Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Now Less, we have to get it right. We are not stumping up 1.5 million quid. We are contributing half a million to the town square and 700,000 for regeneration of Blackburn RD and refurbishment of the shop fronts.
None of this would be contemplated if it were not for the hare brained project by the THI.
What has stopped the council doing this work before now if they really think it will increase inward investment(it won't...and they know it won't.)?
If it was not for this project none of the money that is proposed to be spent would be earmarked for refurbishment.

The council have no real ideas to rejuvenate the town centre...they have been bereft of ideas for so long now that I fear it is too late to do anything that will have much value.

I am pretty sure I am not the only one who feels that our council lost its way a long time ago.

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Could we not have a statue like the three wise monkeys but switching the monkeys for councillors and the word evil for SENSE.

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Probably because they can more than double the councils money by using it as match funding for the HLF funding. WIthout the HLF money HBC would have to find all the money

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

so instead of telling the truth they bullshine as usual

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

if the council had to find all the money, then the project would not go ahead.
We could save 1.2 million quid and we would still have two Horse Chestnut trees in front of the Market Hall.
The people who are supposed to be looking out for the interests of the town are doing an abysmal job.

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

I think that they have told the story in a way to make it seem like it was a good deal.
It is only a good deal if it has benefits for the town and from where I stand I can see very few benefits...other than perhaps there will be benches to sit down on, but come on, 1.2 million pounds for a few tram style seats...hardly a bargain is it?
I'm sure the woodwork departments of local schools (do they still do woodwork in schools these days?)could knock out a few decent benches for a lot less than that

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Had to go down first thing this morning for an appointment, its all ready been removed, aren't HBC wonderful?:rolleyes:

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

The council probably paid double time to whoever removed the trees as it was done on Sunday. Perhaps they expected people to chain themselves to the trees if they had done it on a weekday - mind you, probably as many people around on Sundays as there is on most weekdays.

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

I think they have probably learned from there mistakes with another local tree

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Our council has become one big mistake.:rolleyes:

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Labour accuse Tories of stirring up negativity over new town square - Accrington Observer

Oh dear…who is this internet tory back bencher ‘stirring up internet land’?

As I pointed out a few posts ago there are precious few supporters of this white elephant, doubt if anyone in Hyndburn (apart from supermoderator) needs a politician of any persuasion to tell you that you are a grade 1 nitwit! (Oh and btw supermoderator…the argument that spending 500k of our money to get 1500k from a fund is a win..... is complete hogwash. Spending 500k of our money on crud is a waste no matter which way you look at it)

I kinda recall ol’ mossy back in the day ‘stirring up internet land’ pretty much on a daily basis when he was seeking election…daily posts slagging off Britcliffe, the failings of the tories etc..etc..ad nauseum. I also recall him heading up a facebook group (on the internet land thingy), that banned all and sundry who dared attempt to debate him, resulting in the growth of an alternative group and the death knell of his own.

A recent ‘internet land’ post from him bemoans that the above report is a ‘minor spat’ that should be ignored by reporters because there are more important things to report on….totally agree mate..

How about..erm..waste collections, fly tipping, town centre benches, town centre drug and alcohol issues, or even…Just what kind of events have you got planned for this new ‘event square’?

The only time any of our incumbent labour councillors actually engage on the ‘internet land’ is against the ill informed, those who cannot string a sentence together, or the kind of person who voted remain because they go on 18-30 holidays to Tenerife!

Cowards and blowhards..the lot of them....God forbid that they engage with those that can give cogent arguments

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Yes, and not only are they putting half a million of our quid into this project, but they are also spending 700,000 of our quid on refurbishment of Blackburn road...which, but for this white elephant(would never even have been considered) might just have been available to spend on the more pressing issues...some of which you have outlined. That, in my book comes to a grand total of 1.2 million quid of our money.
And as for any events being planned...the answer is none as they want any events in this square to be 'community driven'...that means they do not want to be committed to doing any organising.
Which if looked at in a positive way(Cashy taught me to always look for the positive) is good because they would struggle to organise a booze up in a brewery.
The town is on the bones of its bum...and this is the best they can come up with?

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

I have a great idea for the first event.

We get some 'it's a knockout' style crossbows and put them in front of the town hall on council meeting nights.

We load them with rotten fruit sold by our own market traders (they should have plenty since the bus station move, so it's a win/win for them)

Points scoring based on importance and headshot/bodyshot..bonus points for biggest muppet, stupidest comment in the observer, most hated by his own constituents, waking up the sleepyhead etc...

And we have a few buckets dotted around...All monies raised put to something that benefits Hyndburn..like waste collection, fly tipping, walk in centre at accy vic etc...

*sigh* or we could just have another 'c' rated celeb flogging his cook books, memoirs of star wars or times on some daytime TV show that nobody has heard of

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Why is it? So many like to blame to the council which has changed colour several times while Accrington town centre as slowly disappeared. I think the main reason the town centre is dying is down to the shoppers. People want to use supermarkets, they want to park outside and fill the car up once a week. They want retail parks and they want to use online shopping from places like ebay, Amazon etc. The shoppers of Accrington and Hyndburn are the reason Accrington is dying as a town centre. Is there are no shoppers there will be no shops. I've heard people say the council should be encouraging shops to come to Accrington with cheap rents and rates but the council don't set the rates and most of the shops available for rent do not belong to the council. Even M&S left and they had a very good deal on their building.

If you want to blame someone, blame the people, blame yourselves every time you use Asda, Tesco, Iceland, B&M, Lidl, Aldi, Home Bargains, Pets at Home, Currys and all the other supermarket type shops not in the town centre most of us use.

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Tripe.....

Burnley market is thriving, as is the town centre..15 years ago it was on it's last legs..and that was in the days when Accrington was doing ok...some town centres have made it appealing to venture in...others like ours haven't..but to be fair they haven't been ill advised or led by ill informed amateurs!!

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Obviously you are the all knowing expert on everything.

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

The last time I was in Accy there was an East Indian wedding at the town hall, the whole of the pavement was taken up with parked cars, now at least they will have lots more room to park!!!

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Neil, there are other towns which have thriving markets and busy centres.
Perhaps it would be good for our council to go and look at their model to see how this was achieved.
Alas for Accrington I think it might be too late.
Shoppers wil go to where a shopping experience is a good one, or a different one.
Ramsbottom is a small town but they have a thriving Main Street with a variety of independent shops.

Over the years our councils of all persuasions have wasted money and opportunities to make the town centre better. They have not had a long term vision, or joined up ideas.
And this project is further evidence of how they are willing to squander our money in order to get lottery money for a development which wil do nothing at all for the town.
Worse still they try to link it to the Pals regiment for their own ends and to deflect criticism.

I have met no one who thinks that this town square project is a good idea, or that it will in any way make the town more attractive to visitors.
But it will go ahead regardless of what many of us think. We will have this foolish scheme foisted onto us because those who make the decisions about such things do not listen to what the people of the town think...or need. nothing changes in politics does it?

Oh yes, and it is very easy to blame the people of the town, but that Neil, is a cop out.

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Well i dont know, but he does seem to be more aware than you.:rolleyes:

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Nope…but if I had a garden full of flowers and some amateur told me that they had got funding of £150 to dig them up and replace them with flagstones provided that I put £50 up front, I’m pretty sure that I know what I would tell that amateur and where to place his funding!

It ain't rocket science

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Where is this person because I need my the front of my house re-paving?

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Neil, you will be out of luck...you want it re-paving which suggests that it is already paved. Unfortunately(for you) the person holding the strings of the purse will only pay out if you swap flowers or plants or trees for a paved area.
You know how finicky these funders are don't you? It has to be their way or no way!

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Things are not going to get better anytime soon, in fact we are likely to see the demise of more shops when the new business rates are applied.
The loss of shops will be detrimental to those who cannot, for whatever reason get to the large out of town areas to shop...those who cannot shop online...and there are still a number of people who do not have access to the Internet.
Once the shops are gone the Internet companies who supply goods will have the shopper by the short and curlies.

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

I'm in luck, part of the area is currently unpaved and has stuff growing in it, weeds mainly and cat mess and there is a hole in the front paved area that I've already cut a tree down so I must be pretty much spot on with the requirements - uneven damaged paving caused by tree roots, removed flower areas, animal mess everywhere and a murdered tree. Do you think I need a few taxis and ignorant driver to drive on it before I apply?

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Most certainly Neil...and even then be prepared for disappointment. Your plans and theirs may not marry up. You might have to commit to spending more than the fifty quid to get your windows and your neighbours windows upgraded to show off the finished project to its best advantage.

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

As long as it still costs me less money than it would have cost me to do the work with my own money then I'm still onto a winner

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Well, not necessarily...especially if you haven't got that money to spare...or if you have it earmarked to do something important...like EAT.
Dealing with your front garden is a luxury, not a necessity...what would you do, have a fantastic front garden but a roof the leaks every time it rains?

However you cut it Neil, this project is one that Accrington could easily live without and it would make little difference to the lives of the people who live here.
It is for vanity....it is a show off thing. There are other more important things that could be done with the 1.2 million of our money.
Tell the lottery folk to stick their money where monkeys shove their nuts.

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

A vanity project, just like our spanking new bus station, wonder what the next one will be? A McDonalds type arch, as you enter town via Blackburn Road from Church?

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Yes, that was also a truckload of money that could have been better spent...but again another project that was cut and dried regardless of what the residents of the borough felt about it.
The public not listened to. This seems to be a common thread in both local and national politics.

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

https://democracy.hyndburnbc.gov.uk/...o.aspx?UID=139

Don't you already have him on speed dial?

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitio...orough-council

If anyone is interested in signing this petition over the loss of the two lovely trees that were removed from the front of the Market Hall, that link above will take you to the page where you can register your protest.

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Just read in the LET that Councillor Tony Dobson & other conservative councillors are going to try & get the town square plans stopped tonight at a full council meeting - too little, too late probably & no doubt for their own ends, pity they didn't try harder before the trees were felled to make room for the project

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Like you I think they have found their principles(and their voice ) a bit late in the day. Certainly too late to do anything about the trees.

It was a cut and dried decision from the outset...the council was not in the least bit interested in what anyone in the borough felt.
Their idea of consultation is to ask as few people as possible and then filter out those who gave the 'wrong' responses.

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Principals will have nothing to do with it and the county election in May everything to do with it. No way the Tories wouldn't have agreed to bringing HLF funding to Accrington centre if they had been in power. Peter spent 11 years working with the Friends of Rhyddings Park to get HLF funding only to turn against the group putting the whole project at risk to keep a few voters happy and attack the Labour party.

It's just politics. He used Labour deselecting Clare Pritchard as a way of attacking the Labour party at a full county council meeting this afternoon. He was praising Clare and how hard she has worked for Hyndburn.

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

You are perfectly right Neil..there are no principles in politics...either local or national.
And it WAS a cut and dried decision...and no amount of consultation was ever going to change anything...a bit like the bus station.

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

That demonstrates perfectly that hes the slimy get i always said he was,;)

Re: Blackburn road - in front of town hall.
 

Neil, there is absolutely no way you can know what they would have done(anymore that I can), you can guess, you can assume, you can surmise, but you will never really KNOW...and it will never be tested now anyway.

That Peter Britcliffe spent 11 years fighting for HLF money for the park is irrelevant.
Fighting for funds for a development in a Park is something entirely different to spending 1.2 million of OUR money(Not HLF money) on something that will do nothing at all to benefit the town.
It will not bring either businesses in or people from out of town.

The 1.2 million of our money could be spent on something better than what is is going to be spent on.