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GEaston · 01-06-2013, 01:33

As promised I'd like to update folk on the discussions I have had with the council on the Town Plan.

Firstly I had an excellent exchange with the guy in charge of the town plan Rob Grigorjevs. Unlike some other council contacts I've had he responded immediately and fully to the questions I posed, and we had a good debate about the town's issues. This is positive because it is important that the town's leaders do all they can to attract investment into the town, and part of that is creating an environment conducive to doing so.

Rob was open about the challenges facing the town given the size of the problem and budgetary constraints that economic realities pose. Half the problem it seems to me is the fact that hard up commercial enterprises in many cases own the historic or important real estate (thinking Arndale, Warner St Arcade, Conservative Club and doubtless many others) but where that is not the case the council is able to make more of a direct impact - such as the Market Hall upgrades, Railway Station/Tesco infrastructure upgrades, St James Churchyard upgrade, Bus station and Blackburn Road improvements.

I know the location of the new Bus Station is a contentious issue, but I leave that aside for the purposes of this post which is about what the council can do and is/has done in relation to the former Accrington Town Centre plan.

No doubt people will want to shoot me down for saying this but I call it as I see it based on my own experiences. I like what I see from Rob so far, and I have an open invitation to meet with him and other council leaders to discuss town improvement. Opportunities for me are not at all out of line with what the council seeks which is private help to improve the town, so I will take up the offers I have to meet with a range of council folk when I'm next in the UK in early August.

I also think it is encouraging that the council's leaders are genuinely interested in feedback on the experiences we have with the many parts of the council. I have many of these both positive and negative and a frank assessment of these will be passed to the councils leaders when I get the chance to meet with them.

Summary (entirely from my perspective which is the only perspective I have) would be so far so good.

01-06-2013, 01:33	#635
GEaston Full Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 198 Liked: 46 times Rep Power: 62	Re: Town Centre Changes As promised I'd like to update folk on the discussions I have had with the council on the Town Plan. Firstly I had an excellent exchange with the guy in charge of the town plan Rob Grigorjevs. Unlike some other council contacts I've had he responded immediately and fully to the questions I posed, and we had a good debate about the town's issues. This is positive because it is important that the town's leaders do all they can to attract investment into the town, and part of that is creating an environment conducive to doing so. Rob was open about the challenges facing the town given the size of the problem and budgetary constraints that economic realities pose. Half the problem it seems to me is the fact that hard up commercial enterprises in many cases own the historic or important real estate (thinking Arndale, Warner St Arcade, Conservative Club and doubtless many others) but where that is not the case the council is able to make more of a direct impact - such as the Market Hall upgrades, Railway Station/Tesco infrastructure upgrades, St James Churchyard upgrade, Bus station and Blackburn Road improvements. I know the location of the new Bus Station is a contentious issue, but I leave that aside for the purposes of this post which is about what the council can do and is/has done in relation to the former Accrington Town Centre plan. No doubt people will want to shoot me down for saying this but I call it as I see it based on my own experiences. I like what I see from Rob so far, and I have an open invitation to meet with him and other council leaders to discuss town improvement. Opportunities for me are not at all out of line with what the council seeks which is private help to improve the town, so I will take up the offers I have to meet with a range of council folk when I'm next in the UK in early August. I also think it is encouraging that the council's leaders are genuinely interested in feedback on the experiences we have with the many parts of the council. I have many of these both positive and negative and a frank assessment of these will be passed to the councils leaders when I get the chance to meet with them. Summary (entirely from my perspective which is the only perspective I have) would be so far so good.