Garth Hill College, Sandy Lane School, Parking and the old NAGs

I see that the replanting of green screening around Garth Hill College has been taking place. It was a great shame that the mature vegetation had to be cut back to provide for a safe route to the new entrance. The new college though, will be a great asset to the area.

At the Priestwood and Garth Neighbourhood Action Group Meetings (NAGs) we have discussed the dangers of parked cars all along Folders lane up to Bull lane.  Some parents seem to leave the safety of tier children up to others. I have had a car stop in front of me and a child leap out in the “wrong side”. Very nerve wracking.  It also very dangerous when parents park on the bend.

Hopefully the council can come up with a scheme to help make the area safer during the school and college opening and closing hours, once the new College entrance is operational.

The police say that there have been reports from Wick Hill College car park attendants that parents from Garth Hill School and Sandy Lane School keep trying to use the car park at the start and end of the school day. This car park is only for students and the bus from Bracknell & Wokingham College. Some of the car park attendants have been verbally abused by parents. If you are picking your child up from the above schools, you can use Braybrooke Park or Albert Road car parks. There are also reports about some parents stopping on the yellow zigzag lines outside Meadow Vale School. PCSOs have been outside the school as often as possible to stop this happening.
It is good to note, from the above police report, that overall crime was down by 31.2 per cent compared with the same three months in 2008.

Parking as always is a problem everywhere. Of the 291 Priestwood  and Garth residents who responded to the neighbourhood survey on five aspects of life in Bracknell Forest which most needed improvement, parking came in at 43% behind Police on the Streets at 50%, the level of speeding at 39%,  Litter at 39%, and Anti-social Behaviour at 36%.

On a more positive note; on the five aspects of life in Bracknell Forest people in Priestwood and Garth  liked best: Parks and Open Spaces (54%), Access to Nature (42%), Health Services (38%), Sports and Leisure Facilities (29%), Cultural Facilities (26%).

Cyber stuff

From Computer weekly

Much of the cybercrime targeting UK organisations comes from overseas crime groups, according to a new strategy document for tackling serious organised crime. There is also growing evidence that states are sponsoring criminal gangs to make cyberattacks.

The worry is that the more that is held centrally, the more reliance will be placed on those central systems. Systems that could be compromised, or made unavailable. Systems that are prime targets for hackers.

Computerised records of all 250 million journeys made by individuals in and out of the UK each year will be kept for up to 10 years.
The government says the database is essential in the fight against crime, illegal immigration and terrorism.
But opposition MPs and privacy campaigners fear it is a significant step towards a surveillance society.
The intelligence centre will store names, addresses, telephone numbers, seat reservations, travel itineraries and credit card details of travellers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7877182.stm

The government is building databases to track more and more of our movements. They always say that it is about security or personal protection.

But we have a government that just can't be trusted over highly sensitive issues.

In 2004, Richard Thomas, the information commissioner at the time, warned that Britain was "sleepwalking" into a surveillance society. Davies believes the situation has got worse. "When we categorise the privacy ratings of all the countries, Britain is already in the black category along with some pretty unpleasant societies."
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5683392.ece

Evey day we hear of yet another way that the Government is going to track out lives. They tell us that if we have nothing to hide, we have nothing to fear. The fear is the government just cannot hold onto its data, and details of millions of people are going to end up in the wrong hands.
e.g.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7845024.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7103566.stmhttp://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2205400/uk-government-warned-losshttp://blogs.spectrum.ieee.org/riskfacto...._governmen.htmlhttp://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_071574http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopi....-data-loss.html

There is now so much held that any individual may not know if they have any incorrectly-ascribed information. Information that could magnified until it is out of hand and the individual concerned having no way of correcting it, or who has meddled with it.