Re: On Behalf of Gayle Night
 

Wouldn't it have been good, if information and a survey about the panopticon had been included with everyones Council Tax bill.......it could have been filled in and posted at boxes say in the council offices or the Town Hall. Other than that Slinkys idea is very good.
This is one questionnaire I would happily complete.

Re: On Behalf of Gayle Night
 

I totally agree, and there is a general feeling of disinterest from the town. Most people, like you say, are not particularly bothered either way.


For your information, and everyone else, there is a poll set up under Panopticon Poll thread. A few people have been there already. I'm just going to go there now and post a message so it lifts it up the message board again as some people might not have seen it.

Re: On Behalf of Gayle Night
 

That is actually a good idea. I think it would be down to the Council to co-ordinate that though!

Re: On Behalf of Gayle Night
 

Sorry, I missed this one last night. It wasn't intentional but as it happens I'm afraid I can't answer that one yet as I don't know the answer. The statement 'materials on site already' was made by Peter Beard initially so I will ask him at the next opportunity.

Re: On Behalf of Gayle Night
 

Another one that I missed last night. Ironically on the same subject but I can assure you it wasn't intentional. Site surveys have not been completed yet, that will be done if the project progresses in due course. The hire of equipment and contractors has been budgeted for - as I said it will have to go to tender and I presume that anyone who wants to quote for the job will have to explain how they're going to do it.

Re: On Behalf of Gayle Night
 

Did a bit of a straw poll over the weekend of family/friends ect and this is how it went

Q Do you want a panopticon?
A No (Mainly)
Q Why Not?
A Waste of money/ Blot on the landscape ect
Q Why did you not go to the meetings?
A Could`nt be bother/ thought it was a done deal/ too busy/ what meetings

So mainly against but apathetic, so on one side we`ve got the fors with high art/ inward investment and on the other side we`ve got the no`s with ugly carbuncle/badly financed. Any ideas how to square the circle? My idea is to build it somewhere else, Oswaldtwistle Moors, Belthorn, Hameldon and then we still get the investment and the fors get the art!

Re: On Behalf of Gayle Night
 

I agree with this completely. There is a general feeling of apathy about the subject and it frustrates me endlessly. At least in other areas passions have been inflamed. As for your suggestion - have you switched over to the poll thread?

Re: On Behalf of Gayle Night
 

Ah bless! we have an agreement! Yup my dear i`ve already polled and it would be unfair, nay corrupt of me to poll more than once. Now if you need an independant auditor.............

Re: On Behalf of Gayle Night
 

Gayle,it would seem that your idea of tender differs to mine, are you the "specifier" not supposed to tell the contractors tendering exactly what you want, and how you want them to carry out the work,how do they provide a competitive price unless the work is specified as to how, when, and where. else we may finish up with another broadway.
Also if site surveys have not yet been completed, and the "artist" is being paid £10k I assume that is out of the £50k, how does anyone know what this is actually going to cost. Lets say the budget is used up and the thing is not completed, what happens does everyone walk away from it.

Re: On Behalf of Gayle Night
 

If they have a change of party at the next elections what happens, does it get cancelled, go to a vote, has no effect? how will the project go ahead if the council are against it?

Re: On Behalf of Gayle Night
 

Answer to question about tender.

I'm in an area that I don't know a lot about at this stage so I'll tell you what I know has happened in other areas. Because of the complexity of the projects, contractors have been told what the end result is and what the proposed material is. They have also been told the budget. They have then come back to the Council with their proposals. In the case of Hyndburn we will undoubtedly tell them we want to minimise the damage to the trenches and pathways. The exact ins and outs of how they do that will need to be defined with the contractors. At this point we don't even know if it's going to be dug mechanically or by hand so it's almost impossible to say what impact the digging will have.

I think we're in danger of getting ahead of ourselves here. As I've said before the project in Hyndburn is still in its infancy. We should be talking about the general picture, i.e. site, aesthetics and rationale behind the project. We're getting a bit bogged down with specific detail that we can't possibly know for certain at this stage.

Re: On Behalf of Gayle Night
 

In answer to the other part of your question. We have a budget of £50k. The estimated cost has been costed out by the designer who has experience of building other earth works. I'm sure nothing will be done on the site until the contractor has been agreed and the costing agreed so there should be no reason for the budget to be exceeded. Once it is all agreed as far as I am aware no one will walk away, NWDA have committed themselves to this project.

Re: On Behalf of Gayle Night
 

Politics - ah - my least favourite subject. I presume that once it has gone through planning permission, if it is accepted, the Council won't be able to get it cancelled even if there is a change of leader. But perhaps someone could advise me on that because I personally don't know how the planning permission works in that respect.

On that subject though, it is mostly Labour Councillors that are supporting it and Conservatives against, so in some respects a change of party would work in favour of the project.

Re: On Behalf of Gayle Night
 

Finally, for today. I've asked Peter Beard a few questions on your behalf and here are his answers -

The ridges collecting water:- The intention is for say 4 inches maximum depth of water just in the winter months – only 5-10% of the furrows would be wet even in the wettest months. If this is considered a problem we can arrange surface water drainage so there is no standing water at any time – just ‘moist’ habitats.

Attached is something which hopefully answers the viewing issue - re sightlines from Hameldon Hill and Moleside Moor.

Re: On Behalf of Gayle Night
 

Can I just say, the article in tonight's LET was not instigated by me. The reporter contacted me after reading this website on Monday night and asked if disabled access was a possibility. I replied cautiously that all I could say was what was happening in Rossendale and of course Top O'Slate and The Coppice are very different. I did of course say, that it would be looked into it as a possibility if the wider funding is achieved which it will be - that is not a guarantee that it will happen, as I said many times throughout this thread.