General Discussion
Where's all the seating gone in Dawlish?
I have commented on this before, but it seems to be getting worse.
Walking along the sea wall from the railway underpass towards Coryton cove I noticed that there is not one seat left on the wall parallel with the railway line. I counted at least 6 hard standing points where there used to be seats. Only a few weeks ago there was at least 1 seat in place.
Add that to the number of seats that have disappeared from the park above Coryton cove, the seating under the railway platform as you come under the railway underpass on the left. It all adds up to a lot of places not to be able to sit.
A very sad state of affairs for a town that is supposed to cater for tourists, don't our taxes pay for people to keep an eye on these sort of things and rectify outstanding issues, maybe not.
When Michael Clayson was on Dawlish Council he was brilliant at getting things done. He was the one who got the seats replaced on the green behind the Rockstone Flats and the ones overlooking the sea also the ones opposite the Charlton Flats.
He was very approachable and nothing was too much trouble.
There's an interesting metal plate on the seawall side of the Kennaway footbridge. It marks the dividing line between Network Rail land and TDC land. It might be worth taking a photo of it.
Does anyone else think that this might be connected with the crackdown on unsocial drinkers/druggies, the reasoning being that if you take away all their gathering points, the problem might cease to exist. Once again, it seems that everyone else has to suffer inconvenience for the actions of a few, or am I seeing conspiracy where there isn't one?
The council did purchase 8 benches to go along the sea wall, King's Walk, in 2014. I know this as I was one of the councillors on the working group alongside Terry Lowther, Howard Almond and Micheal Clayson.
Network Rail had agreed to the benches but after DTC purchased them they then changed their minds on health and safety grounds. This made me laugh as I am from the generation who sat on benches on the very same seawall in the 60's with steam trains racing behind me billowing steam and, most importantly, sparks from the coal fired engine and never came to any harm. The most dangerous thing we face now is the the inevitable Cross Country train breaking down because the waves have hit the roof of the train and passengers have to be evacuated! Then again, if the waves are that high most of us wouldn't be sitting on the benches. There was mention that people could stand on the benches and get onto the track but that doesn't hold water as there are so many other easily accessible places to get onto the track such as the whole of the Dawlish and Teignmough sea walls. No one on the current council seems to be taking the lead on this issue, which is a shame as seating on the seawall will encourage people to stay in Dawlish.
So the issue comes back to those WE pay to administer issues that affect Dawlish not seeming to bother, what's new there. I suppose if an opportunity to build an elevated fun park on the front, costing millions, they would get into high gear!
So instead of people being able to safely enjoy the view of the sea from a bench, they are now sitting on the sea wall itself. I witnessed this only yesterday evening and saw a couple of people with young children holding them on their laps, on the sea wall with a good 9 - 10 feet drop below.
Was it really the railway company denying these benches stay along the sea wall?. Considering there have been benches along there for decades. I see no reason why there is not a strong case by OUR officials to get the railway company to allow reinstatement.
I will communicate with THE RAILWAY COMPANY to ascertain exactly what their position is and post it on this thread,.
12:20hrs - e-mail sent to railway contact
It's definitely Network Rail land and therefore definitely their decision to not allow the benches to be replaced. Loving all the shoutiness btw! 😂
Hopefully someone on DTC, unbeknown to us mere mortals, is actually taking the lead on this matter and therefore continuing the good work started by Michael Clayson, etc.