Island lover writes Canvey book (From Echo)

Canvey Island is a lovely place - I grew up there and feel a great sense of peace whenever I visit. It could be almost as nice as the Isles of Wight or Man, if it wasn't treated as a cheap motel by its inhabitants.

Sean4u wrote:
Canvey Island is a lovely place - I grew up there and feel a great sense of peace whenever I visit. It could be almost as nice as the Isles of Wight or Man, if it wasn't treated as a cheap motel by its inhabitants.

This and the one above is an insult. Sean4u do you visit family and friends living here when you visit? Bet they are well impressed by your description of them - NOT!!

xenophobia wrote:
A book about inbreeding?? Not for me thanks!!

Xenophobia describes you well, assuming you know what it means. There are a few more words that would describe you better. Trust you never go abroad for your holidays and you talk about "inbreeding".

As a serious comment to this book. A two week visit seems very short time to write a definitive book on anywhere.

John T Pharro wrote:

Sean4u wrote:
Canvey Island is a lovely place - I grew up there and feel a great sense of peace whenever I visit. It could be almost as nice as the Isles of Wight or Man, if it wasn't treated as a cheap motel by its inhabitants.

This and the one above is an insult. Sean4u do you visit family and friends living here when you visit? Bet they are well impressed by your description of them - NOT!!

Yes I visit friends and family. They vehemently disagree (it doesn't stop me saying it) with what I think and nothing about the creeping decrepitude and air of hopelessness ever changes.

There's nothing geologically wrong with Canvey Island. Its geographical qualities made it popular at weekends and holidays when I was a kid but are a curse now that every house has at least one car.

If you're a current resident, don't you have some feeling that the Island's fortunes seem to somehow fall short of what the peaceful verdant back streets, gorgeous estuarine views and uninterrupted, interesting coastal walks would suggest? If you do feel that way, how would you explain it in a way that makes your fellow residents feel good about themselves?

Sean4u wrote:

John T Pharro wrote:

Sean4u wrote:
Canvey Island is a lovely place - I grew up there and feel a great sense of peace whenever I visit. It could be almost as nice as the Isles of Wight or Man, if it wasn't treated as a cheap motel by its inhabitants.

This and the one above is an insult. Sean4u do you visit family and friends living here when you visit? Bet they are well impressed by your description of them - NOT!!

Yes I visit friends and family. They vehemently disagree (it doesn't stop me saying it) with what I think and nothing about the creeping decrepitude and air of hopelessness ever changes.

There's nothing geologically wrong with Canvey Island. Its geographical qualities made it popular at weekends and holidays when I was a kid but are a curse now that every house has at least one car.

If you're a current resident, don't you have some feeling that the Island's fortunes seem to somehow fall short of what the peaceful verdant back streets, gorgeous estuarine views and uninterrupted, interesting coastal walks would suggest? If you do feel that way, how would you explain it in a way that makes your fellow residents feel good about themselves?

Surely it's geographical 'qualities' are what is wrong with it? It's an island, therefore has limited access and high flood risk. It's on the Thames, just close enough to London that it has a petro-chemical plant built on it, but not far enough away that it can be considered a seaside resort. It has no train station, so has to use Benfleet which is already overused by other CP residents. The journey times are arguably bad because of the fact it's so far from the station with poor access routes for pedestrians. It's overcrowded because being an island, it cannot grow beyond its boundaries. It's disconnected from the rest of the South of Essex.

Hey come on, it's not fair to blame the residents for the sorry image of itself the Island's becoming. Particularly not one who's campaigned so vehemently against over-development at all levels of political representation for as many decades as I can remember. If you want to apportion blame, and it really does need to be lain somewhere, I suggest you turn towards Kiln Road. It's there the Island's fate's was sealed, not on Canvey and not by Islanders.

errata

fate was

fingers slurring again :)

mys842 wrote:

Sean4u wrote:

John T Pharro wrote:

Sean4u wrote:
Canvey Island is a lovely place - I grew up there and feel a great sense of peace whenever I visit. It could be almost as nice as the Isles of Wight or Man, if it wasn't treated as a cheap motel by its inhabitants.

This and the one above is an insult. Sean4u do you visit family and friends living here when you visit? Bet they are well impressed by your description of them - NOT!!

Yes I visit friends and family. They vehemently disagree (it doesn't stop me saying it) with what I think and nothing about the creeping decrepitude and air of hopelessness ever changes.

There's nothing geologically wrong with Canvey Island. Its geographical qualities made it popular at weekends and holidays when I was a kid but are a curse now that every house has at least one car.

If you're a current resident, don't you have some feeling that the Island's fortunes seem to somehow fall short of what the peaceful verdant back streets, gorgeous estuarine views and uninterrupted, interesting coastal walks would suggest? If you do feel that way, how would you explain it in a way that makes your fellow residents feel good about themselves?

Surely it's geographical 'qualities' are what is wrong with it? It's an island, therefore has limited access and high flood risk. It's on the Thames, just close enough to London that it has a petro-chemical plant built on it, but not far enough away that it can be considered a seaside resort. It has no train station, so has to use Benfleet which is already overused by other CP residents. The journey times are arguably bad because of the fact it's so far from the station with poor access routes for pedestrians. It's overcrowded because being an island, it cannot grow beyond its boundaries. It's disconnected from the rest of the South of Essex.

Sean4u, you it yourself your friends and family "vehemently disagree" with you. We do feel good about ourselves, what the residents object to is Castle Point Council trying to change what we have with overdevelopment and not listening to them. Just where do you live which does not have 1or more car per house? Every built up area in UK suffers with cars and even places like the West Country and the Lake District at times.
What we want on Canvey is no more massive building to make things worse.

John T Pharro wrote:

mys842 wrote:

Sean4u wrote:

John T Pharro wrote:

Sean4u wrote:
Canvey Island is a lovely place - I grew up there and feel a great sense of peace whenever I visit. It could be almost as nice as the Isles of Wight or Man, if it wasn't treated as a cheap motel by its inhabitants.

This and the one above is an insult. Sean4u do you visit family and friends living here when you visit? Bet they are well impressed by your description of them - NOT!!

Yes I visit friends and family. They vehemently disagree (it doesn't stop me saying it) with what I think and nothing about the creeping decrepitude and air of hopelessness ever changes.

There's nothing geologically wrong with Canvey Island. Its geographical qualities made it popular at weekends and holidays when I was a kid but are a curse now that every house has at least one car.

If you're a current resident, don't you have some feeling that the Island's fortunes seem to somehow fall short of what the peaceful verdant back streets, gorgeous estuarine views and uninterrupted, interesting coastal walks would suggest? If you do feel that way, how would you explain it in a way that makes your fellow residents feel good about themselves?

Surely it's geographical 'qualities' are what is wrong with it? It's an island, therefore has limited access and high flood risk. It's on the Thames, just close enough to London that it has a petro-chemical plant built on it, but not far enough away that it can be considered a seaside resort. It has no train station, so has to use Benfleet which is already overused by other CP residents. The journey times are arguably bad because of the fact it's so far from the station with poor access routes for pedestrians. It's overcrowded because being an island, it cannot grow beyond its boundaries. It's disconnected from the rest of the South of Essex.

Sean4u, you it yourself your friends and family "vehemently disagree" with you. We do feel good about ourselves, what the residents object to is Castle Point Council trying to change what we have with overdevelopment and not listening to them. Just where do you live which does not have 1or more car per house? Every built up area in UK suffers with cars and even places like the West Country and the Lake District at times.
What we want on Canvey is no more massive building to make things worse.

The problem with the number of cars on Canvey (aside from the obvious bottleneck one) is the proximity of South Essex. It's a monotonous concrete sprawl that's navigable only by car. There's a concentration of wealth around the two big dual carriageways which puts 'attractions' there too. Canvey Island has ended up being the cheapest place to live in South Essex by virtue of its distance from those corridors.

That wealth sucks the money out of the Island by the car load, with Islanders the furthest-driving, most miserable people in the area. What needs to be done is something to make it less likely that Islanders will get in their cars on the Island to drive off it. South Englanders are as likely to vote for less driving as Americans are to vote for gun control.

"not far enough away that it can be considered a seaside resort"
My first job as a teenager was courtesy of Canvey Island the very popular seaside resort. I might be looking back through rose-tinted spectacles. Someone older than me who was already cynical in the 70s might have a different perspective on the contribution of the weekend and holiday seaside resort trade to the Island's fortunes. With the exception of the 'waste ground' which became the Knightswick Shopping Centre, my memories are of a busy, thriving place.

Yes, there is a problem getting on and off Canvey rush hour time as it is everywhere Progress Road, Rochford, Rayleigh, Colchester, Chelmsford.
So where do you live that has no traffic problems?
Of course we live on an island and we do not get any through traffic do we. People here are well aware that we live in a cul de sac and if they didn't why?
How many cars are just passing through Benfleet to go somewhere else and I would not be surprised if it takes longer in rush hour to get from Sadlers Farm to Hadleigh as it does to do a similar distance from Sadlers Farm to Link Road.

The reason is obvious.