Page 11 - Phonebox Magazine May 2016

Oakdown Crescent
Mr Hall, I write on behalf of my mother and other residents of Oakdown crescent in Olney. There are 16 residents in the crescent many of whom are over 80 years old.
There has been an ongoing situation with parking in Oakdown Crescent for many many years and for as long as my mother has lived there I have been trying with the help of Olney Town Council to get things changed. Each time relatives of the tenants try to visit there is no where for them to park as cars belonging to residents within the area of Oakdown Crescent have already parked their vehicles in the crescent. Recently Milton Keynes Council suggested that a parking permit only for Oakdown Crescent could be the answer but at least 75 percent of the residents would have to agree. 15 tenants signed a letter requesting this, one property was empty at the time. These letters were sent onto the highways department of Milton Keynes Council. Since this has come to light residents at the rear of Oakdown Crescent and those who live in Weston Road, have appealed against this as they would have no where to park their vehicles. Whilst I understand their issues I do feel that some compassion should be offered to these senior citizens effectively living in a car park and their relatives trying to visit and with no place to park.
When the bungalows were built the then council cared and respected the Oakdown Crescent tenants. It would seem that perhaps that same respect has gone.
I am concerned that should an ambulance or re engine be required in Oakdown Crescent or even to the houses at the rear of Oakdown Crescent there would be great dif culty in one getting close.
There is no easy answer to this situation, but all involved should be able to work together to get an amicable answer to the problem, but surely and for mostly, the needs of the elderly should be considered. They are in the twilight of their years and deserve care, consideration and to be able to look out of their homes and see a lovely place to live NOT a car park.
Susan Warren
Tesco Deliveries
I am sending you this photo as living in East Street Olney since Tescos has been here has become a nightmare. I advised The Olney Town Council that we have a huge problem months ago but never got a reply. I have tackled Tescos head of ce and the supermarket and whilst the manager and staff are most helpful they are not the ones driving the lorries. It is absolutely ridiculous that Tescos are allowed to reverse lorries into the tight driveway at the rear of the property when East Street is residential and a conservation area and we have to live seven days a week all day long with lorries being a nightmare.
Perhaps the Phonebox could publish this photo and advise people just how ourselves and neighbours have to live. On numerous occasions we have nearly been injured badly by just leaving our property not to mention the fact that a lorry mounting the path, as they do, could easily knock in to our property. The noise is a nuisance as is the sight of a lorry looking through your window.
Annie Grey, East Street
Putting Pen to Paper
Waiting for the cows to come home...
MK Museum
Milton Keynes’ world-famous concrete cows moo-ved back to the place of their birth at MK Museum last month. The introduction of a new community arts space at intu Milton Keynes means a move for the cows, created by
Canadian artist Liz Leyh with local schoolchildren at Milton Keynes Museum in 1978.
Now the cows are set to live out their later years back on the green, green grass of home – at the Museum’s Stacey Bushes site. Their return also means a reunion with the Museum’s snowman, created by Leyh during her residency.
Both these original cows, and the replicas grazing alongside the H3 Monks Way at Bancroft, are in the care of Milton Keynes Parks Trust – who’ve arranged their move home in partnership with intu.
Said Museum Director Bill Griffiths: “We are thrilled to be welcoming the concrete cows back home for our visitors to enjoy. “Within the next few years, our new galleries will be telling the whole story of this area, from pre-history through to the present time and the
cows are an important part of the story. It’s tting that they will be taking their place alongside other great iconic moments, monuments, stories, people and organisations.
“We’d like to thank everyone at intu Milton Keynes for looking after them so well and to The Parks Trust who jointly agreed, with intu, for them to return to their original grounds.”
Briony Fox, Head of Community Engagement at The Parks Trust said: “It is great to see the concrete cows returning to their pastoral home at MK Museum after the bustle of intu Milton Keynes. The cows are an enduring symbol of Milton Keynes, and being on show at the museum will allow people to enjoy the original artwork in their original setting. “ Shelley Peppard, general manager at intu Milton Keynes said: “We are honoured that our customers have been able to enjoy the concrete cows at intu Milton Keynes for such a long time. With the space they occupied being turned into a new community events area we are sad to see them go but excited their legacy will remain protected in the safe hands of the MK Museum.”
May 2016 | Phonebox Magazine 11