Missed out yet again.............

[mk1]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-18191156


A railway station is to be built at a Middlesbrough hospital as part of a regional £7.2m investment project.

The £2.1m station at James Cook University Hospital will be situated between Middlesbrough and Marton stations.

The remaining £5.1m will be spent on improving facilities at a further 11 stations in the area.

It is part of the Tees Valley Metro project which aims to boost the local economy by improving workers' mobility.

The 11 existing stations where upgrade works will be carried out are: Allens West, Billingham, Gypsy Lane, Longbeck, Marske, Marton, Nunthorpe, Redcar Central, Redcar East, South Bank and Stockton.

Improvements will include new electronic passenger information signs, seating and lighting and the installation of CCTV systems.

[Inspector Knacker]

Much as it pains me to say it, this was announced quite a while back. Hartlepool station has had quite a bit of money spent on it comparatively speaking and in all honesty, by my costings they aren't going to get much of a station at Middlesbrough for the price quoted, a platform and a bus shelter at best... as for the other eleven stations, the money quoted will probablyjust pay for the electronic signs that highlight the poor service we get
What is disturbing is the reference to worker mobility, meaning the jobs will be in central teesside inn the future Teesside city region.

[Straight Talking]

Whilst the Strategic direction of Hartlepool has the Mayor at the helm, we will continue to miss out on many things.

The man has no vision, little understanding and relies on others to tell him what to do. Most of whom live in Teesvalley not Hartlepool.

When he could make a difference, he is absent from meetings, fails to engage with the public and doesn't listen to anything that would require him to THINK.

The sooner he is gone from office the better.

[steveL]

Of course all that could be remedied by replacing the man and not the position but then that's not what bothers Labour. An elected Mayor was one of Mandelson's ideas which went badly wrong for them. Having had three failed attempts to get their own man elected, they've now given up on the idea and and want the executive power that goes with the position back. Pathetic really.

As far as the railway station goes, I think we've had our share and now have a decent station - all that's needed now is some trains to go with it.

[no6bus]

Whilst the Strategic direction of Hartlepool has the Mayor at the helm, we will continue to miss out on many things.

The man has no vision, little understanding and relies on others to tell him what to do. Most of whom live in Teesvalley not Hartlepool.

When he could make a difference, he is absent from meetings, fails to engage with the public and doesn't listen to anything that would require him to THINK.

The sooner he is gone from office the better.

unfortunately the council will vote against any improvements the mayor would like to bring in so would the town benefit from reducing the power of councillors. i am still to receive a coherent arguement for the raising of councillors allowances. when they stood they knew how many posts there were to be so why do they need more money to do a job they applied for. its like accepting a job at an advertised pay rate then when appointed start whining about the pay.

[Benefitcheat]

Can't argue with any of that Steve.

I'm not certain our current Mayor is doing all he can to make Hartlepool a better place to live and work, but what I am sure about is that I'd rather have executive decisions in the power of someone who is at least sort of independent than in the hands of a very small clique of councillors.

As for trains if I thought it was worthwhile I'd start some kind of give us transport campaign, in a couple of weeks I have tickets to go to see a band in Newcastle on a Sunday evening, it's too late for a scrounger like me  to rearrange a days not doing anything  for the Monday so staying over is out of the question, I could get there by train until 8.45pm but must leave Newcastle by 8pm to get home.

That may be skewed by it being a Sunday but if I were to try tonight I could only stay until 9.20 and even if I were travelling to Middlesbrough 9.30 is the latest I could get back to town. Is Hartlepool too dangerous to be out at night so we don't encourage travel to or from the town to keep us in? There's a conspiracy theory in there about the Labour party's way of wishing to manage every facet of people's lives.

For a town of 90,000 people to be utterly cut off from the biggest city in the North East and from the largest town in the Tees Valley, not to mention the fact that we can't get people to and from Durham or Sunderland outside of the normal working day easily and it's no wonder the place is so depressed.

While being linked up to the rest of the north east might not create jobs directly, it would give more prospects to those that live in the town, more freedom to expand their horizons with leisure and would make it more attractive for businesses to take advantage of (and I'm making this up here) potentially cheaper rents in Hartlepool knowing customers from 3 or 4 huge conurbations were within 45 minutes of them any time of the day or night.

A ray of light might be a light rail/tram link to the new Hospital that probably won't exist until most of our children are too old to need it, or to the delightful Hamlet of Stockton where our health care is going to end up.

[Benefitcheat]

its like accepting a job at an advertised pay rate then when appointed start whining about the pay.

Which is the tactic employed by many who are involved with the unions, it's a good job the Labour party don't get on with folk like Unison otherwise people would think they have the same strategy booklet.

They should receive a fixed allowance to allow them to get to and from meetings and deal with telephone and postal bills and then at the end of their term the electorate can vote for what they think their local councillor earned by their tireless efforts for the ward and town. A good councillor could get a nice lump sum every few years, the anonymous or toothless ones would end up with what they deserve.

[not4me]

A phased extension of the Tyneside Metro from Sunderland to Seaham, Easington, Horden, Blackhall and Hartlepool is surely the way to go with a connecting loop to Chester-le-Street, Washington and Durham. It doesn't have to be done all at once and as for any Teesside Metro, I'm sure I'm not the only one who has noticed that we are routinely placed at the ar** end of any such schemes by people who themselves don't consider Hartlepool to be part of Teesside..

[Greg X]

"As far as the railway station goes, I think we've had our share and now have a decent station - all that's needed now is some trains to go with it."

and some buses to meet all the trains..

[no6bus]

its basically a modern version of the old cleveland county and we all know how we were shafted on a regular basis by them, so then again our council leader may support that

[Inspector Knacker]

All that's really needed is for the present line to be increased in frequency and some new trains bought, a lot cheaper than their ego trip super trams, which will more or less follow the line of the present train line.

[Inspector Knacker]

"As far as the railway station goes, I think we've had our share and now have a decent station - all that's needed now is some trains to go with it."

and some buses to meet all the trains..

why .....?