Re: HBC have taken away the benches from outside the market
 

Well its obvious he's sitting on his hands on this issue, maybe he's been instructed to do so, which seems the norm;)

Re: HBC have taken away the benches from outside the market
 

It would be interesting to know just how many actual places to sit there are in the town centre, compared with what we used to have .

There are certainly many less benches on Broadway, than when we had those that used to be around the flower beds, when the road was open to traffic.

Unlike the few we have there today, they didn't stay wet, for hours, and hours after it last rained, due to their shoddy design.

Pre-Arndale, on photographs it looks like there were plenty of seats in the sunken garden, if people wanted to take the weight off their feet.

In the seventies there were rows and rows of benches in front of the Market Hall, as well as that big map, which you could press buttons on, and light up various points of interest.

At a rough estimate I'd guess we have less than a third of the seats on public benches, than we've had in the past.

It doesn't give a very welcome impression to those visiting the town centre.

Especially if they haven't been for a while.

Perhaps the government should scrap the number of gypsy sites councils need to provide, and introduce an enforced seating quota. So many per benches per 10,000 residents.

Re: HBC have taken away the benches from outside the market
 

He is actually, he's still the County Councillor for Accrington North:

Your Council

He'll be up for re-election in 2013 when all the County seats are contested.

Re: HBC have taken away the benches from outside the market
 

Thanks for the info, Ken, now what about these bloody benches;)

Re: HBC have taken away the benches from outside the market
 

May I direct you to this post here..... http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/937122-post82.html

The experiment is still under review I am led to believe and it was a joint decision which was influenced by the police. The intention is still to put the benches back in the near future but I have detailed all the reasons for removing them in my previous post and they remain the same. I am led to believe that it has has the desired effect, however.

For all those doomsayers who feel that the removal of a bench or two has kept armies of shoppers away from Accrington because they can't have a sit down, might I suggest one of the pubs or cafes that Wetherspoons is supposedly killing off?

A simple suggestion to improve trading conditions straight from one of your local councillors....

Re: HBC have taken away the benches from outside the market
 

Which was the pish heads now sit elsewhere in Accrington town centre, and people like myself, and others who may have needed those benches to rest awhile, now shop elsewhere?

Great.

Re: HBC have taken away the benches from outside the market
 

A decision which was influenced by the police.:eek: um bloody marvelous, maybe if they did the job they're supposed to and moved the offenders, people like Rindi might just have somewhere to park their backsides and have a rest whilst shopping in Accrington, so they recommend moving the benches instead, another bloody cop-out and the easy option:mad: Me thinks you would have been frothing at the mouth if this had happened 12 months ago;)

Re: HBC have taken away the benches from outside the market
 

Not especially, particularly as the police are trying to do as good a job as they can whilst facing cutbacks and greater demands from the public every day. Arresting the drunks doesn't work, would you care to suggest to the local police how they could better solve the problem? I'm genuinely sure they'll be delighted to hear anything constructive that residents have to say.

It's not ideal and no one is pretending that it is but I haven't heard one solution put forward on this forum.

Re: HBC have taken away the benches from outside the market
 

Oh super.

Have the council come to an arrangement with any other commercial premises in Accrington, in which they are happy for people to sit and rest, without spending a penny?

Is there a list available Cllr. Moss?

As for 'doomsayers', other than anyone involved with running the council, I'm yet to read any post that supports the decision to remove these benches, and think it a good idea with which to rid the town centre of drinkers.

Mainly because it hasn't worked.

Re: HBC have taken away the benches from outside the market
 

Start at post 1 and read, just might get a clue or two, mind you I did say that within 6 months of taking control the ruling group would soon find the best ways of fobbing the people off, wasn't far off

Re: HBC have taken away the benches from outside the market
 

Which includes removing these benches, which were used by many.

The alcoholics simply sit elsewheree in the town centre.

Just because you can't see something, doesn't mean it's disappeared.

This decision has solved nothing. It's merely shifted it.

Busman's already posted the drunks now sit just round the corner, annoying those trying to queue for a bus.

Re: HBC have taken away the benches from outside the market
 

Or even just read #49, which sadly sums up the situation perfectly.

Re: HBC have taken away the benches from outside the market
 

No, and I still haven't heard a credible solution to actually getting rid of the drunks as opposed to simply moving them on. The intention was to move them away from the Market Hall and that has worked. It isn't ideal but neither is a urine-soaked bench and whilst I don't particularly either support or decry the removal it was an attempt to address a problem. Sometimes solutions work, sometimes they don't but either way someone somewhere will always be offended.

The benches will be going back at some point as I have said at least twice in this thread. In the meantime, all the surrounding towns have benches and car parks where you have to pay instead of the free facilities in Accrington. Weigh up which is the bigger injustice.

I remember being previously criticised for not recognising the problem of drunks in the town centre and yet now the council has attempted to remedy the problem this also is a failing.

Come up with a credible solution, write to me and I will put it to the council.

Re: HBC have taken away the benches from outside the market
 

It was a stupid decision.

It hasn't resulted in the drinkers leaving the town centre.

The only single person who doesn't think it ludicrous happens to be a councillor.

Go figure.

Re: HBC have taken away the benches from outside the market
 

So, if they're 'going back' at some stage, what on earth has been achieved?

Other than not providing a welcome place to rest for the many non-drinker who use them, do you think their removal will mean the drinkers will never return, because their memories aren't too good?