Scary eyes in Stratford?

Stratford-upon-Avon has suffered a lot recently.  The Bancroft Gardens have been covered in heartless concrete and stained granite.  The art deco interior of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s home theater has been gutted and bizarre tower raised.  Fields and terraced cottages have been dug up and demolished, turned into rat-runs of flats and Americanised three story town-homes.  World Class Stratford has spent millions on harebrained schemes while Holy Trinity Church has been reduced to begging for donations to repair its historic structure.  The town center’s local shops have been priced out, the tourist tat and sandwich shops that filled the void have been hit by the credit crunch and now  many empty shells and vacant storefronts line the streets.

What more could happen to bring infamy to the town?  How about this…

A firm called Internet Eyes will be allowing members of the public to monitor CCTV footage taken in the town and offer up to one thousand pounds if the “viewers” spot a crime in progress.  If this sounds like 1984 meets bingo it gets even better because on the Internet Eyes website they state:

Users are individuals watching random video feeds. Users can register for free with no recurring fees.

The locations of the feeds are not disclosed and users reporting remain anonymous.

So the cameras are monitored by members of the public, who are not trained professionals, aren’t licensed or insured, and have not had a background check carried out. So basically any Peeping Tom can join in the fun, but that is okay because the “locations of the feeds are not disclosed” except unfortunately that isn’t completely true because:

The private company scheme – due to go live in Stratford-upon-Avon in November – aims to stream live footage to subscribers’ home computers from CCTV cameras installed in shops and other businesses.

- BBC News – Public to monitor CCTV from home

and

The project will be trialled in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks, next month, but the consortium behind the idea hopes that it will eventually attract a global audience of viewers monitoring Britain’s 4.2 million security cameras.

- The Telegraph – Snoopers could win £1,000 prizes for monitoring CCTV cameras on the internet

Wow, I’m fairly certain there aren’t that many CCTV systems in Stratford but they’ll soon be available to a global audience of spies watching for crimes and prizes!  Now I know that in this modern world of heightened security cameras have been the silver bullet for so many fears of the age, but I agree with Charles Farrier, director of the No-CCTV pressure group, who said:

“It is an appalling idea for a game and will create a snoopers paradise.

“It is something which should be nipped in the bud immediately. It will not only encourage a dangerous spying mentality by turning crime into a game but also could lead to dangerous civil rights abuses.

Especially when James Woodward, head of the technical team for Devon-based Internet Eyes, is quoted in the Telegraph saying:

“Whoever has a CCTV camera, be it the police, local authorities or business or home owners can sign up to have their cameras watched. We hope to include police cameras very soon.”

Who exactly will be monitoring the monitors?

In September 2009 Britain had 4.2 million CCTV cameras

– the equivalent of one per 14 people.

McCann Erickson – world class stupidity

In a move fitting of the stupidity we’re used to seeing from the World Class Stratford muppets, the Government created Advantage West Midlands have managed to create and air a commercial for Stratford-upon-Avon that was filmed not just in a different town, but in a different county!

Advantage West Midlands enlisted the advertising skills, and geographic idiocy, of McCann Erickson, a global (read expensive) advertising agency whose clients include Sony, Shreddies, Staples, Mr Kipling, and Heinz.  As their hip and thrusting website suggests, this is a firm that is going places.

Unfortunately where they are going is to the bank with £140,000 of tax payers’ money that they were paid to make a commercial about Stratford-upon-Avon.  Now some of you may already know Stratford, birthplace of William Shakespeare, a historic market town in the south of Warwickshire.  Again unfortunately McCann Erickson do not appear to know Stratford, and so filmed a very nice advert in the grounds of Stokesay Castle, near Ludlow, in Shropshire – 66 miles and two counties away.  They did manage to open with a shot of Holy Trinity which is in Stratford, but they then seem to have wandered off the plot considerably.

Unfortunately neither McCann “Where are we?” Erickson or (Dis)Advantage West Midlands feature this debacle on their website, and it doesn’t appear to be on YouTube either, but if you can find a link please post it in the comments.  Oh, and if you represent McCann Erickson or Advantage West Midlands, please contact me to let me know when the money gets refunded!  I’d love to post about your efforts to correct this piece of location selection idiocy.

For more details see The Telegraph – Stratford-upon-Avon tourism advert filmed 60 miles away

Declining tourism in Stratford?

A worrying article on the BBC News website today stating that Shakespearience is going in to recievership due to a drop in tourism (Tourist drop affects attraction – BBC News).

In early 2001 during the height of the foot and mouth crisis Tony Blair and the Labour government had to struggle hard to help tourism after some badly worded speeches, and graphic images of burning carcasses, had convinced many overseas visitors that the British countryside was “closed” (The three billion dollar ‘boycott’ – BBC News archives).  That summer Stratford seemed quiet as many overseas and even UK visitors stayed away.

I recall being worried then that as the new millennium began the future of Stratford-upon-Avon as a “world renown tourist destination” was not looking good, and the initial proposals of World Class Stratford did nothing to quell those fears.

Now it seems my concerns were have come true.  The very public closure of the theatre has created the impression that the town itself is closed.  Even the opening of The Courthouse Theatre has not been handled well, the building itself hidden behind the (now closed) The Other Place.  The redevelopment of Bancroft Gardens, in conjunction with the theatre itself, and high profile debates such as the (now cancelled) proposed new footbridge across the Avon have created a global impression that Stratford is “closed for refurbishment” with work taking several years to complete meaning that even year on year visitors (such as myself, return home each year as an ex-pat to see friends and family) get the impression that there is no clear direction for the change, just a whole lot of mud and construction. The terrible flooding of July 2007, and World Class Stratford’s failed ‘ferris wheel’ and ‘footbridge’ projects have done nothing to help Stratford rebuild itself from what is now becoming a decade long lack of clear direction and management.

I hope that “Shakespearience” can pull through these difficulties, and that either fresh investment can be found, or that the site is rapidly taken over and repurposed by new owners.  The waterside location (formerly The Stratford Cinema and The Shakespeare Experience) has always seemed to struggle with a lack of presence not seen in the “Shakespeare properties” or Falstaff’s on Sheep Street, so hopefully this goes some way to explain the current unfortunate events.  However, a part of me sighs and wonders if this is just a continuation of the existing problems, and that Stratford-upon-Avon, its council, and its townspeople will need to work hard to re-establish the historic market town, and birthplace of the world’s most famous playwrite on the world stage.

As my wife said, wouldn’t it be nice for once to see an article about Stratford that reads like this article about Alexandria, Virginia in the Baltimore Sun.

A Friday short post

No time for long rants today, so here are a few things that have crossed my screen, and my mind in the last couple of days.

1. A High Court Judge has asked Gordon Brown to hold off on ratifying the EU Treaty until an appeal against the lack of a referendum has been heard. (Telegraph article) – Nice to see the nanny state being made to follow at least one of the same rules as the rest of us. Update – Looks like the Czech Republic may be out too!
2. The Chancellor, Alistair Darling (Does Gordon Brown ever impersonate Stephen Fry in Blackadder Goes Forth with a command of “Come here Darling!”!) decided he’d rather foist the economic disaster that it over a decade of Labour rule, plus the other global factors, onto the Bank of England rather than try and do anything about it himself by making the Bank of England liable for Britains financial stability (Darling sets out new bank remit – BBC News). – Wow, so what does the Chancellor do now, except live in #11?
3. Closer to home, Stratford-upon-Avon’s Warwickshire County Council run “Park & Ride” scheme is still unused and failing to make a profit after being open for 3 years.  I seem to remember a lot of folks not wanting it before it was built, but the County have a bright plan (probably learned from the Hoyer petrol tanker drivers) they’ll try and bribe the Stratford upon Avon District Council into closing two of the in town car parks to FORCE people out to the park and ride!!! (Stratford Observer – Park and ride chiefs plan bold move).  – Wow!!! This idea is so idiotic I’m surprised World Class Stratford weren’t involved!  Lets convince peopel to visit our town by closing the car parks and making them travel in from our desolate car park on a shuttle bus.  Yes, I’m sure granny taking the kids for a day out shopping during the summer holidays wants to struggle with a stroller on the bus rather than just park in town and walk!  I’ve a plan, make all council workers (District, County, Parish, the lot) all park there and bus in, if it works for them maybe it will convince others that it is a valuable service.
4. In defence of  Warwickshire County Council they have come out against the dreaded eco-town! (County planners urge eco town ‘No’ – Stratford Observer)
5. Lastly, I agree with the Safe Speed Campaign and believe we need to approach all the problems on our roads and not just leap to knee jerk reactions.  So although I appreciate the distress and worry felt by the family who had a car land in their front room (Call for action after car ploughs into house – Stratford Observer), I was upset to see that the family are asking for action against speeding cars when the Police arrested and charged the woman driver caught at the scene for drink driving.  Maybe more action against drink drivers would be better.

Yippeee, no ferris wheel

This just in…

The World Class Stratford planning application to site a giant ferris wheel on the recreation grounds in the heart of Stratford-upon-Avon have been turned down by the council on the grounds that:

it would not be in keeping with the character of the historic town.

Finally, a common sense decision from the council and a restriction on the damage done by some of World Class Stratford‘s wacky plans.

Read more about it in the Stratford Observer or via the BBC News website.

The official refusal can be seen on the Stratford-upon-Avon District council website. Here you can read a selection of documents including plan details, and complaints, however you cannot find any details as to the cost of the consultations and time spent on this daft proposal. Shame the wasted time and money couldn’t have been better spent.