Tourism in Stockton

We have some great things to do in Stockton, yet not many people know about them. This is partly down to the lack of promotion of the tourist attractions. Which is something that angers me about the local council, if we were based anywhere in the country, but Teesside we would have people flocking to the area to visit these attractions, yet most hotels are occupied by business men and women on short stays or one night check ins.

My view of the situation is that since the local LEP crushed the Tourism arm for the Tees Valley (Teesside, Cleveland, North Yorkshire, Durham) we have had very little opportunity to tell the world what we are about, yet the North East region does particularly well and so does Yorkshire with its "Welcome to Yorkshire" Campaign. Yet we have the Stockton News and local press.

From someone who studied Travel, Leisure and Tourism at College, I wanted to work in the sector to promote the area, but by the time it came to leaving the college, the Visit Tees Valley brand had been shelved and there was no one there to pick up the pieces.

But, back to Stockton. We have great potential here, but there is no one really pushing the attractions to the outside world, which is the main thing you need to do in Tourism and marketing.

So what do we have right here on our doorstep ... Preston Park Museum and Grounds, Tees Barrage International White Water Course and Watersports Centre, Green Dragon Yard and the Arc, various first class golf courses and lets not forget about the heritage of our area ... Home to the Darlington to Stockton Railway (the first in the world) plus the Worlds first ticket office, Home to the inventor of the friction match John Walker (lets not talk about the bust) along with the proud history of Ship building, Iron works, potteries and Flour Mills (Even Pumphries has a great story)

We have so much, yet we never tell the world or build the environment to take advantage of what our previous generations laid before us. Thats what makes me 40% angry with Stockton Borough Council.

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Darlington Library

So Darlington Council have to make huge savings and doing so it seems their first target is the Crown Street Library. The plan is to sell the building and relocate services to the Dolphin Centre on a much reduced scale. This is to come at the cost of 25 jobs within Library Services and I am appalled that when the going gets tough, the council's get cutting. Instead of reducing the costs to the upper hierarchy of said council, it is the front line staff that are being sent packing. In my opinion services such as libraries should be the last thing to be hit when making cuts. Libraries have an environment that encourages thinking, reading and writing and allows imagination to run wild. Darlington Council will make their decision this Wednesday in a Special Cabinet meeting and I hope for the sake of learning and culture, they see fit to save this building and better still save the creative environment that comes with libraries.

Social Media

For those that don't know I have been blocked by Facebook, this has happened 3 times in as many days. Facebook says that is due to being reported and in my opinion I most probably know who by. But never the less, I will continue to inform people of what I do and what I think by other means. Twitter and Blogger are to become my main source of communication and to be truthful Facebook was beginning to get on my nerves anyway. Fake news at its finest. So from now on I will get family members and friends to post the links up to this blog and if you are on twitter you can follow me at @LukeJohnFrost where you can also send me private messages if you so wish to do so. I know there was a lot of people who relied on this on Facebook. But not to worry, if you are not on Twitter you can still request my email or catch me as some do in the Town Centre or Library.

Putting The Record Straight

Just to make something clear, I am not against investment in our area, far from it. I have signed many support comments for developments such as Aldi, Parade of Shops on the Industrial Estate and even supported the Hotel proposal and the Student apartments on Mandale Triangle. Saying that I have also objected to a few, such as the Mcdonalds on the centre and recently the two takeaways that where planned for Lanehouse Road, along with the proposal for 150 homes at the Barrage. In fact I am still the only objector on the Stockton Council Planning portal. I believe investment is great, when it is in the right area and with the right amount of demand, access and need. Over the years we have had a bombardment of planning applications go through Stockton Borough Council for south of the Tees developments that has seen the population swell and the infrastructure buckle under the weight of bad management and developers who constantly cut corners to make a quick pound or two. In the pas...

Luke John Frost

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