Drawing_on_What_You_Have_Learned_About_City_Road,_Outline_Some_of_the_Inequalities_on_a_Street_You_Know.

I have chosen Font y Gary Road , Rhoose in the Vale of Glamorgan South Wales to highlight some of the inequalities and differences socially that exist there and compare them with City Road. Font y Gary Road is the main road running through the village of Rhoose, to the West it links the smaller mainly residential village of Aberthaw and to the East the town of Barry. It has smaller side roads leading off at various points that connect it to other small residential areas . Font y Gary Road itself is made up of mixture of residential properties, small to medium sized family businesses, a primary school , Leisure Centre, Spar and a Tesco's Metro. I have chosen to focus on three of the inequalities I have noticed that exist on Font-y -Gary, firstly the gridlock that occurs outside the primary school due to the competition for parking at certain times, then the competition between Lester's, a small local grocery store and the newly opened Tesco's and finally the way in which the local leisure centre is taken over by holiday makers at certain times of the year. Rhoose primary school with approximately 200 pupils is in the heart of Font y Gary, it has no facility attached to it for off road parking, as a result of this parents from outside the immediate locality dropping off and collecting their children there by car try to park as close to the school as possible, temporarily blocking private residential and business driveways, pavements and footpaths. The lay out of the road systems around the school and the loose nature of the existing traffic legislation allow them to do this. Residents have appealed to outlaw all parking along that particular stretch ,but the council have refused claiming that it would simply push the problem further along the street and create similar problems. This reminded me of the conversation between Lloyd Robson and Jose Ramos Suarez and how his concerns were primarily restricted to how the proposed bus lane would affect parking in proximity to his café, the potential damage it might do to his trade and the trade of the businesses around him, and how the council were taking a wider view of the situation.('Making social lives on City Road', 2009, scene 5). Lester's is small grocery store established in the village for 15 years. It's trade has been rapidly declining recently since the opening of Tesco's a few hundred yards away. To survive Lester has had to restructure his business, selling different lines and offering exclusive deals, this has helped him to trade on, but he has still “felt the effects”. Interestingly The Spar located a few doors down from him has caused no real impact on his business, and they have co existed in the village together for 8 years both doing well. It seems the opening of Tesco's has put too much pressure on the market share and upset the balance, and whilst Spar is able to withstand the competition, Lester's is not. There are comparisons that can be made here with the conversation between Lloyd Robson and Colin the newsagent, and how his business has been effected by the opening of a Tesco's close to him and as Georgina Blakely mentions, “The shaping of society, constant reshaping, creates some winners and some losers”.('Making social lives on City Road', 2009, scene 3). PI B6200249 Page 2 The Leisure Centre contains a bar, fitness suite and a swimming pool, it is at the centre of a static caravan park. It is well favoured by the local community as a place to eat, exercise and interact, however during the summer months a transition occurs as people from outside the area holiday there this creates a change in the general atmosphere of the park and subsequently many of the locals stop using the facility, and some of the residents of the park rent out their units and holiday elsewhere. This reminded me of the Mackintosh Centre and how both locations have a dual purpose and how there are times at which the local community feel excluded, ('Making social lives on City Road', 2009, scene 7) In summary it's easy to see that City Road and Font y Gary Road although very different in some ways, in terms of size, geographical location and ethnicity of the population, share many of the same inequalities. References Making social lives on City Road' (2009) [DVD] Milton Keynes, The Open University. Blakeley, G The Open University 'Making social lives on City Road', (2009) [DVD] Scene 3. Robson L and Suarez J R The Open University 'Making social lives on City Road', (2009) [DVD] Scene 5. The Open University 'Making social lives on City Road', (2009) [DVD] Scene 7.