Blog 10 - Super Output Area

My Super Output Area is Northampton 012A, which is in the electoral ward of Eastfield. The population of the area is 1567 people.

A Sustainable Community is defined as;

"Sustainable communities are places where people want to live and work, now and in the future. They meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, are sensitive to their environment, and contribute to a high quality of life. They are safe and inclusive, well planned, built and run, and offer equality of opportunity and good services for all.

For communities to be sustainable, they must offer:

decent homes at prices people can afford
good public transport
schools
hospitals
shops
a clean, safe environment.

People also need open public space where they can relax and interact and the ability to have a say on the way their neighbourhood is run."


I don't think that my SOA is a very sustainable area at all, I've lived here all my life and I don't think that people want to live here, its a case of having to and they defiantly don't want to work. There has been a lot of antisocial behaviour in the area although in the last five years it has reduced quite a lot. The housing in my area varies quite a bit, there's a council estate behind my street and the housing is not the best, it used to be quite rough but the council have improved it a little, there are semi detached housing all the way down my street and new build houses have just been constructed on the old school grounds.

It does have potential though, there are some really nice areas like the park which I never really went to when I was younger as my mum always said that it was a little dodgy, but if some time and money was invested in to it maybe parents would feel safer letting their children play there, it could possibly be as nice as somewhere like Abington Park. There has been construction of new school buildings which has helped the two schools in my area improve. Also the amenities on my street are rather impressive, there's 2 churches, a nursery, 3 shops, a post office, 3 take aways, a pub, a doctors, a pharmacy and 2 schools, I think that with some work the community can become a lot more sustainable. The transport links however are really good, the bus comes every half an hour in to town but if you walk to either end of the road you can catch a bus to Weston Favell or in to town and it only takes 10 - 15 minutes for either.

I think that along with the physical things that make a community sustainable like good transport links and local services theres needs to be a sense of community which will make people want to live there and make the area better. I know my neighbours well and I think that makes my area better because theres a sense of well being and if people know each other they are more likely to work together to improve their community for the future. There is an active neighbourhood improvement scheme in effect in my area, my parents have been a couple of times and discussed how to improve the community and I think its quite effective because everyone gets their say and things actually happen.


References

1. http://nile.northampton.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_4_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_4755_1%26url%3D

Blog 8

My Local Constituency : Northampton North :)
My Local MP : Sally Keeble MP
My Local Council: Northampton Borough Council
My Local Party : Labour :(


I have mixed feelings about people who don't vote, because there's probably many reasons behind it, like not finding a party who share their particular views, or not understanding. People who say they don't vote because it won't make a difference do annoy me a little because of course it won't make a difference if you don't bother, a difference can only be seen if they make the effort.

I'm going to vote in 2010, I voted in the European elections because we were taught about it a lot at school and were given loads of background information about each party and what they stand for. I think that mainly people who don't vote decide not to because they don't really know about the policies which each party stand for, as it can be rather confusing. Watching the news and reading the papers you can be given a very biased view on particular parties especially in newspapers as they each have their own political alliance.

Political parties will promise a lot of things especially in the run up to elections and much of this will never happen but its important for people to get easy access to each parties plans. However I don't think people appreciate the mail they get sent from each party to try and sway them. I feel quite lucky that during sixth form we were taught very well about the politics of the UK and were allowed to form our own political views without being told we were wrong. I also think that my family have had a big impact on my attitude to voting, I appreciate the fact that I can vote because not long ago women weren't able to.

I know that voting in the younger generation is at an all time low, I really think that if people were informed like I was at school which I know most people aren't many more young people would vote. I know that its been attempted but it needs to be enjoyable otherwise people will be put off politics and voting for life.

Reference

1. http://www.sallykeeble.com/northampton.html (Sally Keeble Information)
2. http://www.julianwalker.org/images/nnmap.png

Blog 6 and 7

So...what are your views? Is there really a transport problem? Do the benefits of motorized transport outweigh the costs? Are there any minor (or perhaps major) changes you personally feel could make our present transport system more sustainable?

I think that there defiantly is a transport issue, but as private travel in cars has become much more accessible to people its going to be very hard to change peoples attitudes, because to be honest public transport is very unreliable at least the public transport in Northampton is. I have a car and I rarely think about how me driving everywhere impacts on the environment I'm more interested in getting where I need to be on time. I know I probably could use public transport a lot more but its a lot of hassle when I know I have my car just outside and I think this attitude is held by lots of car owners. For me to travel to Park Campus in the car it takes 10 minutes usually providing the traffic isn't too bad and to do the same journey on the bus it takes almost an hour! If I can get there in 10 minutes obviously I'm going to come in the car.

The government seem to be trying to put people off driving by increasing fuel tax and road tax and then there's the increasing cost of actually learning to drive but people will still do it as its a way of achieving your own independence. This increase in fuel tax and prices has a knock on effect for public transport like buses and trains because it means that the price of fares for that will also go up, which again pulls people back to their cars.

There has been a major increase in air pollution in the UK over the last 50 years with nitrous oxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions being particularly high which can be potentially lethal, MPs have suggested that this increase in air pollution across the country could possibly have been a contributing factor to 50000 deaths a year (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/22/air-pollution-deaths). Obesity wise I think cars are a big contributor to the expanding waste lines of Britain, with people driving short distances which can easily be walked. This does scare me a little and I do keep quite active but I think people need to be more aware of how important physical exercise is especially if their driving everywhere.

Northampton has got some very good transport links I just don't think that they are managed too well, for example I think there needs to be more regular buses on some of the more major routes like the University route or maybe just more buses at busier times of the day which would encourage more people to use it. The train links to London and Birmingham are actually really good and the bus which goes from campus to the train station really leaves no excuse for driving, however the train fares are actually rather expensive if your not a student and with annual passes being in the thousands I can see why commuters prefer to drive because either way its going to cost you a ridiculous amount of money, and personally if I could travel on my own rather than being squashed up with strangers I would! Also if it smelled nicer and the bus stations and train stations were nicer I would perhaps be a little more willing to travel on a bus or train.

I know it is in all of our interest for a healthier more sustainable lifestyle but if travel times are more than doubled whilst we do this and we have to spend the same if not more than we would on a car to travel on public transport then I personally and it seems most of the country would rather continue as I am and travel in my car.