Baden Street 'transformed'... 1 year on.

[perseus]

http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/local/baden-street-transformed-but-still-a-long-way-to-go-say-residents-1-4193175

It's nearly a year since The Mail ran this story. In which one of the residents was quoted as saying "I am astounded by the improvements."

Well, having just walked down it ealier today, 'astounded' wasn't the word that immediately sprang to mind.

God only knows how much of the half a million quid refered to in the article below has actually been spent, but i'm assuming it's..... nothing...... looking at the state of the place. 

http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/local/500-000-to-turn-this-street-around-1-3403051

18 months ago the Mayor defended the scheme and said "This is not about chucking money away".

http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/local/mayor-defends-pilot-scheme-1-3592417

What they were trying to achieve (God only knows) but it was outlined here

http://www.hartlepool.gov.uk/egov_downloads/20.05.11_-_Community_Safety_and_Housing_Portfolio_Decision_Record.pdf

£4 million quid a month in council tax, yet our town is dying all around us..... I honestly cant think why.

[tankerville]

Have a walk round Hart lane and the money that Labours New Deal for Communities have wasted millions on soon.. 'maybe' to be demolished properties. Carr. Hopps. Rodney. Blake. Richardson. Jobson streets.

Home-Swap we move you lock stock and barrel in a like for like terraced property Completely refurbished from top to toe.

With a cast iron Labour promise you'll be there all your life and never have to move again.

Another scheme Belle Vue the 'Tin Houses' again reburbished and then demolished.

I should also mention the New Salaam Centre in Murray Street over £1 Million spent and it still look's the same as it alway's did from the outside a derelict church hall with boarded up windows and wire mesh, but complain and your branded a racist.

Just how much money has been wasted from the £56 million given to Labours New Deal for Communities?

Labour have a lot to answer for in making Hartlepool Town Centre streets the way they are today..

Perhaps a training area for 42 Commando or S.A.S. On second thought's No it would be far too tough for them.

[fred c]

I hate to say i told you so......... lol

I pass along Baden Street on a regular basis, either in the car or walking through the Burnie, nothing has changed there are still boarded up house along both sides of the street, doors kicked in broken glassetc etc

I have to say reading some of the quotes from people involved in the scheme i am appalled at the total lack of concern for spending £465,000 pounds of Ratepayers money on such a "Pisspotical Scheme".

"HARTLEPOOL Mayor Stuart Drummond has moved to reassure residents that the council is not "chucking" money away on a pilot scheme to transform a problem street."[/size]

"Mayor Drummond spoke out to dispel fears that the council would be lining the pockets of private landlords as he said it would be a loan and not a grant.

Speaking at a meeting of the cabinet committee, Mayor Drummond, said: "This is not about us chucking money away.

"Most of the landlords are supportive of the idea and quite happy to put their own money in as long as we can offer some sort of support."[/colour]

"Labour councillor Ged Hall, who represents the Burn Valley ward, said: "There has been feedback from people that has been very positive, but there are also people that are not supportive.

"I fully support that it should be a loan rather than grant arrangement."

Council officers have previously said that they are determined to improve the street and will tackle landlords who do not co-operate and tenants who cause anti-social behaviour.

If necessary, the council has the power to use compulsory purchase orders and empty dwelling management orders to take over problem houses.

What has Cllr Hall & Drummond got to say about it now, i seem to remember that Cllr Brass was extremely vociferous in his support of the scheme, he lives around the corner from Baden street when did he last walk along there & see what a waste of public resources the whole thing was.

Yet another Pie in the Sky waste of money, money the town can ill afford, it ranks alongside the Tall Stories, The Big Tin Shed, The (NON) Transport Interchange, The Grot Spots & many more, you have to ask the question....... who gives these things the go ahead....... more importantly, WHY haven`t the people responsible been held to account

In 2 years time will be be looking back & making similar comments about "the Cafe In The Crem".....I sincerely hope not, but i fear we will.

[Lucy Lass-Tick]

Drove down Baden Street? ... Hope you had outriders... 

[mk1]

 Mapleton road is well on the way to the same fate as Baden St

[tankerville]

I would be careful calling Mapleton Road a well known Labour Councillor lives there, so it could not possibly be as bad as you say. Or could it. ??

[steveL]

Mapleton Road is a strange one as there are plenty of perfectly pleasant, small terraced houses in the area (the ones with the small frontage and wall in front of them) and they are all being dragged down by a relatively small number of Edwardian Terraced Houses (the kind whose front door opens directly onto the street like Baded Street_. A lot of these now have boarded up or broken windows.

No idea why these houses weren't included in the Perth Street Plans and I take my hat off to those tenants/owners in the area who are managing to keep their properties looking nice - sometimes against the odds.

[for fawkes sake]

HBC is going to have to learn to stop spending large amounts of money on these half-baked schemes which don't achieve their goals. It seems almost every day we read of a new scheme of one sort or another and they always seem to have a number of things in common:

   
• There is never anything approaching a tied-down business plan involved.
• The schemes are generally ill-conceived, half thought out and with outcomes far from guaranteed.
• They often run over-budget
• Those behind the plans or charged with implementing them never face any consequences when a scheme does not achieve its goals or worse, fails all together.

Continuing to waste money like this is bad at the best of times but with the council facing funding cuts and the population facing council tax rises then it is simply unforgiveable.

We've had two examples of late: the abandonment of the Landlords Scheme and the absurd 'Cafe in the Crem' Scheme.

Consider this. If an individual went to his bank with a scheme to open a coffee shop in a cemetery they would be asked to show the bank an air-tight business plan, a solid marketing strategy based on existing market research and projections of turnover, costs and profit. Yet HBC is allowed to fund such nonsense on the basis of hunches balanced on a wing and a prayer.

So answer me this. When the Cafe in the Crem Scheme goes belly-up wasting £300,000 of public money and when the Baden Street Scheme produces no improvement whatsoever in return for the £450,000 spent on it - who is going to lose their job over it? Because that's certainly what would happen if it was a private company behind it.

[steveL]

None of the current Councillors live in Mapleton Road

[tankerville]

Quite right my error I stand corrected.

[Inspector Knacker]

Therere was never anything wrong with  Baden Street, it's all down to th tenants, or should we say a section of the tenants.

The problem is blatantly obvious, but the will to resolve the problem isn't there, so a small fortune is spent, buying time, but the place looks worse than it did originally and soon demolition will be the only option. ....... the real cause will then migrate to some new street and the cycle will repeat itself, cue more money.

[fred c]

Therere was never anything wrong with  Baden Street, it's all down to th tenants, or should we say a section of the tenants.

The problem is blatantly obvious, but the will to resolve the problem isn't there, so a small fortune is spent, buying time, but the place looks worse than it did originally and soon demolition will be the only option. ....... the real cause will then migrate to some new street and the cycle will repeat itself, cue more money.

I Hope Not... But i fear that the street houses boarded by Oxford Rd & Cornwall St could be the next area to degenerate, although the majority of the people that live in the area keep their homes spot on there are signs that a lot of houses are now being rented out.

What appears to be happening at the moment is that HBC & Housing Hartlepool are knocking down whole blocks of housing & replacing them with what appears to be mainly "Social Housing" what a term that actually is (a modernism for ghetto), then allowing developers to build "Executive Estates" on the outskirts of the town, before we know what is happening the heart of the town will be located somewhere between West Park & Wynyard.

[steveL]

Therere was never anything wrong with  Baden Street, it's all down to th tenants, or should we say a section of the tenants.

The problem is blatantly obvious, but the will to resolve the problem isn't there, so a small fortune is spent, buying time, but the place looks worse than it did originally and soon demolition will be the only option. ....... the real cause will then migrate to some new street and the cycle will repeat itself, cue more money.

I'd say that was pretty much spot on and over the years there have been many examples. I'd say one of the problems is an apparent reluctance to acknowledge the seriousness of the drug problem in Hartlepool.

[Stig of the Seaton Dump]

As an alternative WWW source for the amount ....

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/home-values/hartlepool/baden-street/?pn=2

It stands out like a sore thumb, nobody would be that stupid unless they had an untoward motive would they ?

You wouldn't expect anybody to pay that much even if they were money laundering for fear of getting caught !

A speculator would surely buy low in the hope of selling for a profit after redevelopment of the area, not pay top dollar up front.

[Vincent]

 Councillor Brash lives in a very nice house in Tunstall Avenue