Made In Preston – the blog

This week John Lewis pulled out of being an anchor store in the proposed Preston major development, Tithebarn. The state of the economy and job losses at BAE Systems were quoted as contributing to the decision.  Although one national paper said John Lewis might still be interested in an out of town store and haven’t given up the area completely as a Waitrose is planned in South Ribble.

After over 10 years of debate and delay it is surprising anyone is still in the project. Blackburn must think they won in the end by delaying it with their legal challenge.

What now? A smaller project is mooted with no bus station and containing an M&S. There must be a clue here and with the Winckley Square on-going discussion that the way to get things done needs to be changed. It might be thought that John Lewis would have come into Preston years ago if the first stage had been to build their shop, and perhaps M&S, along with parking. Shrinking the bus station to half its size would have left part of its iconic shape and been big enough while providing car parking space as well.

Grandiose plans have created an all or nothing state similar to Blackpool when the casino dream died.  Yet after being badly holed Blackpool has obtained a lot of money to rejuvenate its centre, the tram system and its two best known buildings and is now starting on a Central Business District development. So perhaps Preston can dust off its plans and start a more realistic scheme phased sensibly so not to disrupt the centre for years and not to frighten the neighbours.

The appeal by Blackburn against the Tithebarn project has been rejected.  Blackburn are now considering whether to make a further appeal although most think it’s throwing good money after bad.

Whether the Blackburn appeal has already done its job might be another factor. The delays to the project have put it into a time when retail on the high street is going through a bad patch.  Investors now need convincing that there is the prospect of a return. In the last week alone well known retailers like Habitat, Jane Norman and TJ Hughes have called in administrators. The battle between the high street and the internet is one reason, not to mention out of town shopping, and it might be thought that over the longer term the internet can only get bigger.

If it is true that John Lewis are looking to open a store they are one of the few retailers that isn’t doing so badly. Although their business tends to be with people who have a decent level of disposable income, whether Preston can still present many of this type of customer might be questioned.

The government is also looking to steer the economy away from the consumer led boom and high borrowing.  Also the cost of Chinese made goods is increasing. Whether this means retail will no longer be a growth area and growth will come from other businesses might tip the balance of the project away from retail and towards business premises. It has seemed possible that Tithebarn is expanding Preston’s retail area more than might be sustainable if you add in out-of-town supermarkets and retail areas.  A watch needs to be kept on potentially conflicting interests; developers, builders, retailers, businesses and the council, to ensure that a white elephant doesn’t appear in the heart of Preston or that it compromises the rest of the centre which is looking quite smart now.

Out of thousands of streets in the UK the BBC selected a street in Preston for ‘The Street That Cut Everything’ broadcast last week.  Meant to highlight the difficulty of providing public services with a limited budget it seemed to score more on Big Brother personal trials and conflict.

In this world the council empty your bin onto the street and then turn off the streetlights, some might say what’s new.  Then at night when it’s completely dark mindless graffiti, fly tipping and a mass dog fouling exercise occur. What’s new? This being TV, solutions must be found immediately, wrong ones are penalised and conflict dramatised.

Novel solutions like storing waste in the lounge and filling your garage with fly tipped junk are used. A spotlight is hired for street lighting. But these are just an inconvenience.

The most contentious part is social care. One family needs extra financial help because of low income.  An old lady had previously been taken by council supplied bus to the shops and residential centre.  As the final twist a lady wanted help from this street for her father who lived somewhere else.

We all had opinions but you couldn’t help admire Mr Can do, the caravan salesman who arranged the lights and generally kept upbeat.  A lot of people put in a lot of elbow grease. Some were good at talking but weren’t seen doing a lot. Some seemed to want more than they appeared to be putting  back, although in the limited time you couldn’t get a full picture. Overall it seemed as good a range of sensible and decent people as you’d find.

The success appeared to be with the old lady who  was an invisible street member until the show, whether this lasts beyond the show time will tell. The most interesting was the resident who expressed entitlement, an idea that often causes strong feelings, and you might wonder if this scene was set up to stir the pot for the show. The residents voted to provide all the needs even though they had no money left but not without it causing bad feeling from those who felt they didn’t have much but managed.

One case thrown in seemed to test reality.  Whether to support a residents disabled father who lived elsewhere.  Wouldn’t the street where the father lived pay for his help in reality? Yet it was agreed, with some being in no doubt it was right, and some seeming to have given up.

In the end Mr Can Do said the programme had created divisions that may never heal and the lady who wanted benefits said she’d move. That’s what you get when your personal life is laid open to those nearby to judge. It made decision making look difficult and recognition for council services. Yet, if you’re thrown in the deep end with no training it will look difficult and as councils have more than council tax for income it wasn’t clear that the refunded tax was all they were entitled to, so their budget was probably low.

Overall it scored on entertainment and gave some perspective of decision making, but didn’t give a broad or deep insight or have any after programme discussion into what was learnt. Some people expressed more sympathy with the council, and why not. In general councils do a good job in a very civilised way, but it might be you think it could be done even better or cheaper.