Jacksons Landing/Council Meeting

[steveL]

Nicely put but not according to his register of interests. A property developer who declares no income, no companies or directorships and no property other than where he lives? Those visiting the Marina car parks aren't the only ones smelling a rat 

I really think it's time someone started questioning those 3 seats Wells secured on the Planning Committee for all 3 Tory Councillors. UKIP were off target asking for a 12th seat to be created just so that they could lay claim to it - they should already have one.

We saw the coalition in action on Thursday night, If proportionality meant anything at HBC then Wells would be lucky to have one seat on the Planning committee never mind 3 - and, as a property Developer, it certainly wouldn't be him.

Likewise, a coalition partner as Chair of the Audit & Governance Committee is just as bad as having a labour Councillor as the Vice Chair - for God's sake, wake up UKIP!

[Lord Elpus]

From the front page; 

Trust Me, I'm A Property Developer 23rd November 2013 Conservative group leader and Property Developer Ray Martin-Wells said: "While £1.5m is a tremendous amount, I believe it represents good value for money and I understand that several developers have already offered the council a profit should we wish to quickly turn the building around".

Ray Wells comments suggest one of two things, either he believes any tripe the SCAB's tell him or he is a just says whatever he thinks will get him off the hook, in other words tells BIG porkers.

Either way he's not acting in the best interests of the people of Hartlepool or the Conservative Party.

Personally I think his nickname of 'The Odious Little t*a*' very apt.

[stokoe]

R.m w has a face like a smacked ar**,what a horrible little thing it is.

[steveL]

Here's a letter that we received that was also read out during a previous council meeting - the famous Cranney meeting of the Regeneration Services Committee where he ended up calling Fred a 'wife beater'

Whatever you think of the merits of the idea, the point is that it was dismissed out of hand by a council that would rather we all had a concrete slab to look at. Not so much a case of 'Have Your Say' as 'Go Away, Little Man and Stop Bothering Us'.

He didn't even get a response

I had a brief chat with him afterwards. He was a genuine bloke who simply thought that he was bringing something positive into the meeting.

Dear Sir,
The Jacksons landing building used to be a thriving retail outlet only to be overtaken by the shopping centre and the various retail parks, Teesbay, Anchor, Highlight & High Point. After many attempts to reopen Jacksons Landing as a retail outlet it became clear that this was a non-starter.
This building looks and is an iconic statement on the Marina landscape and it would be folly to demolish it!
Hartlepool has a state of the art college which is very striking in its appearance; we also have an Art college that is second to none.
We have the HMS Trincomalee and recently the museum of the Royal Navy.
Hartlepool was, in the past, known for ship building and repair. With this in mind I would urge the council to consider an alternative, exciting proposal and that is to convert the Jacksons Landing building into a college to teach all aspects of boat building and repair. This would help reduce unemployment, and give students who are more adept at practical skills the opportunity to enhance them. Skills acquired by the older generation could then be passed on and not be lost.
In conclusion this project could attract government educational funding which would have future potential by complementing our existing colleges, diversifying employment prospects and giving the youth of Hartlepool a real, practical, nautical engineering skillset with apprenticeships.

Yours Sincerely
Eric  Porritt

[Lord Elpus]

Mr Porritt's letter makes more sense than any of the tripe the current leaders are spewing out.

The man should have been applauded by Councillors and ask to meet with HBC asap.

[seatonlady]

I agree absolutely.  Excellent idea .... and for that reason alone it will be totally ignored.

[Land Phil]

If Cranny had a boat with a hole in it, it would have been a good idea.
Nothing happens without self interest.

[fred c]

Mr Poritt read out his letter & it was obvious that Cranney only paid lip service to having it read out, the fact the points raised by Mr Porrit were well thought out & well presented ment not a jot.

Cranney didn't even extend the courtesy of allowing Mr Porrit to expand on the contents of his letter, sheer ignorance & a 1 track self serving political agenda seems to be the route which our council is intent on following.

[seaton]

Trust Me, I'm A Property Developer 23rd November 2013 Conservative group leader and Property Developer Ray Martin-Wells said: "While £1.5m is a tremendous amount, I believe it represents good value for money and I understand that several developers have already offered the council a profit should we wish to quickly turn the building around".

What planet does RMW live on, if the property was in demand such that several developers are willing to buy it why didn't the said developers just pay the £1.5 million that HBC paid for it.
There is no way a profit will be made on the sale of the site, developers will sit back for a few years wait until the interest payments 'kick in' and it will be sold at a loss just to get it off the Councils hands.

[steveL]

Here's Stubbs describing Jacksons Landing as 'a good building' when being interviewed for the Hartlepool Vision video - I guess there wasn't quite enough 'Vision' to see demolition just around the corner. I'm forced to conclude that this is a 'flexible Vision' which could change at any moment . . . Come to think of it, that's very much the same as having no vision at all.

You can see from the picture below the video that Jacksons Landing was very much part of 'the Vision' - er until it wasn't, that is   

https://youtu.be/_k05lgAMRaI