Mutley Plain closures.

I wanted to write about the recent meeting I attended about the closure of Mutley Plain for essential gas works. The emergency meeting had been arranged by Vanessa Collins, chair of the Mutley Traders association and she had invited representatives from both Plymouth City Council, the Highways department (a partnership between Plymouth City Council and Amey).

For those of you who aren't fully aware of the whole road closure saga here are some links from The Herald to elaborate on the story so far as well as my comments on each article:


First press release about the closure, this is the story that caused the most panic as the majority of residents and traders had not been given any details about the pending closure and the general feeling by the traders is that the story resulted in people avoiding Mutley Plain before the work had even started. I personally don't blame the Herald as they need stories and headlines to sell papers, what annoys me is that the Council and Wales and West Utilities (the company responsible for the gas works) did not effectively communicate with residents and traders prior to or at the same time as the press release.

Second press release about the closure, this story highlighted the fact that traders were still left in the dark about exactly what was happening and how they would deal with issues such as deliveries to their properties.

Press release regarding the emergency meeting about the Mutley Plain closure, this is the story that really annoyed me as the headline 'Mutley Traders turn on gas company' was not strictly true, Carl Eve's reporting of the story was not entirely factual and was definitely misleading, the article made traders like myself seem unreasonable which I think is unfair. What I think it is fair to say is that none of the residents or traders have any problems with essential gas works being carried out, the point we were trying to make was that the planning of the closure had been poor and the communication between Plymouth City Council/Highways and Wales and West was simply appalling. Quote from Herald "Compton councillor Richard Ball criticised the firm for not making a definitive map of the work and diversions available, stating he had specifically asked for such a map before the meeting.", this statement was supported by us all as we all felt that if we had been informed we could have made plans to minimise disruption, the fact that the emergency meeting was being held the day after roadworks had commenced only added to our frustration.

We did receive some kind of apology from a council representative but it seemed to little to late. When we asked if the council may be able to formalise the apology via reduction in business rates or free parking for shoppers after the roadworks were complete the council representative said that he could not promise anything.

Press release - post meeting. At last some honest, sensible reporting from Keith Rossitter!

Press release on a manned pedestrian crossing for Mutley throughout the road works.

I should point out that I have written to my local councillor Steve Ricketts about both the closure of Mutley Plain and why I wasn't informed and also regarding the introduction of evening parking charges to the Mutley Plain car parks. I have not had any response whatsoever.

So the full Mutley closure to vehicles starts on Monday and we will see exactly what extent the works have for residents and businesses.