06/07/2011.
To whoever it may concern
I am sorry to bother you but I am doing an article about Road Safety in Grimsby and would like to know if your group discusses this. Another thing I would like to know is if you are also known as the 'Freshney Forward'. If you are not would you mind pointing me in the right direction? I would appreciate a reply before Thursday 14th July, thank you for reading this.
Reply.
Friends of the Freshney and Freshney Forward are separate
organisations. Friends of the Freshney is based in the West Marsh area of Grimsby which has also a group known as West Marsh Forward. The Freshney Forward group operates on the Willows and Wybers Wood area. The Forward groups were set up in order to produce a platform where residents can meet, air their grievances and then later confront the correct organisation, invited by the forward organisers, in an attempt to solve their problem. The organisations include police, council, fire department, shoreline and other authoritative bodies. The Friends group is more involved with the River Freshney, it's banks and surrounds which includes a local park, The Duke of York Gardens on Corporation Road. We have sourced funding for a number of
activities and items that have been installed on the park for the benefit of children and other visitors to the park.
I hope that answers your query, but if not please contact me by
replying to this document.
09/07/2011.
Hi i live near the river and it is appalling at the state it is aloud to get in each year it is just full off weed and rubbish,also the side of the river is so over grown with nettals and when it comes to the fishing season is not in a fish-able state at all and by the time they clean it out the fishing season is closed why is this ?
Reply.
You are not the only person who is concerned about the
state of the river and it's banks. The Friends group and others have been pushing for action for some time now, and I think that we may be getting near to a result. At present the council and the environment agency are arguing about who has the responsibility for trimming the banks. It used to be the responsibility of Anglian Water but was taken over by the EA. Over the last years the EA have failed on their responsibility. The AE have recently trimmed the banks along the side of the Humber. The river could do
with dredging, but the cost of doing this is estimated at approximately £750.000 so EA are not willing to do so. They do occasionally remove some of the blanket weed. Rubbish is frequently removed by the council and we, the
Friends group, have in the past done some litter picks to remove some of the rubbish.
Hope this answers your query,
09/07/2011.
Thanks for the reply.
Could we not try to raise the funds by some sort of charity set up by friends of the freshney and to advertise, put something in the local paper and schools around the river. With the river running directly through the town it plays a major part in the appearance of the town and to see the river weed free and the banks full with people fishing on a hot summers day would be a great sight
Reply.
I have to say that I have answered questions, sent via the Friends group, on several occasions but so far the the only one who has said thanks for the reply. Your idea for fundraising is a good one but would cause a number of problems. The Friends group is a group of ordinary people who volunteer their time to the cause and the group does not have any activities that earn money. They do get some funding for certain activities and apply for these funds as required but they are not for major amounts. Trying to raise that kind of money would put us into a completely different ball park. The council, Anglian Water and the Environment Agency have obligations that they should shirk and should be held accountable in order to make them carry out all of their expected functions. That what we are trying to attain. Would you like to come to one of our meetings, The Councils park manager comes to most of them and you could talk to him face to face. It would also be a good idea to come to a West Marsh Forward meeting as the River Freshney is an important section of the West Marsh. Here you could voice your concern with councillors, community pride, police and others present. We could possible use this platform to invite officers from the Environment Agency to come forward and explain their actions. I will back you if you want to do this.