Is it for services to the tory party?????? The way he has demolished barnsley is awful. Where are the new markets he promised, what about the waste of money with will alsops circle of light around the town, AND that debacle down at wickes with the road still in a terrible mess. No doubt he will be donating to the re-elect cameron campaign at the next election. .. Forgot to add he has managed to sel out our kids education too
Suppose you could counteract that with the new museum, redevelopment of the area around the town hall, major new schools built on his watch without forgetting new doctors and medical centres. And the bus station redevelopment. What has he destroyed?
Local man , gets an award and the locals are up in arms !!! you can hear it now , the local chattering classes ''the council should sort it out'' etc etc moan moan moan oh and by the way Steve - well done
Your opinion Can I apply to join your clique ? Hang on I withdraw my application , I can think for myself thanks Go on , you know you want to Have a good moan about Steve - after all it all his fault Sent from my helicopter
Schools have been pushed by Govt, but the demolition of certain ones in the rush to get the money before its gone has been somewhat short sighted. Let's revisit these super duper new buildings in about 8 years when they are falling apart and the council's being charged eye watering amounts to 'maintain' them.
You don't enter into any kind of debate, you just make snidy comments about everybody and everything that doesn't meet with your approval. Try reasoned conversation once in a while, you never know you might actually enjoy it.
In general, Barnsley Council do a vey good job. We can all think of specific examples that we don't like......and this BBS is brilliant at analysing the minute and often irrelevant detail (which is why it is so entertaining)...... but lets be fair, Steve Houghton does deserve his recognition and we should applaud this......it is good positive news for Barnsley and what's wrong with that?
"Pointless" new museum. Bus station redevelopment but done nothing to attract visitors to the town. A bit of gardening and a water feature around the town hall, whilst the arc of the town from the Mall round to the bus station is an absolutely disgraceful legacy of boarded up shops and broken promises. The town centre is in a desperate state down there.
Go on , I will not look , have your moan about Steve It will cheer you up for the weekend Sent from my helicopter
Go on have your moan I will not look honest At least it will cheer you up for the weekend , after all Steve is to blame Sent from my helicopter
Holgate, Kingstone, Wombwell High School, Worsbrough High School - In favour of Academies that are seen to be failing. The one monstrosity that he promised to destroy, the toilet block of a town centre that is the Eastern European Markets & shopping centre, he's failed miserably. Spent a fortune on some crackpot idea for a Tuscan hill village. He's also left us with half a ring road and a half finished detour around Wickes. The Town Hall should still be a town hall and not a museum, why waste money moving to a place on the edge of town and convert the one decent building in Barnsley into museum? It's like converting the Houses of Parliament to an Art Gallery and moving Parliament to Canary Wharf - barmy. Compare Barnsley town centre to Donny town centre (Similar sized towns with labour councils) and notice the difference in shopping centres, roads etc. I would say he's been a massive failure in his tenure.
Wombwell High School and Darfield Foulstone have been replaced with Netherwood. This new school/ academy is still in its first year, and from my experience, it is a very good educational facility for our kids. You are wrong to knock this so early in its life.......give it a chance.
im (very) ho - leaving aside the 70's concreting of the town centre and the 80's Tory economic vandalism, on a more practical level - the Alhambra centre should never have been built, the Co-op should have stayed where it was and then resources could have been allocated to making the town more accessible and open to all, rather than chasing the easy rents of the drinking holes that expanded late 80's/early 90's. Chap who owned a business in Barnsley told me all the council were interested in was filling the town with bars.
Lets be fair, bars do bring income into Barnsley. I've had plenty of visitors in Barnsley and all have a good opinion about the town and surrounding area. Seems to me, everyone is looking at the town centre as the "be all and end all", when in reality, the wider Barnsley area is outstanding. I've travelled all over this planet and I am proud and happy to live in Barnsley.
Trouble is, BMBC look like they have given up on the town centre and want to concrete over a lot of the green belt to build 'business parks' that nobody wants - witness the empty units along the dearne link road at Jn 36, Shortwood etc. A lot of their actions are obligated under directives from central govt though, but how they carry them out is worrying.