Archive for October, 2009

« Older Entries

AN UNHEALTHY OBSESSION

Friday, October 30th, 2009

On a very practical level, a bus station that prevents the development of seven acres of prime city centre land is neither sensible nor desirable.

When that bus station is as ugly and grey as the Preston facility, then it beggars belief that local people are actually campaigning to have the bloody thing listed!

It is an A1 eyesore, a blot on the landscape and should be demolished by the local authorities at the earliest opportunity.

The fact that it is ‘the largest bus station in Europe’ is beside the point. As well as being a monstrosity, it is a barrier to the progress Preston needs to make if it is to drag itself into the twenty first century, as an attractive, business friendly city, that has a transport infrastructure that can cope with the additional 3,000 people that the powers that be have aspirations to attract into Preston in future years.

Can you imagine an extra 1,200 cars attempting to access and exit Preston City Centre using the existing road network? It would be an absolute nightmare.

The unhealthy obsession that a very vocal minority have with Preston bus station is as barmy as it is unhelpful. The sooner the bulldozers are sent in to demolish the thing the better.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Business | No Comments »

TRAMSFORM CAMPAIGN STILL ON TRACK

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

A letter from Government Minister Sadiq Khan that was released earlier this week seemed to suggest that the potential for the building of a tram system across the Liverpool City Region was, in the foreseeable future, dead in the water.

The Ministers correspondence indicated that the absence of the scheme from a list of regional transport priorities, compiled earlier this year, meant that Mersey Travel and its partners had missed a crucial window of opportunity to present its case for the tram.

However, following a series of conversations with leading players from across the region, and in Westminster this week, I have to say that the announcement of the trams ‘death’ has been greatly exaggerated.

What motivated the Minister to write such a letter at this time seems a little baffling to say the least.

The timetable that Mersey Travel is working to includes two crucial meetings during the next month. Firstly, the business case for the project will be presented to the Transport Authority next week; and the support of the City Region cabinet will then be sought in November.

Assuming these obstacles are cleared, and from the information I have seen, I fail to see how Merseyside’s political leadership cannot get behind this much needed initiative, then it is inconceivable that a strong case will not be made to the Department of Transport to provide the necessary funding that will give our city the modern, twenty first century transport system it deserves.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Business | No Comments »

BNP WILL TAKE THE HITS

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

Those of you who regularly follow this blog will know that I loathe the BNP and all it stands for. Therefore, I have mixed views on the BBC’s decision to provide its Leader, Nick Griffin, with a prime time television platform to articulate the cocktail of racism, misinformation and downright lies that he was able to spew out directly into people’s living rooms last night.

Of course, I get the argument that in a democracy a political party that secures a million votes, and with it seats in the European Parliament, is de facto ‘entitled’ to have its say. But was Question Time the right place for them to have it?

If the idea was to present Griffin as a bit of a buffoon who would clearly sell his own Grandmother for a vote, then the BBC can be congratulated on a job well done.

But, he was not nailed as the evil fascist that he is, and at times the other four panellists missed their target by all trying to outdo one another as they baited the ‘star turn’.

It was, in my view, an ill judged, inappropriate setting to really drill down into the policies and culture of the BNP. An hour with Paxman would have been far more effective.

Griffin will have felt, and certainly looked, uncomfortable during his sixty minutes in the spotlight. But, as news emerges of the BNP website recording a record number of hits following the programme, he will feel it was a discomfort worth suffering.

One final point on this issue. Why do mainstream politicians feel obliged to suggest that BNP voters are not necessarily racist? If, as the Liberal, Labour and Conservative representatives claimed last night, the BNP benefitted from a ‘protest’ vote, then why haven’t we seen a glut of Green Party candidates elected onto Council’s and the European Parliament. If you voted for the BNP then you are a racist!

Tags: , ,
Posted in Business | No Comments »

GROSVENOR DECISION MAY BE BLESSING IN DISGUISE

Friday, October 16th, 2009

The announcement that Grosvenor Developments have abandoned the city centre regeneration scheme, the Tithebarn project, may come to be seen as a blessing in the longer term.

Grosvenor’s decision comes following objections from neighbouring local authorities that has led to the planning application being ‘called in’ for a Public Inquiry.

For over a decade now, this proposed £700 million plus initiative has been hanging around, and preventing any other potential improvement schemes from going ahead.

That the Council have said that they will plough on regardless with its other partner, Lend Lease, who to my knowledge have no experience or expertise in major retail development, is understandable, but not very practical.

An £800,000 investment will be required to fight the Public Inquiry that will take place should Preston City Council decide to take that course of action, and with Grosvenor’s departure from the team, its case is weaker than it would have been. The question needs to be asked – would that £800,000 be better spent on coming up with a new blueprint for Preston?

Certainly, Downtown and some of our leading members are keen to work with Preston Vision in coming up with a ‘Plan B’ – hopefully proposals that can developed and delivered and delivered quickly.

All that being said, Grosvenor has not covered itself in glory here. Preston has every right to feel let down and betrayed by a developer that has been given virtual carte blanche as far as city centre development is concerned. Jim Carr and his team must feel bitterly disappointed to lose a partner that they have done so much for.

FOOTBALL MUSEUM CAN STILL BE SAVED
Thanks to the intervention of Lancashire County Council, UCLan and Preston City Council, the chances of the National Football Museum remaining in Preston have significantly improved.

These three major players have come up with a £3 million plus package that would improve the existing Deepdale facility and offer a more attractive range of services to visitors. It certainly gives the Trustees a choice between staying in Preston or moving to Manchester.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Business | No Comments »

PHIL WOOLAS

Friday, October 16th, 2009

Phil Woolas, the Government Minister for the North West Region, was in good form at the Breakfast event hosted by DLIB last week, at the superb new offices of one of our corporate sponsors, Grant Thornton.

Among the many points he made came a suggestion that Liverpool should re-establish its own Stock Market in the city. A cracking idea that we will be exploring with Neil Blankstone of Blankstone Sington and others in the coming weeks.

He also confirmed that the Tram project has failed to be delivered due to poor local leadership; and he visited the Pall Mall site that we believe would be an ideal location for any civil service jobs that the Government plans to transfer from Whitehall to the North.

LEADERSHIP
Talking of leadership, and as Downtown plans to take the brand down the M62 next year, I have been spending a fair bit of time in Manchester recently.

I have written before about the co-ordination, cohesion and the ‘can do’ attitude of Manchester’s political establishment, and the more I see of the place, the more impressed I am.

The local government city region structure is organised through an organisation called AGMA (Association of Greater Manchester Authorities) which has private sector representation and is attended by all the leaders of the Manchester councils.

Its economic development policies and strategic planning, not to mention AGMA’s lobbying power at a national level, is both impressive and consistent and is in marked contrast to what appears to be a rather shambolic Merseyside group, which is, I am informed, hardly ever graced by the presence of the Leader of Liverpool City Council, Warren Bradley.

On my regular City Talk slot this morning, Warren called in to object to remarks I made about the Elected Mayor debate in Liverpool. In a rather heated exchange, he contended that the Council’s consultation on the issue has been extensive and there is no appetite among the city’s electorate for an elected Mayor. I would simply argue that a referendum should take place on the issue – and that will happen if a Conservative Government is elected in 2010.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Business | No Comments »

« Older Entries