The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park

b-sound · 06-06-2008, 09:03

Some time ago there was a thread on here about the Bandstand in Oak Hill Park. The bandstand was burnt down in suspicious circumstances a few years ago, and Hyndburn Council said they would claim on insurance and rebuild it, but for the last couple of years nothing happened. Last year, the (now ex) Chairman of the Friends of Oak Hill Park had suggested the bandstand should not be rebuilt because it would encourage vandalism. This provoked some debate locally, and a group of people (The Real Friends of Oak Hill Park) got together to oppose this. A petition with some 200 names was submitted to the Area Council meeting asking Hyndburn Borough Council to rebuild the bandstand, and at this meeting the chair asked for a vote - a significant majority voted in favour of rebuilding the bandstand, so the chair said that Area Council would ask the Council to get on and rebuild it.

Since then, The Friends of Oak Hill Park has got some new members (including the Real Friends), and look to be trying to be more positive about the park, and this particular individual is no longer the chairman.
The "new" Friends of Oak Hill Park and other community groups would like to see the bandstand rebuilt, and have had several consultations with councillors, but there is still no commitment to rebuild the bandstand, apparently none of them seem to know (or let on) what is going on.
So why, if the council is going to get an insurance payout, and last year they promised to fund any shortfall, and promised that building work would start in 2008, why has it not been started?

Is the council planning to take the money and renege on its promise? If so, where will the money go? Surely this should not be allowed to happen to an important public facility.

cashman · 06-06-2008, 09:32

with you on that, feel the bandstand was n important part of oak hill, council should at least know what is happening, its long enough since it was destroyed, cash from insurance should NOT be used for anything only the insured item to me.

MargaretR · 06-06-2008, 09:34

A public stage is proposed as part of the town centre redevelopment.
Maybe the council considers this as a fulfiment of the promise to restore that public amenity.

I consider this a more realistic option than an out of town restored victorian relic

cashman · 06-06-2008, 09:43

oh well ya must want the all day concerts in the town centre then margaret? no thanks.

onlyme · 06-06-2008, 09:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by cashman

oh well ya must want the all day concerts in the town centre then margaret? no thanks.

Well the original was only used once a year anyway, and thats if the day wasnt rained off lol.

I used to love the bandstand, as a kid but got to admit, all i did was play on it. Maybe the money could be used on something that would be better used. OR rebuild the bandstand but actually ensure thats people get its benefit regularly instead of annually

cashman · 06-06-2008, 10:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by onlyme

Well the original was only used once a year anyway, and thats if the day wasnt rained off lol.

I used to love the bandstand, as a kid but got to admit, all i did was play on it. Maybe the money could be used on something that would be better used. OR rebuild the bandstand but actually ensure thats people get its benefit regularly instead of annually

wasn't used a great deal, but have seen brass bands n stuff on it occasionally, but my question is about the " money" fer the insured article, as far as i'm aware its supposed to repair/replace. agree ensure its used more.

Claire Cal · 06-06-2008, 10:17

We went up to Oak Hill park on Monday night after work for our lad to have a play. I must admit i havent been up there for years. I was quite disgusted to see the bandstand in such a state. Surely it should be knocked down for safetys sake. It must be a danger if kids get in around it.

b-sound · 06-06-2008, 10:19

If the bandstand is rebuilt im sure it would be used more often, I know that a couple of community groups have plans to organise more events incorporating the bandstand, the Hyndburn Mela and Community Festival organisers are also hoping to be back at the park next year. The festival was moved this year on the understanding that the works involved in the rebuilding of the bandstand would interfere with the event. Sadly all of these plans are on hold as no one (council included) seems to know what is going on.

The bandstand is part of the park and should rebuilt with the insurance money and the extra money promised by the council to make it more modern and more secure.

garinda · 06-06-2008, 10:44

Unlike the rest of us it looks like H.B.C. don't have a 'new for old' policy, otherwise they'd have no choice but to rebuild the old bandstand.

Gayle · 06-06-2008, 11:00

As a member of the Mela and Community Festival committee, obviously we're very keen for the bandstand to be rebuilt. The bandstand was burned down about a week before the Mela two years ago. We very quickly hired a stage which cost about £3,000. We were told that we would be compensated for that - that hasn't materialised.

Every year this drags on this costs a further £3,000 to the committee which means that we have less to spend on the actual programming of music acts and activities. It takes out a considerable chunk of our budget.

Last year it was the weather that scuppered us with going to the park and we had about a week to transfer everything to the Sports Centre. This year we had intended to go back to the park but the parks department of HBC informed us that the building work would be being done at the time of the Mela and so would cause problems. Reluctantly we decided to go back to the Sports Centre.

If we had known that the work was not going to be done we would, of course, have gone back to the park this year. We would still have had to pay for a stage but clearly the park is a more suitable venue for the event.

So far, the Mela committee has spent £9,000+ on bandstand facilities. It is unlikely that we will be able to continue to hold the event if the bandstand isn't rebuilt.

I know that there are a lot of people who are saying 'why rebuild it when it's just for one event a year?' but it doesn't have to be for one event - other groups/organisations could use it. I feel that if the insurance money is available for replacing the bandstand then it should be replaced.

cashman · 06-06-2008, 11:01

either that,or theres a fiddle going on rindy

HBC never

Tealeaf · 06-06-2008, 11:04

[quote=Gayle;588181]
So far, the Mela committee has spent £9,000+ on bandstand facilities. It is unlikely that we will be able to continue to hold the event if the bandstand isn't rebuilt.

quote]

Don't you mean wasted £9,000 of public money on this annual nonsense?

Gayle · 06-06-2008, 11:08

[quote=Tealeaf;588184]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gayle

So far, the Mela committee has spent £9,000+ on bandstand facilities. It is unlikely that we will be able to continue to hold the event if the bandstand isn't rebuilt.

quote]

Don't you mean wasted £9,000 of public money on this annual nonsense?

Yes, you've put it so succinctly. It is a waste of public money to have to hire a stage when the insurance money could have rebuilt it and yes it is an annual nonsense to have to continually argue the case for the bandstand to be rebuilt. I never knew you felt so strongly about it Tealeaf!

Tealeaf · 06-06-2008, 11:11

So no more waste on no more mela! This is excellent news!

Gayle · 06-06-2008, 11:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

So no more waste on no more mela! This is excellent news!

Again, quite right, in future the Mela committee won't have to WASTE any more money - we'll be able to spend it all on the things that matter!