Just when you thought it was safe...
 

It appears that the fiasco that is the Panopticon, is set to make a comeback. From Wednesday 19th January to Monday 24th January, you can pop along to any of the venues listed below and have a look at the new proposals.

An unamed project spokesperson is reported in the Observer as saying "We really want to engage the public and to speak to them and see what they feel about the designs, to make sure that we get the appropriate design for the area bearing in mind the senistivity of the area."

So it is no longer a question of whether we would like a sculpture on the Coppice or not, but rather "pick one of the three remaining options".

Isn't democracy wonderful.

VENUES
Accrington Town Hall
Accrington and Rossendale College
ASDA Accrington
Huncoat Primary School
Accrington Library
Hyndburn Sports Centre

and also at Mid Pennine Arts in Burnley...?

Re: Just when you thought it was safe...
 

There putting a sculpture up coppice. What's the point in that. You know it really annoys me that they can't find better ways to spend the money oh like say children's hospitals. And besides it will probably get graffitied by kids.

Re: Just when you thought it was safe...
 

Well black flight, perhaps rather than investing in childrens hospitals the money should go elsewhere, after all the less children there are the less chances of the little so & so's putting graffiti anywhere!
:surprise:

Re: Just when you thought it was safe...
 

lol Im meant little children, and besides it's usually the teenagers who do the graffiti (pardon me for the generalisation)

Re: Just when you thought it was safe...
 

I expect I'll have a look at the one in the Asda but I doubt very much whether having an opinion will have any effect on what the council finally decides.

I can definitely feel a panopticon coming.:rolleyes:

Re: Just when you thought it was safe...
 

Errrm, it will actually be the idiot-in-chief who will decide, just like he did with the last proposal. As I said, isn't democracy wonderful.

Re: Just when you thought it was safe...
 

This council really takes the p***, i'm sure we,the people of the town could find something better to spend the money on.Like resurfacing the pavements in the town centre.

Re: Just when you thought it was safe...
 

Janet. The Panopticon isn't really a HBC generated project, it comes from the County Council and the Regional Development Agency. Have a look at the thread titled Ambition Lancashire. That should give you a good idea of who is involved, where the money is coming from and the other "good things" that they have planned for us.

Re: Just when you thought it was safe...
 

I thought we`d already agreed we did`nt want a novelty item on the top of the Coppice! It`s bad enough they planted all those conifers in the 70`s that erode the hill side now they want some arty trash to spoil our view. Vote against it my friends, or if the worst comes to the worst out with the shovels we can weigh it in for scrap!!

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It's called consultation. We (the leaders) will ask you what you think. Whatever you think, we will simply go ahead and do what we were going to do anyway, but doesn't it make you feel better that you were consulted? ....

Yes, they really do think that we are all thick

Re: Just when you thought it was safe...
 

On the subject of this here Panopticon, which we are going to have whether we want one or not, and the choices which have been put before us............

I was standing at the bottom of Avenue Parade on Friday gazing up at the Coppice and asking myself what the heck it is going to look like up there when we've got the wretched Panopticon when my eye was drawn to the "thing" which some people have referred to as a monument and which I believe at one time had a map on top but has in recent years been daubed with graffiti.

Two things occurred to me:
1. Whatever gets put up there will end up vandalised and/or covered in graffiti in a like manner.
2. We've got a "thing" up there and if the purpose of this Pantopticon is to draw the eye to a focal point on high ground then surely we already have that? All they need to do is clean up the thing and put an up to date, preferably vandal proof, map or landmark indicator on top of it. It would be a heck of a lot cheaper.

Re: Just when you thought it was safe...
 

Spot on Willow! Use the £50,000 to refurbish the Peel Memorial and the McAlpine Shelter and the paths that lead up to them. That's a proposal which would have my whole-hearted support.

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Re: Just when you thought it was safe...
 

Wrap a note around a brick and lob it at PB as he is passing? Hmmmm, however tempting the idea, it is not the right way. The correct way of going about it is to petition the council to hold a referendum on the issue. A minimum of 5000 signatures forces them to comply.

Re: Just when you thought it was safe...
 

That is one petition I would sign........I am absolutely against hare brained ideas like this while there are other serious 'housekeeping' issues that require attention.
Last week I witnessed an elderly lady trip and fall on one of the loose paving stones that surround the market area, she had a wound to her head and had broken her teeth and hurt her hand. I hope she sues the a**e off the council.

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Re: Just when you thought it was safe...
 

Acrylic-Biff decided that we were going up to the Coppice for our walk this morning. He is much vexed by the Panopticon proposals and wanted to view the site for himself - you know how terriers are. He also thought that it would be a good idea if I were to take the camera along with us, just in case we came across anything interesting.

I append some of the pics below. Some of you will, no doubt, be appalled at the state of things up there, as Acrylic-Biff was. The state of the park at the foot of the Coppice is little better. The one thing that HBC do not seem to be able grasp is that it is all very well chucking wads of cash around to provide instant solutions to problems, any idiot can do that, as Britcliffe has proved. But without a sensible programme of long term maintenance it is just wasted money.

Re: Just when you thought it was safe...
 

Totally agree. What a sorry sight.

What more can I say?

Any panopticonic addition to the area will end up in equally dire straits. WE DO NOT NEED ONE. What we do need are repairs, renovation and maintenance of what we already have.

Re: Just when you thought it was safe...
 

Hmmm,what a mess;I bet Acrylic-Biff was shocked!

Seriously though,how can you police a "work of art" at the top of a blummen hill with no lighting and a treacherous path?It defies belief that this scheme is being taken seriously.The money would be better spent on exterminating the growing number of kamikaze pigeons currently taking over the town centre.

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I do think that it is odd that a Conservative run council, like HBC, can countenance the disgracefull dereliction of a monument erected in honour of Sir Robert Peel, the founder of the Conservative Party.

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We also came across this. It is one side of the concrete carriage that used to support one of the cannons which stood on top of the Coppice until the outbreak of World War II. The other half is located some thirty yards further down the slope.

Re: Just when you thought it was safe...
 

The news of Sir Robert Peel being a Conservative is probably a revelation to most of them!I would be interested to know if any of our elected bodies have actually been up the Coppice on a fact finding mission;I bet half the council haven't been up there in years!