As well as attending the paralympics (twice) and standing on the Olivier Stage at the National Theatre (possibly the best week of my year to date) and work, this week I found time to attend, for the second time, a meeting of 'Network Wapping' (NW). I consider here not the content of that meeting (I'll post more on this and my niggles about planning forums later), but the run-up and some of the discussion around it.
The notice for the meeting on our local community website What's in Wapping (WiW), certainly attracted attention, and from looking at old posts about NW it had a flurry of attention in April, when it emerged that there was competition with a local charity, the Turk's Head, over the creation of a neighbourhood planning forum and a few brisk exchanges were made. Though not much more was heard (or perhaps I wasn't listening), and NW went on to hold its AGM in July.
WebWapping (by which I mean those residents who actively engage in online discussion) is generally vociferous about anything going on in the commmunity, be it allegations of impropriety (proven or otherwise) in local charities, the creation of a Town Council, the establishment of a Free School or blocking off access to the river. These are things I must confess to often doing. What WebWapping is most suspicious of (and quite rightly) is a lack of openess and transparency.
As part of the story on WiW about the meeting this week, Vickie, who runs the site asked for a list of the names of people who supported the creation of a Neighbourhood Planning Forum (and for the record mine is one and I told Vickie so) at its July AGM. John, who chairs NW didn't want to supply people's names to WiW without asking the individuals first, so said they weren't available but BCC'd them on his reply. WiW neutrally stated the names weren't available As a result, WebWapping unfortunately inferred NW to be acting secretively.
Alas, reality is predictably less exciting than the fruits of speculation - the provisional constitution circulated at the July AGM, includes....<drum roll> publishing of the names of the individuals. A secretive organisation that voluntarily includes such a provision isn't really doing its job. Anyway, as the 21+ individuals weren't all in attendance at the AGM (although I think some were), they have not had a chance to express a view.
In the web 2.0 age, all information is expected to be available at all times to all people and that emails, tweets and forum posts are answered promptly. I freely admit I get...'enraged' when I fill in a web contact form and don't hear back from the company in question within half a day. In this case the absence of an official mouthpiece for NW meant that criticism, speculation and comment which I consider to be somewhat over the top couldn't be effectively dealt with.
The second cause for concern raised by WebWapping was the nature of some mock ups of designs for spaces in the area. They are 'fanciful' and realistically I don't think any of them have the slightest chance of coming to fruition and I think John, who drew them up, knows this. What they do suggest is that John has a passion for the built environment and importantly in my mind, imagination.
The final niggle I perceive is that people aren't quite sure what the boundaries of Wapping are, and aren't comfortable with the name of Wapping being taken in vain (the new free School bears the name but not the location, at least not for now). The real question is, where does Wapping begin and end, and at what point are you not allowed to show an interest because of how far away you live?
The river to the south is a convenient boundary, as is the existence of a small castle upstream. Looking east, King Edward Memorial Park provides a neat boundary, though does one choose the east or west boundary - a big issue when thinking about a super sewer. Historically, the east-west boundary between Wapping and Limehouse is marked with a plaque on a wall in the garden on the Prospect of Whitby! The real issue however is the northern boundary. For many, 'The Highway' AKA the A1203 forms a 'natural' boundary, given the four lanes of traffic and a council estate on the other side. John, who lives in 'the bad north' as he calls the other side of the Highway has adopted an area that broadly maps to the political boundary of the Ward of St Katherine and Wapping. I feel it might be an idea to explore how boundaries of 'Wapping' have changed, even if just an academic exercise.
Paul
The notice for the meeting on our local community website What's in Wapping (WiW), certainly attracted attention, and from looking at old posts about NW it had a flurry of attention in April, when it emerged that there was competition with a local charity, the Turk's Head, over the creation of a neighbourhood planning forum and a few brisk exchanges were made. Though not much more was heard (or perhaps I wasn't listening), and NW went on to hold its AGM in July.
WebWapping (by which I mean those residents who actively engage in online discussion) is generally vociferous about anything going on in the commmunity, be it allegations of impropriety (proven or otherwise) in local charities, the creation of a Town Council, the establishment of a Free School or blocking off access to the river. These are things I must confess to often doing. What WebWapping is most suspicious of (and quite rightly) is a lack of openess and transparency.
As part of the story on WiW about the meeting this week, Vickie, who runs the site asked for a list of the names of people who supported the creation of a Neighbourhood Planning Forum (and for the record mine is one and I told Vickie so) at its July AGM. John, who chairs NW didn't want to supply people's names to WiW without asking the individuals first, so said they weren't available but BCC'd them on his reply. WiW neutrally stated the names weren't available As a result, WebWapping unfortunately inferred NW to be acting secretively.
Alas, reality is predictably less exciting than the fruits of speculation - the provisional constitution circulated at the July AGM, includes....<drum roll> publishing of the names of the individuals. A secretive organisation that voluntarily includes such a provision isn't really doing its job. Anyway, as the 21+ individuals weren't all in attendance at the AGM (although I think some were), they have not had a chance to express a view.
In the web 2.0 age, all information is expected to be available at all times to all people and that emails, tweets and forum posts are answered promptly. I freely admit I get...'enraged' when I fill in a web contact form and don't hear back from the company in question within half a day. In this case the absence of an official mouthpiece for NW meant that criticism, speculation and comment which I consider to be somewhat over the top couldn't be effectively dealt with.
The second cause for concern raised by WebWapping was the nature of some mock ups of designs for spaces in the area. They are 'fanciful' and realistically I don't think any of them have the slightest chance of coming to fruition and I think John, who drew them up, knows this. What they do suggest is that John has a passion for the built environment and importantly in my mind, imagination.
The final niggle I perceive is that people aren't quite sure what the boundaries of Wapping are, and aren't comfortable with the name of Wapping being taken in vain (the new free School bears the name but not the location, at least not for now). The real question is, where does Wapping begin and end, and at what point are you not allowed to show an interest because of how far away you live?
The river to the south is a convenient boundary, as is the existence of a small castle upstream. Looking east, King Edward Memorial Park provides a neat boundary, though does one choose the east or west boundary - a big issue when thinking about a super sewer. Historically, the east-west boundary between Wapping and Limehouse is marked with a plaque on a wall in the garden on the Prospect of Whitby! The real issue however is the northern boundary. For many, 'The Highway' AKA the A1203 forms a 'natural' boundary, given the four lanes of traffic and a council estate on the other side. John, who lives in 'the bad north' as he calls the other side of the Highway has adopted an area that broadly maps to the political boundary of the Ward of St Katherine and Wapping. I feel it might be an idea to explore how boundaries of 'Wapping' have changed, even if just an academic exercise.
Paul
