Northern cities 'beyond revival'

[ina]

Couldn't believe my ears this morning!

Does anybody pay these think tanks to come up with brilliant ideas like these?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7556937.stm

[JulieSherris]

For goodness sake!

I'm originally from the south - born in london, moved to dartford when 9, then down to deal (near dover) when 26, & finally up to Blackpool when 37!

Ok, there's always been this 'north-south divide', but I discovered that life was actually better in the north! OK, depending on where you live, obviously - if you're deep within a town then certain things can be difficult.
My 2nd hubby is from Durham - a friend of his went to the council for help & to try & get a council house..... moved into a super place with a huge garden after 2 weeks.... 2 weeks!!!
My eldest daughter was on the council housing list in dover for 5 years as a single mum... a friend of hers was with 2 kiddies in B & B for 3 years before being offered a poky 2 bed flat. (Daughter gave up in the UK & now lives a mile away from us in Ireland!)
Now I'm not saying that this is true for all areas, but it's one example from my experience...

Hubby earned a certain amount in Blackpool, & our outgoings were ok - we were 'comfy' even though I don't work.
We looked at moving back down south... (ashford/maidstone area) So we found that he would be earning about the same amount, but the outgoings! They would have been through the roof! So we stayed where we were for a further 3 years before deciding to move to Ireland.
Now he earns more than in the UK, our outgoings are a lot less & he gets more time off!

So, for all of you who are forced to move - move over here! There's lots of land, lots of space & lots of peace of mind!
Julie

[Milims]

Clearly "researched" by someone who's personal experience of anything North of the Wash is limited to watching Billy Elliot, Full Monty and Our Friends in the North! Ok so we have some less than perfect places here - but where doesn't? So we may not have all the hi tec eateries and super modern road systems and lots of gadgets - but how much do we want them? Do we really want to have to pay a million pounds for a broom cupboard to live in when we could pay the same for a castle over the border with lots of space to breath? Do we want to have to pay congestion charges when we can simply be stuck behind a tractor travelling the same speed as London traffic? Or maybe what they are hoping for is a mass surge of Northerners into London to teach them how to live! Yup - that research is definately as Barmy as they said it was!

[DominicJ]

As someone who lives in manchester, "regeneration" doesnt work.

If you knock down a row of houses inhabited by workshy drug addicts and build nice new ones with communal gardens, then move the same workshy drug addicts you evicted from the old houses into them, they will remain workshy drug addicts.
If you knock down a school in which 30% of the first years carry knives, build a nice new one and put the same armed thugs in it, they will remain armed thugs.
You can turn Picadily gardens from a dark hole into a well lit park, but on a friday night at 10pm its still going to be full of drunks copulating, and now you have to see them.

Saying they're beyond revival is wrong, but Manchester was only built because it had plenty of rivers to power mills and canals to transport the cotton to liverpool. Improving the houses does not give the city a reason to exist.
It needs to attract new industry, and you dont do that by crippling the transport network and raising taxes.

[Milims]

.......or killing off the industry that produces a quality product in favour of a cheaper, foreign throw away item!

The problem isn't one of Urban Regeneration, it's of Social Regeneration, which is something greatly lacking as it can't be quantified with bricks and mortar. We don't need shiney new buildings as much as we need self respect

[DominicJ]

True, but thats much harder for the government to control, it can, and does, control tax, it just seems to have this weird idea that it can spend money better than business, and so raises tax instead of cutting it.

[shell]

my hubby grew up in the wirral and moved to bucks for work,he`s an electrician,i moved up from london,thats where we met,hubby was made redundant twice so we moved here to ireland,but theres no work now in munster and he`s seriously thinking of going to the uk for work,and actually the north where he came from is where he is looking although if work is available here then he would prefer it,i`m no polition and know very little about politics but surely moving from the north for work only makes it worse there,all thats left are those who can`t work and have no money to spend so the place will go down further as no money going into it,giving special bonus`s for firms to relocate to the north seems better to me,and improving the roads so that they can transport their wares,still what do i know

[MKG]

Having seen a few examples of "revival" and "regeneration", I'm of the opinion that the whole of the north should throw a huge party now that it's going to be left alone.