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Post by zenfootball2 on Nov 24, 2022 18:02:56 GMT 1
I had a liberal local new letter put through my letter box the other day, it now seems the shopping centers which cost £51 million to buy has now slumped to a value of just £12 million the last time it was in the news it was £17 million. so if the new value is correct they have managed to lose £39Million pounds and to add insult to injury the council are alegedly paying £1 million a year on maintaining a largly closed shopping center.
we also have the largely empty Riverside shopping centre with seems another white elephant. just utter incompetence from the conservative controlled council.
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rob62
Midland League Division Two
Posts: 210
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Post by rob62 on Nov 24, 2022 20:23:02 GMT 1
Remember that it is your money they are sqandering
The next white elephant project that will cost millions more than planned will be the by pass.
Gross incompetance of the highest order.
Still to quote Mr Weller The public gets what the public wants.
When will the public wake up and replace this failed administration....maybe never
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Post by staffordshrew on Nov 24, 2022 23:04:53 GMT 1
So incompetant that there ought to be some sort of legal comeback!
It should never have been the council's business to buy shopping centres.
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rob62
Midland League Division Two
Posts: 210
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Post by rob62 on Nov 25, 2022 0:02:30 GMT 1
It has been obvious for years that retaili is going on line a trend that has been accelerated by covid lockdowns.
I agree the Council has no business buying shopping centers. If thete was money to be made the private centre would have never had put the centres up for sale
They should focus on their core role and provide decent services.
Once again the people of Shropshire pay the price for stupidity and incompetance
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Post by staffordshrew on Nov 25, 2022 0:10:25 GMT 1
And forget the by pass, just get some flyovers on the A5, so it runs like the M54 does through Telford, then a little rearrangement of the Battlefield to A5 road around the High Ercall roundabout.
Have a feeling though that the council want to open up another route that development can spring up on so as to rake in more council tax.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2022 7:59:28 GMT 1
And forget the by pass, just get some flyovers on the A5, so it runs like the M54 does through Telford, then a little rearrangement of the Battlefield to A5 road around the High Ercall roundabout. Have a feeling though that the council want to open up another route that development can spring up on so as to rake in more council tax. I'm afraid that that horse has already bolted. The new A5 was built on the cheap with islands instead of interchanges. The Queensway/Eastern Primary is a pretty good example of what should have been and even though that has now been messed about with, it is still possible to get from one end to the other without even changing gear, never mind having to stop every mile and a half. |
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Post by staffordshrew on Nov 25, 2022 10:54:09 GMT 1
And forget the by pass, just get some flyovers on the A5, so it runs like the M54 does through Telford, then a little rearrangement of the Battlefield to A5 road around the High Ercall roundabout. Have a feeling though that the council want to open up another route that development can spring up on so as to rake in more council tax. I'm afraid that that horse has already bolted. The new A5 was built on the cheap with islands instead of interchanges. The Queensway/Eastern Primary is a pretty good example of what should have been and even though that has now been messed about with, it is still possible to get from one end to the other without even changing gear, never mind having to stop every mile and a half. They planned Stoke on Trent's 'D' road by pass to have flyovers, then built it on the cheap, then went back and put the flyovers in. |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2022 11:02:32 GMT 1
To be fair, the title isn’t factually correct as it would suggest more money has been spent when in reality they’ve just lost value. Obviously the council have committed to some huge scale redevelopment of the pride hill and riverside area and until that’s completed (or even started would be nice) it’s hard in my opinion to say the purchase has been an unequivocal failure. Especially as we don’t know what the town centre would look like if they were still in private ownership.
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Post by staffordshrew on Nov 25, 2022 12:00:28 GMT 1
There's companies that specialise in revitalising and making sites 'work', would have been better to have experts doing the job. One of those companies bought the Chares Darwin, had a deal with the co-op for part of the site to be a new shop, then sold the pub on - they know what they are doing.
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Post by Dancin on Nov 25, 2022 12:01:32 GMT 1
I live to the west of Shrewsbury and are all in favour of the Bypass; it will be a god send for us to get to the NW side of Shrewsbury.
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Post by ProudSalopian on Nov 25, 2022 16:12:02 GMT 1
To be fair, the title isn’t factually correct as it would suggest more money has been spent when in reality they’ve just lost value. Obviously the council have committed to some huge scale redevelopment of the pride hill and riverside area and until that’s completed (or even started would be nice) it’s hard in my opinion to say the purchase has been an unequivocal failure. Especially as we don’t know what the town centre would look like if they were still in private ownership. Absolutely. There was a discussion recently on here about it, the council have not lost £40million, the value of the centre has dropped by £40million (or whatever the figure is). that would be a huge disaster if the council were lookong to sell but they aren't, they purchased the shopping centre so the could then control future regeneration and then also make income in the future. There is of course a huge debate about whether Shropshire Council should have spent that sort of money but they were unfortunate that covid struck when it did. When/if the regeneration of the centre happens then we may look back and say the council purchasing the centres was a brave move and the regeneration couldn't have happened without it. However, in the current climate and the pace things move around here at the best of times, that is a long, long, long way off |
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Post by zenfootball2 on Nov 25, 2022 16:41:26 GMT 1
There's companies that specialise in revitalising and making sites 'work', would have been better to have experts doing the job. One of those companies bought the Chares Darwin, had a deal with the co-op for part of the site to be a new shop, then sold the pub on - they know what they are doing. The problem is we have ample evidence that the council dont have a clue. a clssic short shighted move by the council they once had a sustainability departmnent a few years back they closed it and what do we need now ? the department they closed. |
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rob62
Midland League Division Two
Posts: 210
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Post by rob62 on Nov 25, 2022 22:32:10 GMT 1
The Council is in deep financial trouble.
The original plan was to sell Shirehall to balance the books and have a smaller ofice hub as part of the new development.
There is some logic in the plan. However will the Council have gone bust by the time the redevelopment happens.
One thing is for sure Council tax will continue to rise and services will get worse.
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Post by davycrockett on Nov 26, 2022 9:41:26 GMT 1
The Council is in deep financial trouble. The original plan was to sell Shirehall to balance the books and have a smaller ofice hub as part of the new development. There is some logic in the plan. However will the Council have gone bust by the time the redevelopment happens. One thing is for sure Council tax will continue to rise and services will get worse. Frozen again next year in Telford, what a wonderful place to live. |
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Post by martinshrew on Nov 27, 2022 10:51:15 GMT 1
I have no time at all for our council, there seem to do absolutely everything in their power to stifle just about anything good.
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Post by staffordshrew on Nov 30, 2022 13:50:03 GMT 1
It's high time local councillors stopped using council money as if they were Elon Musk.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2022 16:13:45 GMT 1
It's high time local councillors stopped using council money as if they were Elon Musk.
Thurrock is an extreme example and inexcusable, but most councils will have had their central funding cut, or at best frozen, for years. Meanwhile inflation, pay increases, increased social care etc all has to be paid from already stretched budgets, leaving unpalatable savings and risky income generation as a necessary evil. Local government is an important but often forgotten part of the public sector. |
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Post by martinshrew on Nov 30, 2022 16:45:58 GMT 1
It's high time local councillors stopped using council money as if they were Elon Musk.
Somebody should be in prison for that. |
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rob62
Midland League Division Two
Posts: 210
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Post by rob62 on Nov 30, 2022 23:31:31 GMT 1
Perhaps we should be grateful that Shropshire Council haven't been as reckless as Thurrock have been.
Nevertheless there is massive pressure on budgets and cuts may well be just around the corner.
A lot depends on the size of the governments grant.
I seriously doubt that the Council can afford to build the by pass whatever the merits if the scheme may be
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