Can Anyone Imagine the Councils of Berwick or York Repairing Their Ancient Town Walls Like This?

Town Wall Fiasco As £170,000 Goes On Yet Another Consultant Led Study

As someone who does a daily commute from my home on the Headland to work in the Civic Centre, I've often wondered why it is that the Borough Buildings have been left under-used for so long. At one time, before amalgamation, this complex was at the hub of Headland life and contained all of the necessary offices of the then Hartlepool Borough Council. Nowadays, apart from occasional use of the Borough Hall and some office use by the Parish Council, the complex lies virtually dormant.

My puzzlement over this issue has become all the greater as, over the years, I have watched the Council both build and occupy new buildings such as Hanson House. More recently, an apparent lack of office space within the Civic Centre has led to the Human Resources Department taking over the old Windsor Restaurant within Middleton Grange Shopping Centre.

I'm not certain if the Council actually owns Hanson House or whether this is a rental or lease arrangement but I do know that the Council no longer fully owns Middleton Grange but instead retains a shared stake of about 20%. I must therefore conclude that rent on the Windsor is payable.

The S.R.B scheme for North Hartlepool has, in my view, been a major success story. The changes are there for all to see.

However, there is a danger sometimes of thinking that money is the answer to everything. As can be seen on the Headland, money can have a big effect on the visual environment but what it can't do is to put the heart back into a community. In the case of the Headland, I have long since believed that the heart was ripped out of this community when it lost its two secondary schools and when the council administration was transferred following amalgamation.

That's not to say that amalgamation was a bad thing but it was, with hind sight, unbalanced. Within a period of 5 years, the Headland lost a significant number of community based office jobs as well as the visual (and audible) presence of almost a thousand school pupils. Together these people gave the community life and without them the Headland has quickly declined into not much more than a quiet town back-water.

Yes the Council has tried to address this by applying for regeneration grants but it could help in more direct ways if it chose.

The Civic Centre was built in order to centralise its administration at a time when centralisation was the fashion both in the public and private sectors. The reality has proved somewhat different. What centralisation was achieved was short-lived. Council offices are now back to being scattered over several sites - so why not the Borough Buildings.

When the Council was looking for a place to re-locate its Human Resources department why did it not consider re-using a building it already owned and maintained rather than pay rent to a third party in the form of the old Windsor. These are the days of the computer and of near instant communications. What then is the need to remain within visual sight of the Civic Centre when the re-use of the Borough Buildings for one or more of the Council's departments is entirely feasible and would:

• Ease the pressure on office space within the Civic Centre

• Ease the pressure on town centre traffic and parking.

• Inject new life into the Headland

• Provide extra business for local shops and businesses.

• Decrease the rental payments for alternative office space

I don't want this to read as if I'm knocking the changes that have taken place as a result of the S.R.B. Project - far from it. However, the topic of these articles is whether the town lacks imagination and I do believe that we risk falling into the trap of believing that money is the only answer to declining areas or communities. It certainly helps but there are other just as effective ways the Council can breathe new life into such areas.

what do you think?

just another commuter