Talk:Portishead, Somerset

Untitled
I would debate that the town has pretty good communications links, what with the M5 being right next to it and there being a decent and regular bus services to Bristol, Weston and Cribbs Causeway. Surely? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.234.4.76 (talk) 11:35, 17 June 2004 (UTC)

I took a section on opposition to asylum seekers. It appeared to be a (very) thinly-veiled suggestion of racism, is of time-limited importance, and quite frankly, there's been opposition to asylum-seekers in most towns in Britain. I'm certain that not everybody in Portishead was opposed. --   ALargeElk | Talk 11:39, 17 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Yes, I agree (asylum seekers bit). It was probably put there as it's the only recent bit of news and everyone seems to be suffering from the "Daily Mail" syndrome in the town. What the paragraph failed to point out is that such a centre already exists in the town and is simply moving to larger premises and expanding. The comments about poor communications links in the town are also iterated throughout the local papers, stating that there is only 1 bus an hour from Bristol: this is simply untrue, there are 2 per hour all day and 3 during rush hour.

If other people agree, I could rewrite that section to include a more realistic description of the town's communications? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.234.4.1 (talk) 18:09, 17 June 2004 (UTC)

It is near the M5 etc. but the the infrastructure is not being modified to meet the demands of a rapidly growing, commuting population. (and I was reading backwards and replying to the top comment not the bottom. Ooops.)

Romana 22:30, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Population
This newspaper circulation site says just under 20,000 aged 15+ in late 2004 (possibly including villages in the area), the town council's site here gives the figures I've just included. 12.5k seems way too low, unless it's excluding some of the areas like North Weston or Redcliffe Bay. this NHS site gives the ward figures from the 2001 census, which add up to 17,130. --Andrew Norman 16:10, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Nothing is simple...
Could someone please tell me exactly how to pronounce Portishead. Is it Por-tis-head, as in the head on your shoulders? Is is Por-ti-shead, as in a shed in the back yard? Or maybe its Port-is-heed? I have searched all over the net and have asked many, many people. Not an easy task, and its driving me nuts!


 * My father's just moved into a residential home there, and I grew up in Clevedon just down the coast. We'd say "portis-head", more or less, without sounding the "h" much if at all, and a slight stress on the last syllable.  --Andrew Norman 08:12, 21 July 2005 (UTC)

To Andrew Norman: Thank you very much!


 * The way it's written in Dirk Robson's "Krek Waiter's Peak Bristle", a humorous book about Bristol dialect, is "Port Zed", which is also roughly the right pronunciation. --Andrew Norman 10:21, 22 July 2005 (UTC)


 * I've lived here for many years, and generally I would say that the residents say "Port-is-head", regardless of the 'correct' pronunciation. I guess anyone trying to affect a somerset accent might say "Portis-'ead"; can't say I can think of many people who would actually say it like that, unless in jest. --Stripybadger 09:51, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

I can second that. As in Beachy Head (Dover) Spithead (south coast) the 'head' is a head land, a promontory.

As for the name I doubt that it derives from the 'port at the head of the river' since the opening of a river is called 'mouth' and tus would give te name 'Portsmouth' which exists on the southern coast. I would say then that name comes from 'the port at the headland'. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.207.182.219 (talk) 09:12, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

Cabstand Controversy
I've removed a couple of sentences that just reek of ill-informed opinionated soapboxing: "The fact that there are two cars or more per new household does not seem to have struck people yet." and "...but with a population of nearly 20,000 this could more accurately be described as apathy.". Well, IMHO, this is complete nonsensical drivel, probably written by someone at the council that approved the damn plan in the first place. Looking out my front window right now, I don't see two or more cars per household. Okay, I'm definitely on the other side of the fence on this issue, but I hope my addition w.r.t. the protest march is acceptable. I couldn't find a source on Google for this, except: this article, but it was covered in the local TV and print news that week. (Incidentally, I can't cite any sources, but the whole Cabstand development reeks of some pretty dodgy dealings on the part of the consultants, the contractors and the county council.) Gid 19:43, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

Dodgy dealings? Cui bono? The point of the changes is to connect the rest of the High Street with the new developments - flats, school, library, doctor's surgery - for PEDESTRIANS. No-one ever said that new traffic measures had to be to the benefit of DRIVERS. The real problem with the Cabstand lights is that people don't know how to drive when there's lots of traffic.

The real problem with the Cabstand lights is that they were unecessary and absurdly expensive, there was no problem before.......

As for two cars or more per household - where are you looking out at? Nearly everyone where I live has two cars - next door has three, next door to them has three, I have three (four if you count my crock). Just take a walk around the new developments.

And there is no County Council here. Have you been reading your Conspiracy for Beginners manual or what?

What else is needed to get this article to GA?
I've been editing this article to try to bring it closer to the guidelines at WP:UKCITIES and would be interested in what other editors think is need to get it to meet the Good article criteria? Obviously we need to expand the lead to summarise the article, but is there anything else which would be required?&mdash; Rod talk 17:23, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

Ok Seeing as Good Article Nominations Geography has been negelcted I might review this one tomorrow after some rest. Before I do, why is there an image of portshead firestation randomly in governance? It makes the section below look messy and seems to have no relenvence to governance, if the article at all. It also looks a bit under refferenced, I'll try and fill some in myself tomorrow but you might want a quick look over and consider areas where you think a citation might be appropriate. DharmaDreamer (talk) 01:03, 13 March 2010 (UTC)
 * I've added police, fire & ambulance.&mdash; Rod talk 09:00, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Portishead radio
Not sure if this is intentional or not, but in the 3rd paragraph in the Porishead radio section, on the medium ranges, is has services services, is that supposed to be services  closed..? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.230.167.170 (talk) 18:02, 18 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the comment but I can't see the error you are referring to.&mdash; Rod talk 18:09, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Sorry if I wasn't very clear, In the radio section, 3rd paragraph, you are talking about the closures. It says something along the lines of medium-range services( MF maritime band ...)services. I am not sure if you mean to have services on both sides of the parenthesis. I didn't mean to cause any confusion. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.230.167.170 (talk) 20:33, 21 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Thanks I see what you mean now - hopefully fixed.&mdash; Rod talk 20:41, 21 March 2010 (UTC)

Notability
The local B&Q employee who turned on the Christmas lights last year is not notable, despite being featured in the press at the time as a novelty news item, and should not be included in the section on notable residents. I have already reverted his addition twice and will remove it again (subject to 3RR rules of course), but would prefer if he were not added again. Perhaps other editors interested in this article could watch out for it. --Simple Bob (talk) 11:42, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Traffic lights removed?
I saw this video yesterday that Portishead removed all of its traffic lights and saw improved traffic flow and no accidents. This is significant for traffic engineering and should be mentioned, but I dont know much about it or the area. --Metallurgist (talk) 00:56, 8 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks I've added a paragraph in the transport section on this.&mdash; Rod talk 09:15, 8 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Great. Thanks for the news articles. Metallurgist (talk) 20:45, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

Population description - needs adjusting
The introductory paragraph has a sentence about Portishead's population that, to a reader in 2016, does not quite read straight:

'' It has a population of around 22,000, an increase of over 3,000 since the 2001 census, with a growth rate considerably in excess of surrounding towns. By the time of the 2011 Census the population had increased to approximately 24,000.''

What had been the population in 2001, when did it register an 'over 3,000' increase?Cloptonson (talk) 21:35, 22 June 2016 (UTC)

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