Sir Steve Houghton - what the ****!!

Anyone who complains about this honour should ask themselves "Could I have got involved and done better than Steve? And If I could, why didn't I".

 

So in one breath you're complaining that an attraction to the town is pointless and then you complain that nothing's done to attract people to the Town.

Belting.

 

Wasn't he in charge when Paul Sykes wanted to build a shopping centre in barnsley...

 

Can you ****, cnuts not allowed. And the sign off you keep putting on your posts prove that you are indeed a lovely person, not to mention the content of most of your posts. Having said that I do kind of agree with you on this. Councils are given a hard time for doing a tough job in tough times, damned if they do, damned if they don't most of the time.

 

The problem that I have with Steve Houghton is that he was never elected to his position by the people of Barnsley. He is simply the leader of the Labour group, who of course always win elections in Barnsley, because people confuse the national party with the local activists. There is, therefore, no way for the people of Barnsley to say whether they think that he has done a good job or not. The town should elect the person who runs the town and have a chance to change that person via elections every four years. But why should Mr Houghton risk his place at the top, when he is safe no matter what.

Most of the changes that have happened in the town that have been listed by others in this thread were actually instigated by others. The government threw money at the schools because of poor performance measured against national league tables. The bus station was funded through South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive. Most of the investment in new industrial premises was via Yorkshire Forward. Mr Houghton will be partly responsible for the new town centre, if it ever gets built, and that is what worries me. Shopping went through a huge change with the opening of Meadowhall, which provided free parking and great transport links directly next to a concentrated shopping area. In other words, Meadowhall provided shoppers with what they want, rather than some centrally planned, goulag. In fact, it provided everything that Barnsley town centre did not. With the advent of the internet, shopping is going through a second revolution. My fears are that the new centre will be built and will repeat not only the mistakes that should have been learned from Meadowhall, but also a set of new mistakes that are about to be learned as a result of the internet shopping revolution. I do not trust the man to take the town forward and fear we will be left with a second white elephant, and what is more, there is no way for me to voice these concerns, because his position is unelected.

 

Who do you propose Barnsley people vote in then.

FFS don't advocate a Tory controlled council, we've seen nationally what they think/care about Towns like Barnsley and have been at the brunt of their vicious policies all too often. Local Tories will only follow their policy.

I'm not for 1 second saying the Labour controlled council are not without their faults but is there really an alternative at this moment in time? Hung council, no thanks. Independants, who are they?Tories, closet Tories perhaps, the odd sprinkling of disaffected Old Labour.

 

Wasn't picking on Netherwood - more academies in general which have been slated in the press. Those that have been open a while like
Barnsley Academy and Royston are failing to deliver the appropriate standard more so than their predecessors.

 

That's my point exactly, the museum will do little to attract new visitors to the town. I'm pretty much certain that visitors from far and wide will not be making "Experience Barnsley" a destination.

My point wasn't that dificult to understand surely.

 

Even the police are complaining about Netherwood with them constantly being called out to deal with problem kids because the school doesn't know how to solve the problem and refuses to deal with it.

 

How many people from around the country will be heading to a museum about Barnsley? I doubt there are many FROM Barnsley who will bother going nevermind outsiders.

 

Surely the police are complaining about the parents of the children at Netherwood?

 

I'll be going. Think it's a quality idea. Celebration of our Town and it's history. Nothing wrong with that at all.

What attraction would you build to attract tourists from around the country?

 

I'd build the best market in the north of england and get people from all over to come.

I don't think there's anything wrong with a museum, I just think he has got his priorities completely wrong. He's trying to sell a house so he's boarded out the loft so he can advertise that the house has lots of storage space but he's not bothered to replace the broken windows or to rehang the garden gate that's fell off.

 

No they're complaining about the school and saying that the school should be dealing with it instead of phoning the police every time there is any problems. They say they're being called out for silly things and that the school are wasting police time.

 

1. There's already coaches that come from all over yorkshire to the market. I **** you not.

2. My missus works at another of the new schools. She or her colleagues have never called the police. And my brother goes to Netherwood. He's never mentioned them at the school either so seriously doubt it's as serious as you say.

 

I've seen the coaches but that's why I think it should be built on and expanded before we start messing around with a museum. It's a bit pointless encouraging people to come to the town centre if there's nothing there to buy when you get there. And maybe it isn't as serious as made out but that is how the police made it sound in the chronicle (or one of the local news sites anyway), they definitely gave the impression that it was a regular thing.

 

Like objecting to a cinema at Manvers because it might affect the chances of town eventually getting a new multiplex?
Or objecting to converting a warehouse at Cortonwood into shops because it might effect Wombwell town centre?

 

Cortonwood and Manvers are rovrum, **** em

 

That's what they're supposed to do.

 

I suspect the objective was to refurbish the town hall on the cheap using European funding. All of the town's leisure facilities are under close scrutiny budget wise, so I'm concerned about the long term future of this museum. It makes very little sense financially.

The Civic Hall project was a complete disaster and is now viewed by the council as a liability. In truth, it would be a far better location for a museum / library / events venue (and would boost a very run down area of town).

I do think the Town Hall & Gardens are wonderful - I have no issue with the work done.