THING OF THE WEEK
WALL WOES… There are pros and cons to having a historic wall running around your city. Few know that better than the good people at Cheshire West and Cheshire Council. On the one hand, the walls attract visitors to the city and provide protection from invasion. On the other hand, given the wall’s age, it requires quite a lot of upkeep. In the last 10 years alone, the council has commissioned 11 separate repair projects to fix parts of the crumbling Roman structure, spending more than £6m.
The council’s wall-related headache must be particularly acute at the moment; the authority is considering taking legal action against a third party after a section of the wall near the Eastgate Clock collapsed in 2020. If that was not bad enough, the council estimates additional repairs and maintenance are required that would cost in the region of £11m. Ouch.
MAJOR APPEAL… Lancashire’s police and crime commissioner Andrew Snowdon made a surprise appearance at South Ribble’s recent planning committee meeting to urge members to approve the £75m overhaul of Lancashire Police’s two HQ sites. The committee chair had clearly not been notified that Snowdon would be speaking and seemed momentarily perturbed at the deviation from the agenda. In the end he allowed the crime commissioner to put forward a compelling argument for the approval of the project. “It only takes a short amount of time to appreciate why 95% of the buildings on the two HQ sites are graded as unfit for purpose,” he said. “When the last full new building was constructed, John Major was still Prime Minister. That is the length of time since [the last] major investment.”
NEON NIGHTS… The countdown is on for The Christie Charity’s Night of Neon event, making its return to Salford Quays on Saturday 3 February. As a prelude to World Cancer Day, the family-friendly 5k walk is set to light up the night in a dazzling display of fluorescent colours. More than 600 participants have already signed up to take part in the event, which will see MediaCityUK at Salford Quays transformed. Grab your glow sticks and head on down – www.christie.nhs.uk/the-christie-charity/get-involved/fundraise/events/events-calendar/night-of-neon
TENZING NORGAY… It looks like Wirral Council was missing its own top-notch sherpa when it came to scaling the Everest of building naming policies. The council’s goal to name two new Birkenhead office buildings after ill-fated Everest climbers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine hit a block in the form of bureaucracy. Turns out buildings in Wirral cannot be “named”, and instead must have numbers. So, while the buildings will informally be known as Irvine and Mallory, officially their addresses will be the less exciting 2 and 4 Alice Ker Square.
Very concerning to see the Committee hear the agenda in a private room and for police to be brought into the chamber. pic.twitter.com/F2Ta6E9zdk
— Block the Block! (@blocktheblock1) January 18, 2024
PLANNING PALAVA… A marathon four-hour Manchester City Council planning committee meeting was interrupted by unrest in the public gallery yesterday. The dissenters were protesting against plans to build around 2,000 student homes on Upper Brook Street and refused to leave when asked by committee chair Cllr Jon Connor Lyons’. In the end, the whole meeting was moved to a different room so proceedings could continue. Cllr Lyons’ insistence that planning is serious and definitely not a “pantomime” convinced nobody familiar with the UK’s planning system.
Campaigners have been pushing tirelessly for action to be taken to repair Chester City Walls. CWACC’s press release this week marked the 4th anniversary of the collapse near Eastgate Street
By Anonymous