Jackson's Landing

[stokoe]

local issue nothing from perseus

[fred c]

I have never mentioned the Tall Ships being a failure in any way, other than in a financial sense but my point was to highlight the inept management in many of the Master Plans that have been proposed over the mayors tenure in office.

As mentioned by steveL... Morrison Hall was purchased for around £60,000 + costs & repairs to the building, was the mayors idea for solving the grot spots to buy them up & let them be HBC owned grot spots ?

The world class retail outlet aka.... Jacksons Landing has always proven to be a white elephant, so any hopes of it being returned to a "Shop" is wishful thinking.

If you want a real world look at how HBC waste money on pie in the sky projects..... take a walk down Baden Street.... a pet project of a labour councillor that has comprehensively failed at a cost of £465,000 to the rate payers of the town.

This project had a 2 page spread in the mail some months ago trumpeting the World Class idea to regenerate the street..... its an even bigger S***H*** now than it was when the project was first proposed.

I do try to look at the positives in any proposals that are aimed at improving the town, the potential for the regeneration of Seatons Park would be a positive for the town, the on going work in the Burn Valley is also a step in the right direction, but i have seen too many pie in the sky projects turn out to be a total waste of time & resources.

[steveL]

The initial pre-opening case for Jackson's Landing made it via a consultants report compared it to the plans for Dalton Park (which hadn't happened at the time), Newcastle Quays and other such 'factory outlets'. Thery were hailed as being the latest boom businesses and everything was to be wonderful.

A few years later, a similar consultant report was commissioned for the Church Street/Mecca areas which straddled the railway line. It mostly recommended more retail sheds for the area but interestingly, it derided the whole original case for Jackson's Landing claiming it was too far away from Middleton Grange to have stood any chance of success. This doesn't say much for the existing units on the retail parks but it does demonstrate the habit of consultant studies of starting with the desired answer and then working out some way of justifying it.

The original concept of Jackson's Landing was that, together with the Historic Quay, it would attract visitors to the town but the visitors never came in the required numbers to cover the rents of the units inside. The Marina development as a whole stalled once the TDC was wound up and things were handed over to the developers and HBC. There werre no more ships to be restored, no Imperial War Museum and no Tall Ships Centre - all of the things that Jackson's Landing was relying on to pull in the visitors.

[Vincent]

My experiance of the old Jacksons Landing was that it was a fantastic retail outlet, dont know why it didnt work but can only assume high rents.

Any new purchaser will have to have promises from HBC of Enterprise Zone like low starter rates to get any new businesses of the ground

I would like to see something like Newcastles Discovery Museum developed near to or in the JL Building, Amsterdam has another fantastic facility similar to the Discovery Museum which is perfect for our climate (wind and rain)

I do not agree with Mk1 that the Major should not making "promises" (did he?) the issues would not have such a high profile on here and in the local press if he had not made them an issue. The current financial crisis (money) and the planning laws must have caused the delays in dealing with the grot spots

I attended the Tall Ships just about every day and spent a chunk of money - did you?

[Stig of the Seaton Dump]

I spent  a packet at the tall ships too ...but it was with stall holders that will never be seen again ...no real benefit of Hartlepool.

Hancock Museum is a fabulous place too ...can't see us getting the millions it did though. Maybe HBC should invest in lottery tickets.

[mk1]

I attended the Tall Ships just about every day and spent a chunk of money - did you?

No but according to the Council figures I visited 6 times over 4 days and spent a total of 340 quid!

[Stig of the Seaton Dump]

£340 ...that is a lot of felt hats, falafel and burgers !

Maybe they assumed we were all dining haute cuisine silver service, easy mistake to make when that is what they got.

[testing times]

Don't why everyone is sudenly talking about re-opening Jacksons Landing as a retail unit because that's not the plan. From what I've heard, they're aiming for a mixture of offices, flats and restaurants/wine bars.
The rents at JL were around £14,000 per year at the time but this was more or less doubled when you added on the 'service charge' and business rates.

[The Great Dictator]

It won't work as a retail unit, in Hartlepool we do not have the spending power, 70% of the residents are unemployed or pensioners.
We are overloaded with shops and houses in this town.

[fred c]

Don't why everyone is sudenly talking about re-opening Jacksons Landing as a retail unit because that's not the plan. From what I've heard, they're aiming for a mixture of offices, flats and restaurants/wine bars.
The rents at JL were around £14,000 per year at the time but this was more or less doubled when you added on the 'service charge' and business rates.

Offices, Flats, Restaurants, Wine Bars.......... hate to be the one to tell you this, but Hartlepool is overflowing with empty offices, flats, restaurants & wine bars/pubs.

If this is the intention of HBC i wonder if they have considered the impact that it would have on the already struggling businesses at the Marina, but having said that.......... they will have a "Master Plan" for the area.

On the cost of the rates for Jacksons Landing... i seem to remember the owners doing a runner leaving a £600,000 rates debt.

[mk1]

A link to how others see us


http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1485187


The photo album for the wrecked Jackson's Landing

http://www.flickr.com/photos/well_wasp/sets/72157610890659091/with/2335111123/

[mk1]

Another less than positive 'review' of the town.
He notices the way the roads have been allowed to cut off the Marina from the rest of the town.

http://kulturekapitalblog.com/2012/04/30/hartlepool-waving-or-drowning/

This whole area feels like a large, damp squib: With its drab and inadequate signage, dislocation from the town centre and capitulation to down market out of town and fast food outlets reached by car, this is an area which will struggle to make a positive impact on the town or visitors without a complete rethink. The area is crying out for a bold vision and masterplan, without which it will just be another example of an opportunity lost through poor planning and execution. It's a sorry sight and Hartlepool undoubtedly deserves better

Whilst on the subject of pedestrians v cars I note the massive reduction of pavement being carried out on the Oxford rd/Stocton rd corner. It looks dangerous to  to me.

[The Great Dictator]

Just been told that bellway have bought it ?

[popgoestheweasal.]

Rather have an independant mayor IF we have to have a mayor.

[steveL]

consider the following words: thread - topic - relevance