At the moment Branksome is....

[slepe12]

the only realistic opportunity for Poole Town to have a stadium in keeping with their status within the non-league community. It also gives the local community the opportunity to take advantage of a significant leisure facility. On Wednesday I travelled past the rec and apart from a few boys having a kick about, the rec was empty. During the school hols I would have expected more use being made of such a vast expanse of green grass. Not a dog walker in sight.............but still they want to keep it as it is just in case they might get the urge to walk. A bit selfish.........nimby.

[stfcinbmth]

:oThe Nimbys are not interested in any cohesive arguments, it's me, me, me

Every time I drive past, and that's pretty much every day, there is never more than 3 or 4 people making use of the facility

[m3dolphin]

It's only a selfish attitude when the Nimbys don't honestly and realistically consider the circumstances. Of course residents have a right to their views and a say in what goes on in their back yard, but they really need to get a sense of realism and perspective.

It's not until you see some of the old grounds in other cities you realise how society's attitude has changed towards progress. Anyone that went to or has been to grounds in London like Highbury, White hart Lane, The Old Den and Griffin Park etc can realise how the old grounds were hemmed in by rows and rows of terraced housing. Where these grounds were/are was once obviously 'open space', and these were/are big stadiums - Pooles proposed Branksome Rec developement is miniscule in size in comparison.

With Waterloo only 40 minutes from me by train I used to visit these grounds frequently, and what is very obvious to me are the Nimby's unfounded concerns regarding Branksome Rec, wether they are genuinely founded or just excuses. Highbury never had any parking yet used to get gates of 40 - 50,000. Even Millwall and Brentford with smaller gates had limited parking and supporters knew this, hence why they used public transport as an obvious choice. As for the Questionable " Our house will go down in value " , that is complete nonsense. Clubs all around the country with thier new, much bigger all seater stadiums have never had any effect on house prices and that includes Millwall with their so called supporters reputation. So why should the proposed very small presence of Branksome Rec be an issue with house prices ? Surely it should be considered a bonus in house selling to a family, where youngsters are concerned.

The only presence of any significant size to be considered at Branksome, is the positive effect that Poole Town's excellent youth academy could have on the local boys and girls.

Note; When handling the shirt auction at the AFCB game I had residents from Branksome of all ages approach me at the table enquiring after the Branksome Rec proposal, they all considered it a positive for their area.

[DollyFinn]

It's all very well moaning about NIMBYs on here, like any disagreement about adding something that appears to have no obvious benefit to the locals you need a charm offensive to change views. I used to live on Library Road that leads to the rec and it's an oasis of calm in a pretty built up area (ok it's not exactly Deptford but you get my drift). People need reassuring that it's not the whole of the rec being lost but also more importantly something is being gained by the local community. I don't know what that might be but the obvious suggestions are around youth engagement and providing amenities for them, outside of match days. Problem is when I lived there, there were quite a few pensioners in the area (dunno if it still applies) and they are usually the strongest NIMBYs because they have plenty of time to campaign and less interest in popular culture, sport, etc.

[Bay Dolphin]

Yes, an ongoing campaign highlighting the positives is important - if PTFC has enough bodies 'on the ground' to carry it out. I've done a fair amount of campaigning of various kinds and whilst it's easy to get commited people interested it is very much harder to get them to do some work like leafletting, knocking on doors to talk to locals, manning campaign stalls in public places, letter writing, attending meetings, contacting the media etc etc.....

[stfcinbmth]

;DI still think that inviting some of the leading opposition activists to actually watch a game at the Tatnum would be a good idea

[Bay Dolphin]

Agreed. The 'leading activists' should be easy enough to identify and contact.