Blackburn road - in front of town hall.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by cashman

so instead of telling the truth they bullshine as usual

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

[cashman]

Originally Posted by Accyexplorer

Bye bye conker trees

Attachment 55094

Originally Posted by cashman

I saw that at dinner time very apt.bet the goons get sent to remove!!

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

[Barrie Yates]

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.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Barrie Yates

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.

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

[cashman]

Originally Posted by Neil

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

Our council has become one big mistake.

[Guinness]

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

[Margaret Pilkington]

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?

[Guinness]

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

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

......The town is on the bones of its bum...and this is the best they can come up with?

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.

[Guinness]

Originally Posted by Neil

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.

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!!

[Neil]

Obviously you are the all knowing expert on everything.

[ossy kid]

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!!!

[Margaret Pilkington]

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.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by Neil

Obviously you are the all knowing expert on everything.

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

[Guinness]

Originally Posted by Neil

Obviously you are the all knowing expert on everything.

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