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See Latest Corresponence | Archive Shabby entrance to ‘City of Culture' | Link
(News and Star) Before all this renaissance and culture, how about a proper bus station with a manned, all-night toilet? That would do more for the tourist trade. The money spent on Renaissance “consultants” would probably have paid for one, with lots left over to start to turn the Lonsdale into a real theatre (just a theatre – we already have an art college, so we don’t need another art centre). L DAVIS Scalegate Road Carlisle The police station, fire station, magistrates’ court and houses in Warwick Street, designed and built by Percy Dalton and Laing, are among the most important elements of Carlisle’s built environment at a time when the city was also at the forefront of social improvement. The challenge for Renaissance and the city’s leaders is to preserve these public buildings and to adapt them to new uses. IAN CARUANA Peter Street Carlisle City can manage without | Link
(News and Star) RECENTLY there has been a glut of patronising articles pointing out how Carlisle Renaissance are leading the way in bringing culture to the people of Carlisle. In the paper recently, Mr Eland, resident artist and spokesman for Carlisle Renaissance, is reported to have said that “people are starting to become more culturally aware in Carlisle”, and “are beginning to engage in culture and the arts”. The desire for culture has always been present – people took to the streets to fight for the Lonsdale theatre, the Green Room and the Stanwix theatre were always well supported. There has always been a demand for good musicians, tickets for Van Morrison and his like sell out fast. There have always been jazz and blues clubs in Carlisle. The cathedral plays host to classical musicians. Alternatives to what is on offer in Botchergate were always there and when or if the university is built in Caldew Riverside there will no doubt be a lot more venues like the Brickyard and the Source opening up in the area. This will happen whether Carlisle Renaissance are there or not. Maybe the council should follow the lead of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council who last week announced that it was to withdraw its annual funding of £300,000 for the Regeneration company Regenco. Earlier in the year Bradford Centre Regeneration Company and Tees Valley Regeneration Company also had their council funds axed. At least the councillors have to declare any vested interests when putting forward proposals, unlike the private sector led regeneration agencies and their many offshoots. Julie Templeton Committee Member Save Our Streets Corporation Road Carlisle We don’t lack aspirations | Link
(News and Star) I READ the article stating that Carlisle Renaissance is going to launch a bid to become UK City of Culture 2013 with a certain degree of scepticism.SO WE ARE now told that we are “starting to be culturally aware in Carlisle”. What have we all been doing then for the last three years?IN THE piece in the paper about Carlisle being a City of Culture it says that the people have to get behind it. First a Cumbrian artist now living in San Francisco wrote to the paper deploring the lack of culture in the city centre. A short while after this, Carlisle Renaissance released the ‘Culture in Carlisle’ report and declared that it was going to launch a bid to become the UK City of Culture 2013. This, according to an earlier article in the paper, came as a complete surprise to the Council Leader Mike Mitchelson, who is also on the board of Carlisle Renaissance. It seems strange that the leader and the council were left out of the loop. Could it be that Carlisle Renaissance wants the public to be more accepting, via its involvement in a less controversial initiative than the plan to destroy city homes and significant elements of our heritage? If the money spent on consultants and design companies, wages to quango executives etc had been put to better use, perhaps Carlisle could by now have had a theatre and be a city to be proud of. Bryan Gray says that the city now needs an executive director for the Cultural Development Group. This is in addition to all the other groups recently formed in the Historic Quarter. Carlisle does not need any more patronising articles pointing out a lack of aspirations from its residents. The aspirations have always been there, only the money to see it through has been lacking. IAN MITCHELL Dalston Road Carlisle Residents and visitors crying out to celebrate cultural treasures
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(News and Star) “CITY of Culture.” Hmm? “Public support is crucial.” Hmm? “Residents should get behind these proposals.” Hmm? “People are starting to become more culturally aware.” Hmm? “We need support from the public.” Hmm? Was I really part of the march to save a listed, Art Deco building in the city to be restored as a theatre and venue for performing arts? Did I stand in the freezing cold and rain helping to collect 15,000 names on a petition calling for this building to be saved and restored as a theatre and venue for performing arts? Have I given up time in countless meetings to promote a listed, Art Deco building to be restored as a venue for theatre and performing arts? There is heavy support for this building and its future use. Residents are already behind proposals for it. And as for “people are starting to become more culturally aware,” I nearly began chewing the carpet. Thank you but we are culturally aware, we just don’t have the venue we have been asking for. We take our money and our trade where there is culture or we do without. The Lonsdale was built “for the kinematic and live entertainment of the people of Cumberland”. It is in an accessible area, close to public transport. It would regenerate the area. We are handing Renaissance a popular place on a plate. So you need support from the public ... please can the public have some support from you? I think this would be called democracy. EDNA B CROFT, Walkmill Crescent, Kingfisher Park, Carlisle We’ll need more than Sands to be Capital of Culture | Link
(News and Star) Much as I love Carlisle – and I do, I really do – I confess to a struggle with the idea of it becoming the UK’s cultural capital. Nothing’s impossible, of course. Never say never. Things can change. They can change in a wind-whistling rush – where there’s a will, a favourable light and sudden discovery of a theatre. And to look on an even brighter side, if ever there were to be a prize awarded to the city showcasing a culture of no culture, well “hands down” springs to mind. But it seems likely Ben Bradshaw – he being the Culture Secretary – had in mind something a touch more elegant than Black-eye Friday and that quaint local custom of biting off friends’ ears when he invited cities to bid for the country’s cultural crown. He was probably looking for a sophistication that makes the difference between a fine wine and 15 pints and a punch-up down Botchergate; the discernment separating Milan’s elegant Galleria Vittorio Emanuele from charity shops and chewing gum-stained pavements; a socialising habit owing more to chatting in street cafes than herding drunks into a designated boozing strip – and locking them in until they’re plastered. And what he’d make of Puccini in a sports hall would be no more than a guess but... So yes, it’s a challenge seeing Carlisle as the Florence of the north or lauded as the UK’s answer to Barcelona – although our cathedral is at least finished, which is more than they can say in Barca. Culture? Hard to know what to say really – perhaps that we’re waiting to be amazed? But do we actually know what it is, should be or could be in Carlisle, where thought-provoking street-art translates into ruptured purple bin bags? It’s a toughie for our bidders – Carlisle Renaissance, city and county councils, Cumbria Tourism and Tullie House Museum. A chicken and egg decision... and do calm down chaps, that’s not another organic reference. Here’s the quandary: Which comes first, a community’s inclination to accept and enjoy “culture” or a city authority’s determination to provide it? And who, in the rush to submit a box-ticking cultural capital bid by October, decides what kind of feast should be laid on Carlisle’s table for arts-starved citizens? Beats me. If I had answers to those imponderables I’d be sitting comfortably on a cash-rich quango, living in a seven-bedroomed pile with eight acres, commissioning pricey consultants to tell me what little I knew already; that a city’s culture evolves naturally from its people – unless the brakes are applied by a few who think they know better. If the majority of people in Carlisle prefer gummy streets, gated drunks, making-do-and-mending in a hall with acoustic rigor mortis, I’ll make supper from my recycling box and all its bottles. If the naturally evolved culture of this city happily accepts limitations of hard drinking, drug dealing, paella and cheap handbags from market stalls at Christmas and denial of anything beyond second-rate – because that’s what folks here are used to – I’ll stop dreaming of an evening at a proper theatre, in my home town, with a box of Black Magic. And I won’t do that. It’s such a lovely dream. I prefer not to believe any of that negative artless stuff. People aren’t wired that way. More likely, a few, who spent too long thinking they knew better, have frustrated collective aspirations with flat refusal to rise to the challenge of allowing this remarkable city to become the best it could be. But they couldn’t stifle them. Though many a snigger greeted Carlisle’s announcement of bidding for cultural capital status, there’s a whiff of expectation around the old place. Serious intent requires raising the game – and game-raising always brings a buzz of excitement. Word is other cities bidding for cultural excellence include Oxford – dreaming spires may be a problem; Durham – Pah! We can do history; Birmingham – reputedly the finest concert hall in Europe, Birmingham Royal Ballet, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, galleries, theatres. Could be tricky. Leeds – Opera North, Northern Ballet, theatres coming out of its ears, designer shopping arcades, street art, edgy architecture... challenging. Stoke on Trent – potteries. Hull. Hull? It used to have fishing – until they put it in a museum. All is not lost. All is never lost until the fat lady sings and she hasn’t even learned her lyrics yet. Game-raising plans are underway, which ought to mean brakes are off. And that has to be good because, first or last past the post, any cultural uplift will make Carlisle a well-deserving winner – at last. Art icon or laughing stock? | Link
(News and Star) THE words Carlisle and culture don’t often feature in national reports. The only culture the city is famed for at the moment is the drinking culture of the University of Botchergate. Which is desperately sad when you consider the wealth of talent the region is responsible for and continues to produce. But the city’s council bosses have declared they will launch a bid to become the UK’s city of Culture 2013. They have to submit a plan to the Government by October, detailing the culture to be found here. Hopefully this plan will not need to be drawn up with the help of costly consultants. It strikes me that Carlisle needs a few things to be in place before we can start calling ourselves a city with culture, let alone the UK’s city of culture. For a start, we need a proper, professionally run, designated theatre rather than make do with a giant sports hall. Preferably, this would be the old Lonsdale cinema, if not, then a new build somewhere in the city centre and within walking distance of the train station. It should have a main auditorium, a studio and an exhibition space. We need a decent, stand-alone art gallery with space to feature established artists and room for those at college or who have just finished their courses to exhibit and sell their works. We have to move beyond the attitude of ‘making the most of what we’ve got’, which smacks more of ‘make do and mend’. The Renaissance project has promised to develop culture in the city and local artist Derek Eland is involved. But we have a host of poets, authors and artists who are nationally and internationally respected and vastly experienced (Melvyn Bragg, Margaret Harrison, Keith Tyson, Sarah Hall, Hunter Davies, Conrad Atkinson, Jacob Polley) who need to be involved in at least some form of brainstorming sessions on what we could and should do for the city. Sure, our promotion and presentation of the area’s rich history has to be improved. But we need more than that if this bid isn’t going to make us a laughing stock across the rest of the nation and if the brains trust behind the Carlisle Renaissance is serious about making the city a better, more exciting and interesting place to live and visit. Get us all involved! | Link
(News and Star) What has happened to the ‘Carlisle’ in Carlisle Renaissance? You, me and everyone else out there are part of Carlisle and yet we know next to nothing and we are not involved. City councillors at a meeting set up especially to oversee and scrutinise the work of Carlisle Renaissance were continually asking: “What is going on?” If our elected representatives don’t know and are not involved, what hope is there for the ordinary citizen? Some progress has been made with Carlisle Renaissance. This has taken the form of endless smaller groups dealing with separate issues – eg, the Caldew Riverside Partnership Group and an associated Project Board; the Historic Quarter Steering Group and an associated leadership group, a Carlisle Christmas City Working Group; and Carlisle Transport Working Group. Doubtless there are more. Who sits on all these groups? It seems to be the same people. Where are you and me? Is this for Carlisle? Renaissance should benefit all. The chairman of the meeting raised the issue of representatives from the communities sitting on these groups. I hope that all councillors and officers involved with Renaissance will take this suggestion forward. Let’s hope it’s not too little too late. Muddled messages over Renaissance | Link
(News and Star) Rumbling disgruntlement at progress or otherwise made by Carlisle Renaissance shows little sign of abating.
And chances of views changing from negative to positive in a hurry are slim, to say the least. Harsh recession has taught us all to measure what we get against what we pay. Scant evidence of getting anything much for a demonstrably heavy outlay naturally goes against the grain of budgeting for best value in a tough financial climate. So, while Renaissance board chairman Bryan Gray may be right to assume Carlisle City Council’s Labour group leader Michael Boaden is failing to understand the role and purpose of the regeneration body, he might be tempted to ask how and why that misunderstanding arises. In truth. it’s one shared by many Carlisle people who had expected to see delivery of change before now – improvements to their city that would have been impossible without Renaissance. Expectations were high for a transformed city with new vibrancy, a progressive city with renewed confidence and plenty to boast about. Mr Boaden complains there has been little meaningful progress in that direction and that the council’s contribution of £250,000 a year is not buying the value anticipated. He adds that important local projects have moved on without Renaissance involvement and accuses the board of: “Commissioning expensive consultants to produce reports that in many cases are telling us all what we already know”. Defence that Renaissance’s purpose is to create a vision for Carlisle is unlikely to satisfy critics who already feel that “pulling people together and looking for ways around problems,” wasn’t quite what was promised. Perhaps misunderstanding stems from poor delivery of muddled messages. If hopes for Carlisle’s rebirth could never have been pinned on Renaissance, someone should have said so... four years ago. Enlightened vision? Not this scheme | Link
(News and Star) Dear City Councillors (and officers), It has been a good week for the headline makers/writers. Signing of the NDR followed by upbeat news from Kingmoor Park and the local university. Even the lead editorial in the newspaper chipped in with a rosy view of the world as seen from Carlisle. In these difficult times it should be good news for your citizens as well, with the prospect of smooth-flowing traffic, employment opportunities and quality education on the doorstep. It looks like all our money you invested in Growth Point bids, Carlisle Vision (Renaissance), Strategic Housing Market Assessment and Urban Development Guidelines might be paying off. Fine-sounding words spill from the pages of these initiative documents describing how enlightened planning and development processes will ensure that as Carlisle grows, it does so in a way that ensures this vision becomes reality. However, challenges lie ahead and vigilance is required on the journey. One such challenge is knocking on your door. A developer has lodged an application to attach 900 houses to the northern perimeter of our city at Crindledyke. The documents supporting the application run to an impressive 1,300 pages and your average citizen would need to devote their annual holiday to assess the impact. Fortunately some of your citizens care enough about your vision to make this effort. What we find is a proposed development which is essentially a bolt-on, bringing an additional 3,000 people and 6,000 car movements per day into the existing infrastructure – through a single entry/exit). This is the equivalent of a town the size of Appleby or Silloth. Moreover, the application does not include any provision for educational or medical facilities. No adequate capacity exists near the development. Is this integrated planning or is it assumed this will be sorted out by the city and its council tax payers when problems inevitably surface down the line? This proposed development does not fit the profile of your enlightened vision. You have a chance to shape our city for the future – affordable housing, park and ride provision, high quality public transport, education, culture, and leisure facilities. That mix will attract the proper type of growth, not the growth that comes through ‘steroid-induced’ urban sprawl. This requires not only vision but courage as well. Times are tough but the easiest option is rarely the right one.
NEIL CONACHER Carlisle, watch Penrith... | Link
(News and Star) ANYONE who cares about the future of Carlisle should be watching recent developments in Penrith with close attention. I WAS unable to read JG Byers’ letter (Letters, July 16) but from the answer in the paper it must have been about the complaints that have been made over many months. The increased footage awarded to Sainsbury’s in the stalled New Squares development has been hailed as good news and Sainsbury’s as the saviour. Has a passing thought been given to how this will affect the small independent traders in the town? Penrith is well known for the interest and diversity of its shopping and attracts many visitors on the strength of this. Has Eden handed over Penrith to Sainsbury’s? We now read (News & Star, July 25) about the problems of Lowther Manelli, the developers originally behind the New Squares development, and how Eden Council has voted to decline their solution of a Company Voluntary Arrangement. In the short-term, Eden would seem to be working in the best interests of their rate payers. There are, however, a number of questions posed here which do not have immediate obvious answers. What is the relationship between Eden, Sainsbury’s and Lowther Manelli? Who has the whip hand? If Lowther Manelli is dropped as a developer, who will replace them? Will the project be re-tendered? And at more expense to the rate-payers? Who will have a say in the tender brief? Will Sainsbury’s, who now have a large interest in the site, be influential in this process? What will be the outcome for the small traders and people of Penrith? Carlisle citizens, and especially elected councillors, will do well to follow closely what is happening. Penrith council tax payers still have the possibility of using the local democratic process to oppose any schemes which they may feel are detrimental to their town. Eden Council is still nominally in charge. This will not be the case in Carlisle where the city council has handed all responsibility for developments similar to the New Squares scheme in Penrith to Carlisle Renaissance. It is hoped that Eden Council, as elected representatives, will be able to stay in charge of the development and affect its outcome for the benefit of Eden residents. It is not comfortable or reassuring to conjecture what might happen in Carlisle if a similar situation were to arise and Carlisle Renaissance were in charge. ELIZABETH ALLNUTT Committee member, Save Our Streets Peter Street Carlisle Planning only for power | Link
(News and Star) I have just read the article on ‘What Makes Cumbria Special’ (News & Star, June 29). The people interviewed said that what they liked was the friendliness, the communities and the slower pace of life. Why, then, are the people in power doing their best to destroy what is good about this area? Despite Ian Gray’s statement to the papers that Carlisle Renaissance was not pursuing the development plans for Rickergate, all the planning documents issued by the various bodies such as the North West Development Agency and Cumbria Vision are being aligned so that when the time is ready for them, they can just move in and do practically whatever they like. Margaret Beckett’s proposed changes to planning policies, ‘Planning for Prosperous Economies’, will make it practically impossible for anyone to challenge decisions if they are connected to economic growth. Even the ‘needs’ test, which requires developers to show that there is a need for their proposal, is to be done away with. These changes are purely to make it even easier for the investors and developers to decimate communities in the name of profit. This will not just affect Rickergate – these policies will be used throughout the city. With Cumbria Vision, the NWDA and Cumbria County Council combining forces for a new delivery structure for regeneration and the representatives from the nuclear industry, university academics and the same five or six private sector businessmen who pop up in just about every board and committee going, making all the decisions, you can’t help wondering how much longer local government can hang on, particularly when other services are being outsourced. Why bother voting when it is obvious that big business is in charge? Although there is a recession, there will be no shortage of funding for economic development in Cumbria, largely thanks to funds being poured in to compensate for the fact that our county is being sold off to the powerful nuclear industry and designated as the ‘energy coast of Britain’ or, as some see it, the ‘nuclear waste dumping ground of Europe’. The regeneration of our communities should be a bottom-up approach, taking people with them to improve their lives and the lives of future generations. It should not be imposed by what is becoming a more and more unelected, unaccountable all-powerful force. JULIE TEMPLETON Get kids involved | Link
(News and Star) I’D LIKE to make a plea for the views of the younger citizens of Carlisle and local areas – including schoolchildren – to be taken into consideration for the multi-million pound Renaissance project. It struck me this week that younger members of our society have not yet been involved, even though they are the ones who will have to live longest with any changes made. Acclaimed Cumbrian artist Derek Eland has been working with Carlisle City Council for some months now and has started a project to get youngsters to say what they like and don’t like about the city and what they would like to see change. It was only recently that Renaissance bosses had the brainstorm that culture and heritage had to be important factors in any reshaping of the city. We want our youngsters to learn, live and work here, not grow up and move to more vibrant and diverse places with their skills and expertise and salaries. Cities are for living in, not just working in and the people who are our future should have some voice in how it looks. Renaissance? Tackle neglect first | Link
(News and Star) I have watched carefully the Carlisle Renaissance project, which seems to have adopted some problems recently. There are many other things that should be done to improve our city, and they are only small jobs which would please the council tax payers. The picture I took, right, on March 24 is a fine example of neglect, or is it Renaissance with a lift? Or maybe that old film from the 1960s, The Day Of The Triffidds. BRIAN IRWIN Funding available if you try | Link
(News and Star) SO THE feasibility study proved the Lonsdale supporters right, but now we can’t afford it says Mike Mitchelson. THE ITV programme I hope will escape the axe is The Krypton Factor (Your Choice, News & Star, March 5). We probably couldn’t afford the Lanes and the Sands Centre in the past but we got them through the vision and hard work of the councillors then in charge. As Edna Croft stated (News & Star, March 10) what we need now is a business plan so that we can apply for lottery money. As I understand it £11,000 was spent on the feasibility study yet £19,000 was allocated, so why can’t the remainder be used to get together a business plan? Even better maybe Carlisle Renaissance can try to achieve some credibility with the local population by doing something concrete for a change. In the past they proposed a theatre arts complex that was to cost a staggering £19 or was it £20 million, real pie in the sky. If they come in now and support the Lonsdale project by funding the preparation of a business plan and giving their wholehearted support to help raise the £11 million finance through the channels which I assume they have (or are they really just a talking shop?) they might eventually be taken seriously by the citizens of Carlisle. DAVID RAMSHAW Beaver Road Carlisle So much untapped potential | Link
(News and Star) The Carlisle Renaissance project is like many of the schemes started in Carlisle over the years, full of good intentions, but sadly goes off the mark. Bringing tourists into the historic centre is an admirable aim, but stopping parking in Castle Street will have the opposite effect. Out of town shopping centres work because they have parking and bus access; conversely stopping parking in the town centre will reduced the number of people in the city centre shops. We need to encourage people into the centre, possibly by re-allowing buses into it and retaining the parking as it is. As for the castle, sadly rejoining it to the centre is no longer financially viable, but it could be made more interesting. As a young boy I used to love going into the various rooms of the castle and to see the artifacts and displays there. Last time I went in most rooms were empty; let’s bring out the displays again and show how it used to look. Bringing more people into Carlisle is not rocket science and it does not need a big spend to do it, we already have much of the means to do it, if only we looked harder. As for Botchergate, this can only be improved over time, start in the city centre and eventually it can spread to other areas. Finally, Sainsbury’s supermarket. At last the west of the city is probably going to get a major supermarket. Too often the west is forgotten and we have to travel to Tesco in the east or Morrisons and Asda in the north. Journeys that should not be necessary. Yes it may increase traffic in Caldewgate, but it will help reduce it on Scotland Road and Warwick Road. So in conclusion, let’s work on the historic centre and Caldewgate, but let’s keep it within reason and do it soon.
ALLAN STEVENSON Planning inspector backed evidence of SOS | Link
(News and Star) I read with interest the front page article about the exorbitant amount of money spent on consultants on Carlisle Renaissance when so little actual work has been achieved (News & Star, February 18). One of the explanations as to why the schemes may have foundered was the campaign by residents in Rickergate and the resulting uncertainty over the purchase of properties there. I would like to point out, that although the Save Our Streets campaign gave evidence there, the future of Rickergate was thoroughly tested by the Local Plan Inquiry. In the inquiry report, the planning inspector made it quite clear that the Carlisle Renaissance consultants’ plans for the area were ill thought-out and unacceptable. It was this considered report which was fundamental in changing the perspective of Carlisle Renaissance about Rickergate. If a senior planning inspector could come to these conclusions, there was plainly something very wrong with the original consultants’ report. I would also like to pose the question how does calling in outside consultants helps to generate wealth locally? Public funds donated for the regeneration of Carlisle are already leaking away from the city into the economies of Liverpool and Manchester where the consultants are based. Surely it is not beyond the imagination of those employed in Carlisle Renaissance to use all the resources available to maximum effect to stimulate the local economy by using local expertise? Perhaps they should be earning their salaries by using some imagination rather than taking the easy option and calling in consultants? ELIZABETH ALLNUTT Forget ‘historic core’ – look at local needs
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(News and Star) Once again the Carlisle Renaissance quango set out their latest proposals to ‘improve’ those parts of the city least in need of it. The general consensus of the townspeople as frequently expressed in your columns is that the so-called Historic Quarter should be left as it is. What people repeatedly ask for is that something should be done about the disgraceful condition of the Botchergate and Caldewgate areas and to save the Lonsdale. It is time Carlisle people were given what they want rather than what fly-by-night outsiders think they should have imposed on them. And unelected outsiders at that. The city council and the Renaissance Board go on talking about “Historic Carlisle”. But what is there left in historic Carlisle to attract anyone? The cathedral is beautiful and, indeed, famed for its welcome, but most of the nave has gone, and, it seems, visitors, on average, rarely stay longer than 10 minutes. And as for Roman Carlisle, not one Roman brick remains standing. Any visible Roman remains are at least 20 miles away with little public transport available. The castle looks impressive, but once inside is so deadly dull that it is not worth the entrance fee nor the physical effort involved in getting to it. Forget historic Carlisle and tourism. Proper jobs, development and trade is the commonsense Renaissance we need. Forget the developers’ schemes to pave over the town from the centre. It would make more sense to restore our market town heritage and allow cars to park again outside the Old Town Hall. It would liven up the town centre. At the moment it is mostly dead space. I remember when Carlisle was crammed full of people; when one could hardly walk up Botchergate for the throngs of people on the pavements, and it was the same on English Street and Castle Street. Perhaps it would make more sense to attract locals back into the town centre rather than tourists who will never come anyway. JUNE CF BARNES Recovery is not an impossible task | Link
(News and Star) IT is perfectly feasible to talk yourself into a recession; entirely possible to invite the kind of trouble an economic slump will bring. Some would say we’re pretty good at that. Less straightforward is the converse. Not quite so easy to talk up recovery. Less simple to will back buoyancy in business and drive confidence in returning prosperity. But difficult doesn’t translate into impossible. In Cumbria a dogged determination to keep faith in recovery and work for growth in the regional economy has seen the county bucking national trends by defying the harshest ravages of what has been described as the worst recession since 1945. County business leaders are cautiously optimistic about the state of the region’s economy, pointing to the expansion of blue chip companies, growth in the nuclear industry, local enterprise and continuing job creation as signs of hope rooted in honest endeavour and skill. They remain convinced that here nothing should be dismissed as unachievable. Caution is necessary wherever optimism is encouraged. There are no magic potions for success; we can’t hide from hard times and even the best of the county’s talents will not guarantee escape from degrees of disappointment. But slumps have been worked through before and will be again, with application of innovation, imagination and hard work. We are, however, all in this together and if defiance of recession is to continue, there must be mutual cooperation bridging private and public sectors – flexibility and adaptability applied to fill empty premises, business rates made manageable and trading conditions less of an uphill struggle through bureaucracy. And few local companies fighting fiercely toward recovery should be expected to accept without frustration Carlisle Renaissance Board’s view that £2m spent on consultants and four years of thinking was nothing – in the grand scheme of things. In a recessionary scheme of things, that sizeable sum will represent waste and missed opportunity. Buying buildings OK for ‘vision’ | Link
(News and Star) I AM responding to councillor Boaden’s tabled motion at a recent Carlisle City Council meeting, calling on the council to buy empty properties in the now rapidly-deteriorating Post Office end of Warwick Road. The leader of the council was quoted as saying that it was unrealistic and where would the money come from? He also said it was a fallacy to think that the council has millions of pounds to buy empty buildings. There was no such problem when the council decided to acquire properties in Rickergate with a view to site assembly. The public of Carlisle has a right to know how much taxpayers’ money the council has spent on feasibility studies, consultants, urban designers and the upkeep and wages of the Carlisle Renaissance Board. The council is expected to pay £955,000 towards the Carlisle Renaissance delivery team. How can the council justify this when council workers are facing redundancies and cuts in wages, and council tax payers of Carlisle are facing an insecure and uncertain future. If the council had used local planners and designers, at least they might have come up with something realistic and sustainable. Whenever I attended any of the presentations on the regeneration of the city and asked or overheard anyone else questioning the scale of the developments shown in the glossy design guides, it was explained that these were visionary or inspirational images only. Why then waste public money printing and putting these designs out for consultation if there was never any realistic chance of them being built? JULIE TEMPLETON Committee member Save our Streets Corporation Road Carlisle People want action not more planning | Link
(News and Star) WHEN Carlisle’s Renaissance was launched in response to the disastrous flooding of 2005, it was widely welcomed as a grand plan with positive ideas for a city in need of regeneration. Four years after that momentous launch, there will surely be disappointed frustration that 2009 is to be yet another year of much more talking about another collection of positive ideas. Bryan Gray, chairman of the Carlisle Renaissance board has promised this year will be one for unveiling visionary new proposals for Carlisle’s multi-million pound rebirth. There will be huge progress – but not in building work. Great strides – but only in clarity of what’s to come. It will be a year for decision and nailing a detailed vision certain to excite the population of Carlisle, he says. He might well find that an order taller than he would care to confront. Mr Gray is conscious of public impatience and frustration over what is perceived as little or nothing doing on the Renaissance front. He and his board should not underestimate those negatives. Successful redevelopment of the city will live or die by the support or otherwise of its citizens. And initially enthusiastic engagement is already diluting in the passage of too long a time with no visible progress. The purpose of this project was to reshape the city by design. Renaissance is already in danger of being overtaken by events, as the struggling economy threatens to reshape it by default. Pulling Carlisle’s now empty Woolworths store under the Renaissance umbrella may not necessarily ease those mounting difficulties. Will Carlisle city centre benefit most from that closed store being held in year-long suspension of vacancy, awaiting the unveiling of vision and clarity? Or would not more urgent, immediate efforts to encourage new occupiers to fill the gap in Carlisle’s retail heartland do more for a city and its people, now fighting on so many fronts? Council needs to look south | Link
(News and Star) RE THE city council Renaissance scheme between Greenmarket and Carlisle Castle. The ruling group of the city council should have a walk down Botchergate. That’s where money needs to be spent, bearing in mind any visitor coming to Carlisle by road coming down London Road into Botchergate would be absolutely amazed at the state of the entrance to our city. What are these councillors there for? Can they not see that there’s nothing wrong with the area that they are talking about? It is adequate and the people of Carlisle like it the way it is. Please look at Botchergate, spend money there. That’s where it is needed. JOHN ROBINSON Morton Park Carlisle |
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