Made In Preston – the blog

It’s easy to sit at home and scoff about Doomsday Scenario statements from the leader of Preston’s council as reported in the Evening Post.  Today’s comment about the Guild Hall being on the agenda for cuts or even knocked down sounded dramatic and it can’t be certain if it was posturing against central government or positioning for the bus station debate.

The suggestion of bringing in an entertainment company to run the Guild Hall is similar to Blackpool where the council brought in Merlin Entertainments, operators of Madam Tussauds, to run the Tower.  Sounds reasonable, if possible.

Given that the Guild Hall is Preston’s only large entertainment centre it’s unlikely to be knocked down.  Although the Guild Hall isn’t a place I’d suggest anyone goes to have a look at, like the bus station it has a very tired look and suffering from that gap between fresh and old.

Preston Guild Hall, the Preston Guild ceremony 2012.

The council say the settlement with central government is another big reduction and something must give.  Without being an expert on council spending it’s hard to comment, but the buildings being discussed have been there at least 40 years and weathered worse storms than the current recession. Why is it that this time buildings are being knocked down.

It is logical to review all services and buildings and that is what they’re doing.  There are a lot of empty buildings in Preston that many citizens would like to be looked after, the old post office and Mount Street for example.  Hopefully the answer will not be a dull politically motivated announcement.  An assumption of better times to come should dictate the answers.

A Preston Councillor was interviewed on Friday’s BBC North West Tonight. The gist of his statement was that the council could not afford to refurbish and keep open Preston Bus Station while it was under pressure on budgets for front line services.

This is the opposite to what he should have said. In times of hardship it is the duty of the council to think beyond the short term and protect the long term resources of Preston. If we destroy significant buildings to pay for a bit of short term difficulty there will be nothing of merit left. Good things always cost more than poor things.

To destroy infrastructure to pay for services is like knocking down your house to pay for heating. Soon there will be nothing to heat. We are often told that infrastructure comes from a different budget to front line services, however, it seems when it suits them it doesn’t.

Another factor is what interest rates can local authorities borrow at, and what grants are available to maintain such buildings. Blackpool Council purchased the Tower and Winter Gardens using the argument that a local authority can borrow much more cheaply than a company. The Tower is operated by Merlin Entertainments who pay the council. Perhaps no-one is interested in operating a bus station and car park but what options have the council considered?

It seems that this is a very serious decision by the council and the public should be advised how the decision was made and what the options are. In Winckley Square the council proposed swinging letters, searchlights and a totem pole, this doesn’t inspire confidence that this decision is wise.

The Labour candidate, Clive Grunshaw, won the Police Commissioners £85,000 a year role in Lancashire on a 15% turn out and winning 39% of the first votes.  This gives him about 6% support overall, and a lot of indifference.

Not a job most would look forward to, so we wish him well.  To interject into the system will take some teeth, although the powers given to the commissioner give him some bite and a person of substance will make themselves felt.  The local BBC news gave the Merseyside commissioner the most publicity and she didn’t give the impression she’d take any prisoners if she was crossed.

We should give this a go and see how it works. There is a feeling that the police should be seen more everywhere, whether that can be achieved without more police and by cutting paperwork, like the government wants, is to be seen.

Politicising the police is a worry and we’ve already seen the new commissioner making statements that could be said to be critical of the government. We’ve also seen this week, in Rotherham, that certain political views can be read as unacceptable so there could be a fear related to this.

Overall we’ll hope the new system works for everyone and that it will get more support and interest as it goes on.  Although it is quite possible that continued dis-interest is more likely.