Groundhog Day at Jacksons' Landing

[marky]

I remember Drummond writing way back in July that this deal was expected to go through 'in a couple of weeks'. Here we are in January and we're still being told the same thing.

With Staples and now Blockbusters closing down, the retail aspect of the Marina appears to be in dire straights and everyone knows about the number of empty flats on the Marina. This 'deal' talks of creating more retail units and more flats - sorry - 'apartments' all ready to add to an already over-loaded sewage system that reeks to high heaven on warm summer days.

I'm sure that I'm not the only one who is starting to get offended by the talk of such developments 'creating new jobs' and 'being good for the local economy'. Change the record for f*c*'s sake!

http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/local/deal-is-set-to-be-completed-1-5332236

[fred c]

Yeah, its looking more & more like a "Pink Papered" disaster in the making, whispered costs of under £2 Million pounds.... how much under, is probably why they are Pink Papering the whole deal, the only concrete costings available are the almost £36,000 spent so far on the project.

Why would they want to keep it all under wraps ? the details will eventually come out under an F.O.I request, HTH has already proven that no matter how hard they try to hide things they eventually come to the surface & prove to be an even bigger embarrassment than it would have been in the first place ( Peer Group Report ) comes to mind.

The Marina area was originally & to a cerain extent it still is a big improvement to Hartlepool, the recent closure of major retailers in the immediate area, & the large number of empty flats all over the development are an indication that major work is needed to stop a further decline.

Now if HBC could come up with a developer that wants to create a whole new retail complex that encompasses the empty land to the West & the Historic Quay, & businesses like Asda, Next, Curry`s, etc etc that would be more like it.

What have they proposed so far........ A Car Boot Sale

[not4me]

This will end up with more pigeon loft style flats that can't be let.
For any journey from A to B to be successful you first have to be certain where 'A' is and continuous spinning talk of the Marina being 'The Jewel in the Crown' does nothing to acknowledge this. The Marina is a deteriorating, stalled development in the hands of cowboy developers and if anyone doubts this they should take a look at Marky's video that he posted a while ago.

What is needed is a realistic and comprehensive recovery plan before things get even worse. I know that a lot of people who bought flats and houses in the early days now think that they were sold a pup by the developers who only seem to be interested in screwing as much profit out of the area while spending as little as possible on maintenance. Until this corrected, the area will never achieve its true potential and become the thing we were all promised at the start.

Jackson's Landing is only the latest saga - it's three years since we were told that the council's adoption of the infrastructure was 'only a fortnight away'.