🚨 BERMUDA PHOENIX CENTRE – TWO MONTHS OF REQUESTS AND WE FINALLY HAVE SOME ANSWERS ! 🚨

I wanted to provide everyone supporting this petition with an important update regarding my ongoing investigation into the proposed permanent parking arrangements at Bermuda Phoenix Centre.

As many of you will know, the Centre is expected to have just 19 parking spaces allocated to its users, within a total shared provision of 28 spaces.

The Centre itself can accommodate approximately 250 people.

For months, I have been asking a very straightforward question:

How can anyone determine whether 19 parking spaces are sufficient without first establishing how many people actually use the Centre and when?

📧 MY REQUESTS TO THE PHOENIX CENTRE

On 17 August 2026, I first contacted Bermuda Phoenix Centre requesting information about its regular groups, activities, functions and approximate attendance figures.

I wanted to establish:

• Which groups and activities use the Centre.
• Which days those activities take place.
• Approximately how many people attend.
• Whether multiple activities take place on the same day.
• What demand those activities may create for parking.

This was not an unreasonable request. It was basic information needed to understand the Centre's operational requirements.

Having not received the information requested, I followed up on:

24 August 2026 – First follow-up.

1 September 2026 – Second follow-up.

By 6 October 2026, I still had not received the requested attendance breakdown through that correspondence.

Why should a local resident have to spend months chasing information that is so fundamental to understanding whether the Centre's future parking arrangements will work?

👥 PEOPLE CONNECTED WITH THE CENTRE HAVE BEEN CONTACTING ME

Throughout this investigation, I have been contacted privately by numerous individuals connected with Bermuda Phoenix Centre.

These include current and former staff, current and former committee members, people involved with community groups and residents who use the facilities.

A number have expressed concerns about how the parking situation has been handled and whether the proposed arrangements adequately protect the Centre's future.

I want to make something absolutely clear.

Anyone who has contacted me privately and requested confidentiality will remain anonymous.

I will not publish names or private conversations without permission.

However, thanks to information shared with me by people familiar with the Centre's activities, I have now been able to put together an estimated breakdown of its regular functions and attendance.

📊 WHAT WE NOW KNOW ABOUT THE CENTRE'S ACTIVITIES

The following figures are estimates supplied by people familiar with the Centre's operations. They are not independently audited attendance records, and some activities are seasonal or do not take place every week.

MONDAY

• Table tennis: approximately 40–50 people.
• Men & Women in Sheds: approximately 30–40 people.

TUESDAY

• Art group: approximately 20 people.
• Dance activities: up to 100 people, plus accompanying parents.
• Men & Women in Sheds: approximately 30–40 people.

WEDNESDAY

• NHS activities: approximately 15–20 people, although not every week.
• Men & Women in Sheds: approximately 30–40 people.

THURSDAY

• NHS activities: approximately 15–20 people, although not every week.
• Indoor bowls: approximately 40–50 people.
• Children's football: approximately 10 children, plus parents.
• Men & Women in Sheds: approximately 30–40 people.

FRIDAY

• Men & Women in Sheds: approximately 30–40 people.

SATURDAY

• Children's football: approximately 20 children, plus parents.
• Adult football: at least 40 participants, plus spectators.
• Seasonal outdoor bowls.
• Private parties and room hire, potentially up to the Centre's 250-person capacity, although maximum-capacity events are understood to be uncommon.

SUNDAY

• Children's football training.
• Church activities: potentially 150–200 people.
• Adult football: at least 40 participants, plus spectators.
• Seasonal outdoor bowls.
• Private parties and room hire.

I have also received information that two private functions can take place simultaneously and that further children's football activities have been planned.

🚗 NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT THE PARKING

I fully appreciate that 50 people attending an activity does not automatically mean 50 vehicles.

Some people walk, some share vehicles and some may use other transport.

But that is precisely why a proper parking-demand assessment matters.

For example:

• How many vehicles might a bowls session involving 40–50 people generate?
• How many parents drive children to dance activities?
• Where are people attending church services potentially involving 150–200 people expected to park?
• How are football players, parents and spectators accommodated on busy weekends?
• What happens when activities overlap?

These are questions that should have been considered when assessing the permanent parking provision.

📸 MY DRONE EVIDENCE TELLS ITS OWN STORY

Alongside the attendance information, I have documented parking demand through 26 dated drone observations.

The results are:

• 23.4 vehicles observed on average.
• 39 vehicles at the highest recorded observation.
• 16 out of 26 observations exceeded 19 vehicles.
• 10 out of 26 observations exceeded 28 vehicles.

In other words, approximately 62% of my observations exceeded the proposed 19-space Centre allocation.

And approximately 38% exceeded the entire proposed shared provision of 28 spaces.

These observations are not a formal transport survey, but they provide real-world evidence of parking demand that deserves proper consideration.

⚠️ WHY THIS MATTERS

This isn't simply about making life more convenient for people attending the Centre.

It is about protecting a valuable community facility, maintaining safe access for families and children, and preventing inadequate parking provision from placing additional pressure on surrounding residential roads.

If the Centre cannot accommodate the parking demand associated with its activities, where will the additional vehicles go?

That question needs answering before the permanent arrangements are treated as adequate.

📩 WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

I have now placed the attendance estimates and my drone findings before Warwickshire County Council's Highways Development Management team.

I have also specifically requested that this evidence be considered during the Council's Stage 2 complaint investigation into the highways assessment associated with planning applications 041361 and 041362.

I want an evidence-based explanation of how the proposed parking arrangements are expected to meet the Centre's actual operational needs.

❤️ MY POSITION HAS NOT CHANGED

I do not want Bermuda Phoenix Centre to close.

I want it to thrive.

But a thriving community centre needs parking arrangements that work for its users and the surrounding community.

The people who use this Centre deserve better than unanswered questions, and local residents deserve confidence that the consequences of inadequate parking have been properly considered.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this petition, shared information or contacted me privately.

✍️ Please continue signing and sharing this petition.

The more people who make their concerns known, the harder it becomes for those responsible to overlook the need for a realistic, permanent parking solution.