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| James Wharton MP stood outside the derelict Springs site. |
The developers had hoped to build a new Travelodge, a Nandos restaurant and a Harverster pub/restaurant on the site which has been an eyesore for many a year, standing as it does at the entrance to Teesside Park. Despite the urging of Conservatives on the committee and the ever robust leader of the Thornaby Independents, Steve Walmsley, the Labour members on the planning committee ensured, for a second time, the application was refused.
In hearing and dismissing the appeal, the planning inspector found the economic benefits of the scheme were "not significant", despite earlier stating that "the site is located within one of the worst 10% of nationally ranked deprived wards with a current unemployment rate in excess of 9%".
It makes one wonder just how deprived the ward would need to be for £7.5million to be considered a significant figure? Or how many Thornaby residents would need to be unemployed before 60+ new jobs was regarded as a significant benefit to the area and the town?
Stockton Council's primary argument for rejecting the application - on both occasions it has been considered by the planning committee - was the risk it would pose to their attempts to regenerate Stockton High Street. As pointed out by James Wharton, MP for Stockton South, it goes to show just how fragile Stockton Council believe their own economic model to be.
We all know Stockton High Street is in a dire state, but if Stockton Council really believe a small hotel, a restaurant and a pub being sited at Teesside Park would undermine their £20million regeneration plans (plans some may describe as necromancy) an urgent rethink is required.
Of course, no right-thinking person gives any credence to the Labour run Council's professed reasons for opposing the application. In reality, Labour councillors would much rather see the new jobs and investment going to Stockton instead of Thornaby (or instead of any other part of the borough for that matter).
In their representations to the planning inspector, Stockton Council suggested a number of alternative sites which are, they claim, sequentially preferable to the Springs site. It is telling that every single one of these suggestions are located within Stockton; no consideration whatsoever was given to any other part of the borough, let alone Thornaby.
It's perfectly understandable that many Labour councillors feel driven to prove their former leader, Bob Gibson, wrong (after he described Stockton High Street as being "beyond redemption"), but to do so by deliberately eschewing any proposals to bring investment to any part of the borough outside of Stockton town centre is tantamount to an act of vandalism.
Following hot on the heels of charging the people of Thornaby £100,000 to regain control of their Town Hall (despite Stockton Council having complained for many years about the estimated £15,000 p.a. it cost for the building's upkeep!) it's clear that Labour led Stockton Council doesn't give a damn about Thornaby, and cares not a jot for its history or its future (something all residents south of the Tees will find familiar).
One can only hope that the residents of Village ward think long and hard before the election on 7th February, and tell Les Hodge and the Labour Party that enough is enough.
Stockton Council's primary argument for rejecting the application - on both occasions it has been considered by the planning committee - was the risk it would pose to their attempts to regenerate Stockton High Street. As pointed out by James Wharton, MP for Stockton South, it goes to show just how fragile Stockton Council believe their own economic model to be.
We all know Stockton High Street is in a dire state, but if Stockton Council really believe a small hotel, a restaurant and a pub being sited at Teesside Park would undermine their £20million regeneration plans (plans some may describe as necromancy) an urgent rethink is required.
Of course, no right-thinking person gives any credence to the Labour run Council's professed reasons for opposing the application. In reality, Labour councillors would much rather see the new jobs and investment going to Stockton instead of Thornaby (or instead of any other part of the borough for that matter).
In their representations to the planning inspector, Stockton Council suggested a number of alternative sites which are, they claim, sequentially preferable to the Springs site. It is telling that every single one of these suggestions are located within Stockton; no consideration whatsoever was given to any other part of the borough, let alone Thornaby.
It's perfectly understandable that many Labour councillors feel driven to prove their former leader, Bob Gibson, wrong (after he described Stockton High Street as being "beyond redemption"), but to do so by deliberately eschewing any proposals to bring investment to any part of the borough outside of Stockton town centre is tantamount to an act of vandalism.
Following hot on the heels of charging the people of Thornaby £100,000 to regain control of their Town Hall (despite Stockton Council having complained for many years about the estimated £15,000 p.a. it cost for the building's upkeep!) it's clear that Labour led Stockton Council doesn't give a damn about Thornaby, and cares not a jot for its history or its future (something all residents south of the Tees will find familiar).
One can only hope that the residents of Village ward think long and hard before the election on 7th February, and tell Les Hodge and the Labour Party that enough is enough.
1 comment:
I can only agree with you on this Mr Chatburn, although it peeves me to do so.
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