Call for entertainment site in town is shouted down
8:47am Monday 29th October 2012 in News
LONG-overdue plans to create a family-friendly entertainment site in Bolton town centre should be revived, a councillor claims.
But an attempt by former Bolton Conservative leader Cllr John Walsh to call a conference about the future of the town centre were dismissed by the ruling Labour group, however.
Cllr Walsh, who represents Astley Bridge, was also branded “a dinosaur” during the heated debate.
He had tabled a motion at a council meeting calling for a conference and inviting developers to address what he called the “long overdue” development at Central Street to turn it into an entertainment centre with cinemas, restaurants and cafes.
He said: “Many of us have a desire to see a vibrant town centre. There are those of us who remember the development of the Market Place and arrival of Debenhams and thought it would be the main thrust of development for the next part of the town centre.
“But over the years we’ve seen that dream eroded.”
He said: “In Churchgate another premises has closed and there are two empty office blocks.
“And what does the council do? Put a couple of flower tubs there.”
He said: “I was walking along Churchgate, and on the pavement one of the stones has a quote from Kenneth Wolstenholme which says: ‘they think it’s all over, it is now’.
“I don’t want to see that be the epitaph of Bolton town centre.”
Bolton Council leader Cllr Cliff Morris said: “You’re off again, ‘let’s bash Bolton’.
“What have the Conservatives done for the businesses in the town centre?
“VAT went up to 20 per cent, business rates are up 13.5 per cent. “What has this government done?”
Cllr Morris said three restaurants had recently opened in Bolton and that BHS’s refurbishment was a sign of its commitment to the town.
He said: “Get behind The Bolton News — they’re backing Bolton not bashing it.”
Mr Walsh was then jeered from the Labour benches with a shout of “John Walsh is a dinosaur”.
He replied: “A dinosaur that wants to see Bolton town centre regenerated.”
The Conservative councillors voted in favour of the motion but Labour opposed it and the motion was defeated.
Comments(37)
mg whites
says...
9:35am Mon 29 Oct 12
The-Boltonian
says...
9:43am Mon 29 Oct 12
The town centre is in dire need of improvements.
MarkAllRead
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9:46am Mon 29 Oct 12
mililly
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10:12am Mon 29 Oct 12
Boff
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10:22am Mon 29 Oct 12
Cheap parking and proper architecture would be a start!
k8882013
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10:44am Mon 29 Oct 12
Hulton Park
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11:13am Mon 29 Oct 12
One of the Greater Manchester quangos would surely welcome them with open arms.
Oops - sorry, Cllr Morris got there already.
steveG
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11:45am Mon 29 Oct 12
cagneystrilby
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12:07pm Mon 29 Oct 12
big ginge
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12:38pm Mon 29 Oct 12
Phil from Smithills
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12:44pm Mon 29 Oct 12
cliff4treasurer
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12:55pm Mon 29 Oct 12
gonchbwfc
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12:57pm Mon 29 Oct 12
si2008
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3:12pm Mon 29 Oct 12
steveG
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4:08pm Mon 29 Oct 12
majorblodnok
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4:11pm Mon 29 Oct 12
The place looks tired and tatty and in dire need of anything that can boost its economy.
I,m with Cl Walsh on this one..Cliff Morris clearly walks around town with his eyes closed.
Phil from Smithills
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4:24pm Mon 29 Oct 12
steveG wrote:The answer is yes, when Bolton Council joined MIDAS.......
Is it possible some form of financial cohersion is responsible for keeping Bolton in the doldrums ?.
( MIDAS, acting on behalf of the ten Local Authorities of Greater Manchester, works to attract inward investment into the City Region by promoting Manchester (Google) ..). and the City Region Status who's main objective is investment into Manchester.
The sooner Greater Manchester is abolished or we leave the better. As it has been a downward trend for Bolton since the creation of Gtr Man.
ownerdriver
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6:20pm Mon 29 Oct 12
majorblodnok wrote:That is just the problem, he never comes out of his ivory tower.
Anyone can see that the town centre is a mess..Shut down businesses abound.
The place looks tired and tatty and in dire need of anything that can boost its economy.
I,m with Cl Walsh on this one..Cliff Morris clearly walks around town with his eyes closed.
mgood51
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6:29pm Mon 29 Oct 12
The-Boltonian
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6:32pm Mon 29 Oct 12
mgood51 wrote:Trouble is, whoever you vote for, you get a bunch of idiots running the council.
when you vote next time you know what party not to vote for use your vote
dressit
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6:44pm Mon 29 Oct 12
The-Boltonian
says...
6:51pm Mon 29 Oct 12
dressit wrote:I wish.
I often read the comments, most of the time they are more entertaining than the news. But one of the things that keeps cropping up time after time in the news and in the comments is the total disregard Mr Morris has for this once beautiful town.........can we not force this awful man to retire??? if not when can we get rid of him?????
Tonka Morris was leader of the board of governors at the college and led the college into rack and ruin and major debt, took us years to force him to quit and he has done the same with the Hospital.
Governors of any public corporation that screw up like this should be banned from public office.
You might have got the idea that I do not like Tonka Morris but you would be wrong, Its not that I don't like him, I detest him and cross the road to be away from him when I see him.
JustBecause
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7:19pm Mon 29 Oct 12
Ronnies27
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7:32pm Mon 29 Oct 12
Phil from Smithills
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7:42pm Mon 29 Oct 12
The-Boltonian
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9:50pm Mon 29 Oct 12
JustBecause wrote:We managed to get him out of the college but it took a long time and he didn't go till after some of the directors were pushed.
lets start a get rid of Morris campaign.
wild one
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1:48am Tue 30 Oct 12
Ronnies27 wrote:you having a laugh.....friendly? no fights? busy? was you on drugs?
Went in to Bolton town centre on saturday night, had a cracking curry in Laibaz and then a few drinks around town. Contary to public opinion the place was busy, friendly with people of all ages and not a fight to be seen. Bolton town centre is not as bad a place as people are prone to saying. Of course it could do with improving but then so could everywhere else...
gene watts
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8:11am Tue 30 Oct 12
wild one wrote:councilors get real visit our facebook page 70sbolton over 4000 people are on it from bolton we hate what you have done to our town they should sack the lot off you why has nothing beed done about the empty shops or places like the odeon bombsite the list is endless stop lining your pockets and do somthing your even going to let A & E CLOSE WERE THE BIGGEST TOWN IN ENGLAND SO CALLED
Ronnies27 wrote:you having a laugh.....friendly? no fights? busy? was you on drugs?
Went in to Bolton town centre on saturday night, had a cracking curry in Laibaz and then a few drinks around town. Contary to public opinion the place was busy, friendly with people of all ages and not a fight to be seen. Bolton town centre is not as bad a place as people are prone to saying. Of course it could do with improving but then so could everywhere else...
brindley wanderer
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9:20am Tue 30 Oct 12
Bob Shaftoe
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12:05pm Tue 30 Oct 12
wild one wrote:It's ignorant, misinformed people like you that take pleasure in degenerating our town that make me sick. Have you ever been for a night out in town? You should try it. I am in my 60's and still enjoy doing a few pubs on a Friday night. You would be surprised at the varied age groups encountered. You never know, you might bump into someone from your younger days.Not everyone is as miserable as you appear to be.
Ronnies27 wrote:you having a laugh.....friendly? no fights? busy? was you on drugs?
Went in to Bolton town centre on saturday night, had a cracking curry in Laibaz and then a few drinks around town. Contary to public opinion the place was busy, friendly with people of all ages and not a fight to be seen. Bolton town centre is not as bad a place as people are prone to saying. Of course it could do with improving but then so could everywhere else...
Reebok Rhythm
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3:43pm Tue 30 Oct 12
Regarding the infrastructure of the town and the incompetence of councillors, I recommend there is a back to basics approach which takes into account what the indigenous people of the town really want; those who have witnessed the plight of the town and seen changes which have contributed to its economical deterioration. There have been some fantastic posts and its good to see that so many of us are extremely passionate about our town and its existence.
P.S. Lest we forget! 11/11/12 - Rememberance Sunday.
AlwaysaWanderer
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12:38pm Fri 2 Nov 12
Ousting this clown is the only way this town can progress, he appears to be of the opinion that only he and his labour (with a small 'l') cronies know what's best for the town and to act like this is childish in the extreme. Taunting a fellow councillor with playground chants? Remove them.
I remember when we used to have a thriving town centre, particularly the market hall, and a petition with thousands of local people's signatures calling for the 'redevelopment' to be stopped. Did the council listen?
Nothing will work until we get rid of these lazy, clueless, arrogant nomarks. Let's face it, they've been aboard the gravy train for years too long and I think it's time for a new driver before it gets derailed.
Psyanide
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6:11pm Fri 2 Nov 12
I had a word with my Aunty a few days ago who used to live in Bolton but now lives much further afield. She said “I was in total shock when I went into town with your Mam a few months ago. Just cant believe how bad its gone :o(“
Now apart from the stereotypical “Mam” business, she had a really good point, and I think I've just created my own theory as to why it's really bad... the council (in addition to a series of very poor business decisions) has been focussed on seemingly only one thing - it’s been trying to gain profits (and in the latter stages recoup money from it’s aforementioned decisions) by putting prices up.
As far as I can recall, it all started around 16-18yrs ago. The town (and indeed country) was coming back out of recession, the poll/council tax was starting to bite, and the money was slashed from council budgets, so to try and get some, the council started to push up not just the tax, but also the prices of the ground rent for the shops. Some of the shops just collapsed or their parent companies just found it not economically viable to carry on and were replaced by cut-price versions of themselves - the quality of the goods on offer started to decline.
Then the parking situation vanished - i.e. there was no parking available. The council yellow-lined/metered every road in yet another effort to get money. So now, to keep shopping as cheap as possible, people felt they should shop as quickly as possible before the cheap 30mins was up (or have their car slapped with an extortionate fine). The shoppers knew what they wanted, went only to the shops they needed to, bought exactly what they wanted and drove away. Thus people were not strolling around town, enjoying the shopping experience, getting food and drink while they did so, making impulse purchases and generally spending more. People going to town on a bus don't generally shop for too much - they have to carry it all home again.
So, the shops again were hit and so even more vanished. At this point the housing boom started and when the businesses collapsed, housing went up instead. This bizarre action took away some of the great entertainment and forced people to entertainment parks - Pilsworth catered for people who could no longer enjoy Bradshawgate's Cannon cinema & LaserQuest and Hollywood Bowl just around the corner. As for swimming... well, the Water Place was obviously just too good for us. Fact is, kids could generally no longer afford it as most of their money was being spent on simultaneously rising bus fares to get to it. That resulted in another poor council led business decision as they thought they needed to put the price up to get their costs back. The houses and apartments that have gon up are still half empty - yet another bad decision.
So the council thought that it wasn't the parking and ground rent that was at fault, it was the shops themselves and made probably the most disastrous change of them all - because it was enclosed and because they were focussed upon trying to emulate the Trafford Centre - they turned the market place - with it's history, character and reliability of experienced shop-owners - into a faceless, characterless "me too" mall, a true and perfectly executed exercise in banality. The place has been open for well over two years now and still cannot fill the trading places - there are boards and white-stickered windows where there should be good quality shops. Unfortunately, even those that have taken up residence in there cannot be given that status either.
So now here we are now in an economic downturn and people driving to the outskirts to get decent shopping and entertainment, instead of into the heart of the town where all that should be a given.
Towns like Halifax, Chester and Bury which I either work in or just frequent, have gotten exactly the right idea - yes, build new things, create new ventures, but don't forget your roots. They have new build shopping centres but also have fantastic old shops, that do very well because they are unique to the town, have lots of experience, but aren't forced to close because the council wants more money.
This is now where the tone of my rant gets a little more, for want of a better word - snobby.
I feel now (and I know I’m not the only one to feel this) that the town is now just full of Pound shops and morons.
The scum you see walking around town don't drive - they haul their sorry (and generally foul-smelling/mouthe
d) arses onto the buses. The buses are easy and relatively quick routes. If it takes two buses to get to then it's not going to be with going as it's going to be a trawl coming home with the bags of stuff they don't need but can somehow afford. They don’t have to pay for the buses anyway - so another incentive to hop on.
So because there is nowhere to park for free, people with cars go to the retail parks and shop there instead. They can wander around there for hours, doing a bit of shopping first then going for a bit of a bowl. No rush.
With the bargain and pound shops taking over Newport St it's making it even more attractive to them. So generally, the Newport St area is a no-go area as it's filled with morons. There's generally less of them in the Market place as everything is more expensive - but as that place simply has no character any more, the nice people don't tend to shop there either.
But it's not just Newport St any more - it’s starting to creep out... and I reckon within the next 3-5yrs, the monument standing to represent the great and good to give us the freedom to live as we do, will be surrounded by B&Ms, Poundland and the stench of stale cigarettes, sweat and chronically cheap perfume.
So the combination of no car users, and loads of people who generally don't have the intelligence to even open a car door let alone drive them, makes it a compound situation that the thought of me having to actually go into town to do any shopping there...
... makes me cringe and reach for my car keys.
penny for your thoughts
says...
5:16pm Sun 4 Nov 12
So never mind the fact other restaraunts have closed and that the company that owns BHS have closed Top Shop and Dorothy Perkins,... Is Morris blind as well as stupid?
JustBecause
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8:24pm Sun 4 Nov 12
penny for your thoughts wrote:You missed off "we'll paid"
Cllr Morris said three restaurants had recently opened in Bolton and that BHS’s refurbishment was a sign of its commitment to the town."
So never mind the fact other restaraunts have closed and that the company that owns BHS have closed Top Shop and Dorothy Perkins,... Is Morris blind as well as stupid?
The-Boltonian
says...
11:11pm Sun 4 Nov 12
JustBecause wrote:NO. 'OVER PAID'
penny for your thoughts wrote:You missed off "we'll paid"
Cllr Morris said three restaurants had recently opened in Bolton and that BHS’s refurbishment was a sign of its commitment to the town."
So never mind the fact other restaraunts have closed and that the company that owns BHS have closed Top Shop and Dorothy Perkins,... Is Morris blind as well as stupid?
more like.
Remind me, why do we pay these people.....
mg whites says...
9:33am Mon 29 Oct 12