided it should go there.

One multi-use facility, one parking lot, two on-site jurisdictions, two government entities (known at this point, there are likely more), half-construction then re-construction of the old and one messed up project because no one talked to each other.

Seems normal.