You don’t have to go mountain climbing, hang gliding or skiing to get the adrenalin rush of extreme sports these days in Goole. All you have to do is hazard your safety with a stroll along the town’s pavements – especially Boothferry Road and in the ostensibly pedestrianised parts of town. Cyclists have been forced off the roads by the behaviour of motorists, and now they in turn seem determined to force pedestrians off the pavements by racing along at speeds that would do the Tour de France proud. Add in people on mobility scooters doing time trials to beat each other getting from Greenawn Corner to the Clock Tower roundabout and you have the high octane experience of the hostile environment that Goole’s pavements are these days for pedestrians. All those thrills without a penny of Town Deal money spent to achieve them…
There are positive developments though in that attendants are now issuing penalties to those who insist on parking on double yellow lines in the area of town close to Victoria Pleasure Grounds, which is doing something to address safety issues on the roads. Is it too much the hope the powers that be might take action to protect the safety of pedestrians on the pavements?
The latest issue of the Goole Times had headlines and an article (well, unedited PR statement from East Riding Council anyway) proclaiming that the Goole station to Howden station Hopper bus is going from strength to strength and growing in popularity.
June apparently saw 4,500 journeys, while July saw what the Goole Times describes as a “big increase” in the number of journeys, to 5,815.
Nearly 6,000 people making journeys that they might otherwise have made by car, or not made at all, is positive. If a good number of those were coming into the centre of Goole to spend money in the shops, that would also be positive, but we don’t have an exact breakdown of the destination of each traveller’s journey and the purpose.
Let’s drill down into those figures.
June had thirty days, five of them were Sundays. The buses don’t run on a Sunday. So the buses ran on 25 days in June. There are 22 buses timetabled each day from Goole to Howden, and 22 timetabled each day from Howden to Goole. That is 44 bus journeys per day. 44 bus journeys a day for 25 days is 1100 bus journeys for the whole of June. That works out at just over 4 passengers for each bus journey in June.
July had 31 days. Sundays accounted for 4 of those days, which means buses ran 44 journeys a day on 27 days in July – 1188 journeys. That works out at 4.9 passengers per journey.
A friend extolled the delights and benefits of a “walking football” programme he participates in. This targets older people who still want to play football. It brings benefits for mental and physical wellbeing, a sense of belonging, and building new friendships (they go on trips and outings to theatre as well as playing football). You can watch a YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/nEozKaZjGV0?si=yRcUnn0cPAytR01u There is also an initiative for cricket (see: https://youtu.be/aic94SNpmcw?si=YbrW-iy1VBFieEel
I said I could see all those positives, but unfortunately here in Goole the football community have lost a lot of support and goodwill with the Victoria Pleasure Grounds Plans – determined to destroy the 400m running track, and a lack of care for impact of plans on local residents. Item 5 of the latest available Town Deal Board minutes (see: https://www.gooletowndeal.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Goole-Town-Deal-Board-Minutes-10-05-2024.pdf claims that “a significant amount of community consultation” has taken place. People who live in the area of the ground are left thinking they must be in a different parallel universe, because nobody seems to have been directly consulted on the impact of the plans on their quality of life. Work seems to have slipped back further from “summer 2024” to “November 2024.” We will see.
My friend said that it’s a pity, because a well respected football club can do a lot of good for a community. That may well be the case, but respect is a two-way street.
The doubts citizens of Goole seem to have about aspects of the Town Deal programme suggest a review of what is going on by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government would be a worthwhile exercise to make sure it does deliver for all citizens of this town – especially if done in consultation with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Thank you to everyone who has signed the petition so far.