Stockton's Hilton

There has been a lot of Social Media talk about the proposed hotel that has been granted permission to be constructed in Stockton using public funds.

I am not against a hotel, what I am against is using public funds to part invest into the scheme, which will see Stockton Council own and operate the hotel. There has been previous applications to construct hotels within the Borough and they had been refused by the council due to "detrimental impact to the High Street"

Now whether we like their decision or not, it has been granted permission and we have to live with it, hoping that it will attract businesses and tourists who come into the area. Whilst also hoping that the local authority has its figures right.

But what will attract people to use the hotel?

The Council claim to have a strong business case after a consultation with some of the biggest companies in the area and believe that this is a sound investment plan that should be supported, but failing that where else will the money come from?

Tourists, perhaps? With the council placing the High Street into the category of an event space this could attract people to use the hotel when visiting for events such as Stockton International Riverside Festival, Sound Calling and the Rat Race. There also used to be a large number of overnight visitors to region who where visiting family, although this was seven years ago.

In my opinion, I believe it would of been best to invest in leisure and recreation within the area, that would draw people in from outside the borough to spend their money boosting our local economy before looking into a hotel, with investment coming from tourists it would say to hotel companies that Stockton is the place to invest.

For instance the Air Trail, cost us the public £1m but has been a success, maybe if they added a crazy golf to the area it would boost the profits and more importantly employ local people.

Comments

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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