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No place for a gym
• AS chairman of the newly formed Friends of Argyle Square, I appreciated your coverage on the proposed outdoor gym (Weighty opposition: Muscle most foul, February 19).
However I was surprised by Councillor Flick Rea’s view that the “very jolly” equipment provides only “minor visual interference... that in time people will come to accept”. Even worse is the extraordinary “When you are offered funding you have to take it.”
The media are currently full of stories of those who accepted funding because they were offered it, and now wish they hadn’t.
I’m not sure whether Cllr Rea would find the equipment so jolly if it was on Fortune Green.
Argyle Square lies within the Bloomsbury Conservation Area and is surrounded by listed buildings on three sides. Both the council’s conservation and urban design team, and the conservation area advisory committee are opposed to gyms on this historic site, as are the square’s residents and their councillors led by Jonathan Simpson.
Two consultation meetings in the town hall there was either unanimous or very near unanimous opposition by those attending.
Anyone who is familiar with the square knows that it is a completely inappropriate site for outdoor gyms, yet there are plenty of others where people want this equipment.
The council admit that they had overlooked the square’s historic importance when choosing gym sites and their consultation process has been chaotic, but if the gyms aren’t installed somewhere by the end of March they’ll lose funding.
Bill Reed
Friends of Argyle Square
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