Tag: police station

#365daysofbiking An end to Police brutalism in Walsall

January 24th – There is a madness afoot in the country, and possibly the broader western world in the last 10 years or so, and I can see no solution in sight.

Governments come to power on the promise of austerity and cutting spending, yet close used and needed public facilities that took decades to be obtained – in a flash. And so we lost the police station in Walsall on Green Lane, built in the Brutalist period of the 60s, which was closed in response to spending cuts in 2016. Police now have to take suspects to Oldbury when arrested, which is impacting officer availability and causing great inefficiency.

The building itself – an unremarkable modernist structure – was sold to developers and is currently being demolished.

We will need a police station again. The situation as it is is not working.

And it will cost us far more than closing this one saved to sort the mess out.

And when some politician grasps the nettle and does it, they will be derided for financial profligacy.

But the real crime is cutting things communities need, in the interests of short term political gain.

It takes years to build communities, and days to destroy them with cuts. The recklessness seems in the axe-hand to me.

This journal is moving home. Please find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr http://bit.ly/2TjyVbL
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Inconceivable:

October 23rd – Darlaston on a sunny day. Heart of the north Black Country, architecture, memory, history and nature.

How could you not adore this place?

It feels like my second home.

As I gradually reboot from feeling lost, places like this help me feel it’s worth the while again.

March 23rd – I need to get a better look at this sometime soon, but today I found myself in Blue Lane East, Walsall, between Stafford Street and the Police Station on Green Lane. On the opposite corner to the cop shop is St Patricks’s Catholic Church, school, and this building, which I assume must be the vicarage or rectory for a much earlier church that the current semi-brutalist modern one.

It’s occurred to me writing this that I know very little of the catholic history of Walsall – I ought to rectify that.

The details on the old house are astounding. Such wonders lurk in the backstreets of Walsall.

December 9th – In Darlaston itself, a reminder of the great architecture present in this underrated town. Darlaston Police Station is a beautiful building, more ornate than any police station I’ve seen. It scans foursquare in a quiet, tree-lined side street overlooking Victoria Park.

On this chill winter morning, the low sun through the trees make me stop and take a good look.

If you’ve never visited Darlaston, please do. It’s a wonderful, unassuming place, full of gems like this.

February 25th – Sorry, I won’t feature Darlaston again for a few days, promise: but the town is my current muse and I do love it so – and it looks splendid in the winter sunshine.

The curious, frustrating and utterly unpredictable flip-flop weather at the moment means last night’s rain was this morning a gorgeous, almost still, warm sunny winter day. Darlaston Police Station looked fine, as did Victoria Park. 

You can’t not take a photo of this place. It’s gorgeous.

October 22nd – Spotted in Darlaston after a tipoff by [Howmuch?] – what I must presume to be a World War Two air raid shelter. Just opposite the police station on the edge of Victoria Park, by the Table Tennis Club hut (itself a remnant of life during wartime, perhaps) not really concealed at all, but easy to miss. Two blocked entrances hint at what lies beneath.

I find is surprising and unusual that such a public curiosity survives.

Do any of the Darlaston contingent who read this know more about it? Is there a shelter down there still, or has it been infilled? How big ws it? Was it public, or just for the boys in blue over the way?

A fascinating thing.

December 7th – On this bright, but rather windy winter’s morning, Darlaston was again looking stunning. Here, the Police Station overlooks Victoria Park. In summer, it’s leafy and green, and in this mild season, the view has opened out yet the lawns still remain verdant. This is the Black Country in all its aesthetic glory. Yet who outside of the immediate area knows of the beauty of this place? A tragedy that Darlaston is not better appreciated.

August 17th – The architecture of Darlaston – as I mentioned a couple of posts ago – is surprising and beautiful. There are some really grand, ambitious, but dignified buildings in the centre of town, yet who outside of Darlaston knows? Have you ever seen such a lovely post office or cop shop? Welcome to the real Black Country. It has a habit of taking your breath away.