Go away Moss - Page 6

Margaret Pilkington · 20-12-2016, 21:44

Maybe you should have a look round Bury Market. That seems to be doing well to say that it is in close proximity to Manchester...and it always seems to have plenty of folk trotting round...not many empty stalls either.
The things you mention could be helped by a reduction in the rental costs. This would make it viable for traders and interesting for the shopper too.
Yes shopping habits have changed a lot but people will still come if you make it worthwhile.
And making it worthwhile means having stalls that are full of traders...something to look at.
Otherwise they could have knocked it down and made the whole thing into car parking.

RainbowSix · 21-12-2016, 12:31

Looking at those artists views I wonder where the police cars are going to be parked? What about the other vehicles that are generally parked alongside the market?

Like the current status, there will be no enforcement of the no vehicle zone, making the whole thing a pointless laying down of bricks.

As for changing things, yes if you join the groups that make these decisions then you get a better say in them.

BTW it appears that the market hall itself is a listed building, so making a change to it (and features within its curtilage that can affect it's look) require planning permission.

The whole thing may well be a storm in a teacup and never happen.

Barrie Yates · 21-12-2016, 13:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Maybe you should have a look round Bury Market. That seems to be doing well to say that it is in close proximity to Manchester...and it always seems to have plenty of folk trotting round...not many empty stalls either..

Quite true Margaret, a relative who lives in Doncaster goes to Bury Market on a coach trip a couple of times a year.
The Town Square may encourage local people to come and have a look, but with the few market stalls it is unlikely they would bother coming a second time.
As for free stalls - I don't agree with that, but reduce the cost substantially to all stallholders for a period. Better to have a little income rather than none.

Margaret Pilkington · 21-12-2016, 13:22

Yes Barrie, you are right about better having a little income than none, but currently at my last visit there were more vacant stalls than occupied ones. How can this be good business.
If an asset is generating no revenue then it ceases to be an asset and become a liability.
The council should endeavour to have every stall filled, but I really don't think the market is a priority.
Nor do I really know what the council considers a priority. There appears to be very little being done to regenerate the town.

Less · 21-12-2016, 17:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

There appears to be very little being done to regenerate the town.

There is plenty being done to regenerate our town, it just so happens it isn't working!

A brand new bus station, free parking where busses used to roam, surely adding a new vista to the Market hall that no-one any longer uses (because it's been interfered with) is just another dream come true?

Lets not mention the fact that modern folk don't need to pee (At least there's a chance of getting the benches back).

Yes, Neil I know, I shouldn't believe what I've read, I've just read this and don't believe it!

P.S. If Mr. Moss didn't remove the cross why did he take the blame for that particular cock up? Come on Neil, you seem to be in the know, you hinted earlier, now come clean, unless of course Your time as a 'volunteer' has meant you share secrets with those that know better...

...can't share because ordinary folk can't cope with them?

yerself · 21-12-2016, 19:46

Trees certainly create a lot of discussion in Hyndburn. Plant a few on the 'The Coppice' and there's uproar, remove the odd one from a local park and one or two from outside the market hall and uproar again. I'm on the side of the trees.

Margaret Pilkington · 21-12-2016, 20:40

Sorry Less, again you are right. I'm not sorry you are right, just sorry that I mislead folk...into thinking that nothing was being done. What I meant was what you said. I just didn't make myself as clear as you did.
I despair of the way the place is going. I really do not like the place anymore, if I were younger I would up sticks and leave.

Neil · 22-12-2016, 09:36

They are trying to make improvements to the town centre but when it comes down to it the majority of people don't want to shop in Accrington or it would be busy. It's declined because not enough people use it and it will keep declining until there is nothing left. People want to use Lidl, Tesco, Asda, Aldi, Iceland, etc and do all their shopping in one place and either put it in the car or get a taxi home. Online shopping is massive now and is as much to blame as supermarkets, maybe more so

cashman · 22-12-2016, 10:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neil

They are trying to make improvements to the town centre but when it comes down to it the majority of people don't want to shop in Accrington or it would be busy. It's declined because not enough people use it and it will keep declining until there is nothing left. People want to use Lidl, Tesco, Asda, Aldi, Iceland, etc and do all their shopping in one place and either put it in the car or get a taxi home. Online shopping is massive now and is as much to blame as supermarkets, maybe more so

Complete bull, the town centre has declined in the main,simply because our so called leaders have ruined it.

everyones aware online shopping is massive they are aware of that fact in Bury and other places as well.

Less · 22-12-2016, 11:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neil

They are trying to make improvements to the town centre but when it comes down to it the majority of people don't want to shop in Accrington or it would be busy. It's declined because not enough people use it and it will keep declining until there is nothing left. People want to use Lidl, Tesco, Asda, Aldi, Iceland, etc and do all their shopping in one place and either put it in the car or get a taxi home. Online shopping is massive now and is as much to blame as supermarkets, maybe more so

Who is or are this 'they'? You claim it's not the council but a group of anonymous volunteers that have put forward this plan?
Who or how were 'they' recruited and by whom? Why does no-one else seem to know about this all important 'they'?

Quote:

During a week-long public consultation, 41 people supported a ‘preferred option’, seeing all trees removed and replaced with new ones, and ten people backed an alternative option retaining the large horse chestnut. A further 15 people said both horse chestnut trees should be retained.

Earlier on in the year there was a slightly larger public consultation in which 30 million were consulted it was the Brexit referendum to leave it resulted in a majority and yet many folk are dissatisfied with this result and complain, they have a right to complain.
The above 'public consultation' seems to have polled around 60 people out of a population of 80,734 (Census 2011), yet you say we shouldn't complain?
Hardly seems a democratic attitude does it?
Had there been more public consultation and at an earlier stage a more positive attitude might have resulted?

RainbowSix · 22-12-2016, 11:12

If you do not want the tree to be removed, setup a petition and get lots of people to say so too, then the planners idea of what the council determines as the people of Accrington are happy for its removal can be changed.

Margaret Pilkington · 22-12-2016, 11:57

Had more people been aware and consulted maybe we would have had something which would serve the community better.

Neil, a lot of your points about the change in shopping habits are true, but there are still a lot of folk who cannot for one reason or another do their shopping online, do not have transport to go to the huge supermarkets(which tend to be away from the centre of town anyway)and they are not usually well served by public transport...and if they were who wants to be laoded like a pack horse and trying to get home on the bus?

Other towns even small ones(think Ramsbottom, Hebden Bridge) seem to have a good footfall of shoppers.

Our council representatives over decades(so not just the current crew) have allowed the town centre to decline. I may be wrong,(and I am sure someone will enlighten me) but there seems to have been no appetite to make Accrington into somewhere worth coming, for a very long time.
Look at the money spent resurfacing Broadway. Have you seen it lately? It is an eyesore with bald patches all over the place.
If the council spent the public money as they would their own(with and eye to quality and value) then maybe things would be better.

It seems to me all this 'improvement' is 'top show', when what is actually required is an overhaul of the whole place.
Accrington is a dismal place to come to and I never thought I would be saying that.
This new project will not alter that in any meaningful way.(and will deprive the community of two mature trees)

cashman · 22-12-2016, 12:27

Wasting yer breath we are, trying to explain the truth to Neil.

Margaret Pilkington · 22-12-2016, 15:06

Cashy, truth comes in a variety of coats and depends very much on where you are viewing it from.
The sad fact is that you and I, and people of our generation, can remember when the town was a proud place. A place that was worth coming to. It is never going to be that again.
It has been devalued over the years by people who couldn't have cared less about the future, they only concerned themselves with the present and their reputation.

Guinness · 22-12-2016, 21:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neil

Like I said before don't believe everything you read.

As opposed to believing the words of a politician who cuts and runs from this forum, (of which you are the self styled 'super' moderator), when proved incorrect or simply cannot answer questions from the voting public regarding the removal of benches...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neil

Maybe it's time to let the outside market close and concentrate on the indoor market.

And this is why I have no faith in amateur 'do-gooders' who propose cutting down trees or building moronic panopticons on the coppice..the kind of person who posts absolute garbage like this :-

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neil

They are trying to make improvements to the town centre but when it comes down to it the majority of people don't want to shop in Accrington or it would be busy. It's declined because not enough people use it and it will keep declining until there is nothing left. People want to use Lidl, Tesco, Asda, Aldi, Iceland, etc and do all their shopping in one place and either put it in the car or get a taxi home. Online shopping is massive now and is as much to blame as supermarkets, maybe more so

Totally ignoring the fact that :-

a) we had a massive free, easy to navigate car park, that was replaced with the brick monstrosity called the arndale

b) we had a bustling undercover outdoor market with plenty of space for extra pitches, that was replaced by a few stalls in a wind tunnel offering uneven paving complete with deep puddles and dripping awnings, topped off with a red brick monstrosity glorified £1 shop

c) we had a market hall filled with character and characters replaced with an open plan abortion that Blackburn market tried 30 years ago and has since knocked down

d) we once had some benches that us old fogies could catch a breather on (of course that was nothing to do with your in the know mate was it..*sigh*)

e) we used to have buses that dropped us off at the actual market as opposed to the local McDonalds drive through and is probably geographically closer to 4 possibly all 5 of the supermarkets that you quote than it is to the actual market that you think should be totally destroyed!

Please stop volunteering to help Accrington....you really are crap at it!