[WillowTheWhisp]

Originally Posted by Neil

I do think that HBC were very narrow minded when they turned the idea down. Looking back it is a shame that the Council could not have reached an agreement for some free investment and publicity.
I think the residents (and possibly the Council) never fully understood that the money could only be spent on that type of development and got hung up on what else they could have spent the same amount of money on. With the amount of publicity for the surrounding areas the panopticons are causing, lets hope HBC learn a lesson by all this.

One of the 'objections' to the idea related to future maintainance of the thing and the probability of it attracting vandals and graffiti artists - a concern which has been justified by the state of the Blackburn Panopticon which is now more like an eyesore and an embarrassment than an asset to the town. Add to the fact that when I ask people who live in Blackburn what they think of it I've had replies like "A what?" "Where?" "What's it for then?". A friend of mine who used to live in Burnley and visits regularly wasn't even aware of the SRT and someone from Rawtenstall thought the halo was a mobile phone mast!

Is there actual evidence of any of them having brought prosperity to the towns which I think we were told they would do? The halo can be seen from quite a way off but I don't think it would encourage me to want to visit Rossendale. The reason why Busman and I have been going to look at them is because of all the chat about them here on AccyWeb. We haven't seen the atom yet though. Do many people go to visit that?

It does look as if Rossendale is going to make more of a feature of theirs as a tourist attraction but then I am concerned about access if loads of people aim to get up there for picnics and what have you.