Vision or Illusion?

[not4me]

The need now is to stop the rot getting any worse. A bit of paint and wood preservative wouldn't do any harm. I can remember when the Wingfield castle was dry-docked in the historic quay while they painted the hull and did some work on the paddles. The Trincomallee was parked up alongside the dock for the duration.

[steveL]

The Mail are really flogging this to death. All very curious. There must be a Press Release coming out of HBC at the rate of one a day. Even so, whoever decided to let Cranney be the front man must have a screw loose.

http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/business/bid-to-make-hartlepool-street-a-vibrant-place-for-businesses-1-7068533

[not4me]

I see they seem to have dropped the idea of pedestrianising Church Street. Some one must have pointed out that the original idea these dimwits came up with would have cut off the railway station. They are now talking of 'narrowing' the street - hard to see how they can do that either, frankly. A budget of £372,000..... and that looks like it's just the feasibility studies....someone's making a packet. that's for sure.

[marky]

It just seems like a series of buckets to me. Anything positive happening in any of the selected areas is placed in the appropriate Vision bucket with the claim that it's all part of a plan. The council's attitude to the Marina and especially the Wingfield Castle tells us all we need to know about the prospects of 'The Vision'.

[grim reaper]

It really is nothing more than trying to engender a 'feel good' scenario about the town, prior to the May elections.
How can they find the money for Church St. (remember the Cllr with onions draped about his neck? It was going to be a pedestrianised thoroughfare for a continental cafe culture!).

Stubbs and the other doyles in the Kremlin couldn't even sort out the drains and road surfaces around the marina.
Joe Darragh had them over a barrel and is no doubt, still laughing at their ineffectual, impotent threats to him.

However, if money CAN be found, I'm sure the company involved will be what seems to be the very popular and ubiquitous Tangent Engineering. (Hart Lane junction, Powlett Road etc.).
However, I have no doubt whatsoever that the same goons will be holding the purse strings and doling out the largesse after the May elections.
We deserve better, we just won't vote for it.

[Inspector Knacker]

The piece in the Mail revealed nothing at all.... a series of fanciful pipe dreams with nothing of substance ever revealed .... no defined projects, no dates... no timetable, just the same old chant......... heard it all before.

[testing times]

Last chance to tell them to lay off the tablets

"Residents of the town have already given their overwhelming backing to the Masterplan following an earlier consultation process when 94 per cent of residents agreed that the Council is on the right track with what it is trying to achieve."

http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/business/last-chance-to-have-your-say-on-leaders-masterplan-vision-for-hartlepool-1-7093507

[steveL]

"In the North-East, Hartlepool has the largest proportion of jobs paying less than the living wage with 34.7 per cent, followed by Redcar and Cleveland - 30 per cent - and Middlesbrough and Northumberland, both 26.8 per cent. "

From a recent report published by the GMB union.

'The Vision', with its heavy emphasis on retail and tourism jobs would, if anything, make things worse while at the same time, HBC has reallocated land at Wynyard and, more recently, a raft of other land it owns from employment development to housing. All of which amounts to the council having given up on Hartlepool attracting real jobs that pay a decent wage that could support a family.

The whole thing is ill-conceived and back-side first. More jobs paying a decent wage would provide people with the money to spend that would support more shops and leisure facilities. HBC have things completely the wrong way round - but then what's new about that?

http://tinyurl.com/njrtunv