Here is the League One standing on 30th October with Preston North End 2nd. A game in hand on the team above.
Last time something like this was posted was November 2006 with PNE 1st. They nearly went down that season.
PNE 2nd in the table
Category: Made in Preston
Main theme and general stuff about Preston.
Preston Bus Station £1 buy out and £20m investment
Lancashire County Council bought Grade II listed Preston Bus Station for £1 and this week have announced plans for its redevelopment. These include:
- Reducing the number of bus bays from 80 to 40.
- Using only the east side for buses.
- Making the car parking spaces bigger.
- Using the west side for a Youth Zone including outdoor pitches and areas for music, art and craft.
The total cost could be £23m including:
- Repairs are expected to cost £6.4m and conversion to a smaller station £7.4m.
- The Youth Zone, £6m.
- Improvements to the apron £2m and highway improvement £1.5m including improvements to linking the bus and railway stations.
These are interesting plans although pushing the bus station behind a sports complex makes it remote and quite a trail from the life of the centre. Although being next to the bus station should also be a bonus for the youth complex. The plans for the Guild Hall should also make use of the bus station and it might be hoped that the Guild Hall Arcade will be modified to provide a comfortable space for moving between the bus station and the Town Centre. Also the underground passageways to the bus station are no longer necessary.
Preston Guild Hall £1 Buy Out
The Guild Hall has been bought by local businessman Simon Rigby and a large trust fund set up to support arts and culture in Preston. There are plans to invest over £1m in the Guild Hall to improve the entrance and its facilities including a new restaurant, with the objective of making it one of Lancashire’s main entertainment complexes. It will become part of the Villa Group which is primarily known for The Villa in Wrea Green.
Preston Council previously ran the Guild Hall and was providing a £1m a year subsidy forcing them to consider closing the venue in 2015, 42 years after it was opened in 1973. The Guild Hall stands next to the Bus Station which is also subject of a £1 buy out and plans to spend £20m are being revealed by Lancashire County Council.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Simon Rigby bought out an electricity metering business in 1996 for £1. The company, Spice plc, bought out several other companies and was itself bought out by Private Equity investors in 2010 for £251m, of which Simon had a share.
Well done to Simon and good luck with the Guild Hall.
David Moyes sacked from Manchester United – all the best to a great manager
David Moyes ex-PNE player and manager could be said to be Made in Preston. His record as manager at Deepdale with Chairman Bryan Gray was their best for several decades. The period was one of transformation into play-off specialists, but never quite making the very top, and updating the ground. Some are now saying with hindsight that his record at Everton was similar in that they never quite made it. Although they were consistently on the fringe with little money to be spent in a time when money makes everything.
It was unfortunate that he was asked to put on the boots of Goliath at Manchester United and that the team had a lot of players who were past their best. It was unfortunate that the Chief Executive stood down at the same time as Moyes arrived and new Chief Executive appears to be mainly a businessman rather than a soccer club supremo. It could be that his style wasn’t the attacking, free flowing one needed or maybe he felt a bit intimidated and that time would bring it on.
It must be sickening for someone who has strived so hard to be in this situation. Let’s hope he’s not too downhearted as there can be no doubt he’s a great manager who will be back.
Preston Draft Master Plan – 5,000 new homes
The Preston Draft Master Plan will be published for consultation on 20th January 2014.
It is said to contain plans for 5,000 homes in north west Preston along the south side of the M55 motorway. These will be in the form of a ‘garden city’ which might be influenced by new regulations being promoted.
The new Regulations are expected to require that developments must have ponds and streams to absorb heavy rain so it isn’t all dumped immediately into the drains causing them to overflow and flood. It’s proposed that maintenance of the ponds and streams will be paid by an annual levy on the residents in the new developments.
This area is good countryside blighted by the M55 which provides the excuse for not feeling too strongly about it. Although it’s well away from employment areas so will be in need of roads with commuters expected to pile onto the M55 or into Preston Centre. From that point of view 5,000 houses, perhaps 13,000 people, sounds excessive.
It’s downwind of the nuclear processing plant as well.
Whether the next step might be to build north of the M55 will cause concern about impacting the pleasingly rural feel of Woodplumpton. Also surely it isn’t a plan to reduce the solid Conservative majority for that parliamentary seat by changing its character.
Preston Council and Central Lancashire City websites contain the documentation leading up to the decisions and probably will contain the draft Master Plan later this month. There is a lot of reading there, could do with a simple summary.
Lancashire City Deal let’s see the action
An impressive Business Insight supplement in The Times newspaper, Tuesday 10th December, covering Preston, South Ribble and Lancashire’s big City Deal and Leyland Trucks.
The articles give a very rosy, unquestioning picture but it is said infrastructure and education are key investments to enable prosperity, and that is what is happening.
This City Deal is worth £434m and has a target over 10 years to generate 20,000 new jobs, £1bn in gross added value, 17,420 new homes, £2.3bn in leveraged commercial value, some school and health facilities. On the face of it this is growth although it isn’t clear if it makes up for any shrinkage anywhere.
It’s complemented by Enterprise Zones, Superfast Lancashire broadband project, Boost Business Lancashire and a host of local initiatives.
£334m will be for infrastructure and include four major road schemes such as the Warton link to the M55 and 4,000 homes, Broughton By-pass and 1,400 homes, Penwortham By-pass, South Ribble distributor road and 2,700 homes. An additional £100m from the Lancashire Pension Fund will be invested in housing and development.
The article says Leyland Trucks are seeking to position Leyland at the forefront of building up a major automotive supply chain in Lancashire. In this it is supported by the MD, Ron Augustyn, being a member of the government’s Automotive Council. No doubt many of the parts are imported so adding to the local supply chain should bring benefits to the plant, let’s hope it succeeds in that. Some 40% of output from the assembly plant at Leyland Trucks is exported.
The article also covers Boost Business Lancashire which is £7.2m from the European Regional Development Fund with the aim to grow the local economy by £20m and create 1,200 new jobs. 235 businesses have signed up to it this year.
City Deals put the onus onto the locality to give its best shot, it could be said that in this it beats the scrapped Regional Development Agencies in being more local. The City Deal covers the roads, houses and some schooling and health. The electrification of most of the railway in the region has already been announced. Let’s start to see some action.
Heritage lost for a pittance – CCK1
Disappointing that Preston Council is selling an element of its inheritance for a pittance. The old registration suffix numbers CK and RN are part of the symbols of Preston. For a few pounds the council is going to sell car registration CCK1. Does Civic Pride exist in the council chamber. It seems not.
More Preston Bus Station Positive News
More positive thinking about the bus station. It is expected that Lancashire County Council will buy the station from Preston City Council at a give away price. LCC have funds for a new bus station that they are expected to divert to refurbishment along with funding available to listed buildings from the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage.
No plans have been announced for the refurbishment. Although the listing gives clues on what can be done. The listing includes the ramps so they’re unlikely to change without debate. The outer shell and interior fittings are listed but their form is still good. Whereas the internal ramps need widening and the lifts, stairs and toilets must surely be improved.
What can be done about the subway and the ramp to the Guild Hall and access across the bus area to give them a hint of the 21st Century?
Lancashire Cheesemaking display
I had a cheesy grin. It was a visit to cheesemakers Dewlay just 8 miles north of Preston on the A6.
Their cheesemaking site has a viewing gallery, exhibition, meeting room and a shop. So we decided to pop in while passing. You can’t miss it with that windmill towering over the building.
Set back from the road is a modern building producing all kinds of cheese including award winning Lancashire. The exhibition isn’t large but it contains interesting information and old cheese making equipment. Then upstairs is a long viewing gallery where the manufacturing cycle is explained on boards and you can see the cheese being made through windows.
After that it’s off to the shop for some cheese and there are biscuits and other cheese related items.
While we were there a talk of some kind was being arranged in the large meeting room.
Not a big trip but worthy.
Grade II Listing 1416042: Preston Bus Station
The campaign to save Preston Bus Station was given a boost this week when the bus station was listed by English Heritage. This puts the bus station in the top 800 post war heritage buildings in England.
The listing of the building makes it eligible for grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund and others. However these are usually only obtained after a protracted application process.
Some big figures for refurbishment have been offered, up to £23m. Are these realistic? They’re unlikely to be reduced by listing as there will be a need to preserve listed features. A strategy of prioritising and phasing the work may enable grants to be obtained in easier to achieve smaller applications.
Preston Council are having difficulty balancing their books and are looking for a quick kill. It should not therefore be considered that this is the end of the story. We eagerly await their next step and hope it is a positive one. The potential pots of money totted up along with a pragmatic plan of refurbishment, improvement and integration into the city plan will be more good news.
Lancashire County Council offered support to build a new bus station but not to maintain the old one. It could be argued their interest has therefore been declared, they obviously have a few million pounds in their budget for Preston Bus Station. Despite Councillor Rankin saying it is an issue for Prestonians, the bus station is a regional hub.
Blackpool have a large £28m development underway in the centre of town for new council offices and refurbished ex-bus station and car park. Where do they get their funds?
It is said councils can borrow cheaper than private companies. Let’s be positive, the economy is on the turn, interest rates are very low, is it time to borrow for the bus station.
What does listing mean?
There are 4 categories of English Heritage listing; I, II* (two star), II, III. On 23rd September 2013, Grade II (two) listing was announced. This means the building is nationally important and of special interest. Less than 0.2% of listed buildings were built after 1945, this makes it 1 of around 800 post war listed buildings in England.
Listing means that consent must be applied for to make any changes which might affect its special interest. However it can be altered, extended and occasionally permission is granted to demolish a listed building.
Preston Bus Station is listed entry number 1416042. Its features of note are its curved concrete front on the car park decks that focus on the great length of the building. The original fittings, floors and signage survive and make an important contribution. It is an example of 1960s integrated traffic planning. The listing includes the car park ramps and taxi stand but excludes the 3 passenger subways.
Reference:
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/
Transport Plans for Central Lancashire
It’s always pleasing to read about new transport and infrastructure projects. Transport is recognised as a key factor in enabling development.
This week Transport for Lancashire announced new road schemes. Their plan of laying infrastructure is to enable the proposals for housing and industry in the City Deal. It brings a new by-pass for Broughton and a link from the M55 to Springfields and the Warton Enterprise Zone. These are worthy plans but they’ll probably take at least 5 years. Couple that with electrification of the Manchester to Blackpool line and well into the future high speed rail trains, if not the track, should lay a good foundation for the area.
Most of this is headed by the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, chaired by our favourite grocer, Edwin Booth. This is localism allowing local authorities the ability to plan and implement what the elected representatives agree is best for the future.
For Lancashire, Aerospace and Shale Gas are the two key economic opportunities seen by the councils. While loss of traditional industries, over reliance on the public sector and lack of suitable housing are seen as the challenges.
Let’s hope it works. Aerospace has the potential to continue to be big although the role of the local factories is changing from heading huge European projects to a smaller role in bigger American projects, with future European projects thin on the ground. Depending on aerospace might contain risks but it’s here now and to encourage it to stay we need to make sure it has the best support. The UK aerospace industry has always benefitted from big investment in R&D and science in the UK along with a basic skill base, these are also key factors needing encouragement. Locally one of these can be helped through engineering education.
Preston Bus Station conspiracy theory
The Evening Post published a story yesterday that the recommendation of the consultants was to refurbish the bus station. To add a touch of mystery it is alleged this part was deleted at the request of Lancashire County Council (LCC) before it was shown to Preston Council.
In their defence LCC said the cost of £23m was way outside budget and that the option was also outside of the scope requested.
It has been suggested by others that a refurbishment could be done for much less. In the absence of any artists impressions or plans for the proposed new bus station it seems Preston Council and the public are being asked to support what could be a pig in a poke.
Read the full story in the Lancashire Evening Post.
http://www.lep.co.uk/news/business/preston-bus-station-report-was-altered-1-5777002
Museum of Lancashire – Preston People Panorama
What great photographs of the people of Preston. Taken in super wide panorama during the period of the Guild 2012. The many groups of Preston; sport clubs, public services, schools, churches, businesses. 100s of people on some of the photos all pin sharp. Lovely to see the many reactions of people their faces and the way they stand, people of all ages and all styles – some posing, some a bit cross-legged shy. You need to get close to them to see properly.
This exhibition is in two rooms at the Museum of Lancashire on Stanley Street. Free to enter. The museum has had a good make-over and even has stylish seats in the cafe.
There is a lot to see in there. I enjoyed the industry section and some good stuff about the first world war including a walk through trench, with mustard gas smell sampler. The sea-side section with George Formby film is good. It was all interesting but I’ve been a few times and do a bit at a time as it takes quite a while.
Stanley Street is next to the prison and there is a decent free car park, always a big plus.
Some guided tours, by a historian from UCLan, of the Preston People Panorama are on their website.
Visit their website to get opening times and more information.
http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/acs/sites/museums/venues/mol/?siteid=3860&pageid=16500&e=e
Is Stoke giving Preston a Bus Station message
Preston’s Council Leader gave us his version of the Bus Station Blues on the BBC Culture Show last week. It seems it will be knocked down on the altar of day to day council services and pressure from Lancashire County Council.
If you want to get depressed take a walk from the unloved Bus Station into the Guild Hall Arcade and the Victorian Covered Market. These buildings all look like time is not on their side.
Also there are a lot of cars on the Bus Station. Will the Park and Ride on Bluebell Way take the strain. It’s a long way out, what is the plan.
You might wonder how accountable Lancashire County Council (LCC) is when they can happily offer a new bus station and let Preston’s Council take the blame for knocking down the old one. Although Preston’s leader said no-one from outside Preston should have a say, it seems LCC is having a big say.
Could LCC offer anything like Stoke’s £15m new Bus Station with 22 bays, half of Preston’s need. Built on a car park so no demolition cost involved. Yet the cost of Preston’s new bus station, which will be twice as big and include demolition won’t be much different.
Is there a message here that Preston is going to get a second rate bus station, a bus shelter perhaps with an Eaga Bites van parked at the entrance. What does this say about Preston?
Big Bra maker hits town
A new name for manufacturing in Preston is ‘made in preston’ and nothing to do with this website. Newly launched and working from a factory here in Preston. If you’re looking for a big bra buy one freshly made by Preston workers in a Preston factory. I was wondering about buying one myself but last time I bought some women’s clothes my wife didn’t seem to appreciate it, so it wasn’t a merry Christmas present.
Their web address is www.madeinpreston.com and we’re watching out for the full range to appear.
It makes sense to buy local and give your child a better chance of getting a job and learning a skill.
Nikki Hesford, now Fretwell, runs the business and appeared on Dragons Den in a recently repeated show. Announced as Nikki from Lancaster she didn’t win over Theo who has his own bra business. Since then she’s found other backers and got married. Her marriage got a big write up in a Times newspaper last week.
The Preston Doomsday Scenario
It’s easy to sit at home and scoff about Doomsday Scenario statements from the leader of Preston’s council as reported in the Evening Post. Today’s comment about the Guild Hall being on the agenda for cuts or even knocked down sounded dramatic and it can’t be certain if it was posturing against central government or positioning for the bus station debate.
The suggestion of bringing in an entertainment company to run the Guild Hall is similar to Blackpool where the council brought in Merlin Entertainments, operators of Madam Tussauds, to run the Tower. Sounds reasonable, if possible.
Given that the Guild Hall is Preston’s only large entertainment centre it’s unlikely to be knocked down. Although the Guild Hall isn’t a place I’d suggest anyone goes to have a look at, like the bus station it has a very tired look and suffering from that gap between fresh and old.
The council say the settlement with central government is another big reduction and something must give. Without being an expert on council spending it’s hard to comment, but the buildings being discussed have been there at least 40 years and weathered worse storms than the current recession. Why is it that this time buildings are being knocked down.
It is logical to review all services and buildings and that is what they’re doing. There are a lot of empty buildings in Preston that many citizens would like to be looked after, the old post office and Mount Street for example. Hopefully the answer will not be a dull politically motivated announcement. An assumption of better times to come should dictate the answers.
Typhoon Sale to Oman
Some good news at Christmas – The Sultanate of Oman announced the purchase of 12 Typhoon and 8 Hawk aircraft in a deal said to be worth £2.5bn. The announcement was made as David Cameron visited Oman and brings more continuity to the local aircraft factories and a significant export boost.
The UK has long associations with Oman going back some 200 years and 7,000 UK citizens work there. The Royal Air Force of Oman operated Hunter and Jaguar aircraft and then planned to buy Tornado but it was not finalised. They purchased Hawk aircraft in the 1990’s and the American F16. This further purchase of the latest type of Hawk and the Typhoon extends and strengthens the UK link to the country and is great news.
Preston Bus Station ‘demolish in principle’
Yesterday, 17th Dec, Preston council cabinet sat and voted to demolish the Market Hall, Market Car Park and Lancastria House. The bus station vote was that it should be demolished in principle but a number of alternatives will be looked at before making a decision in the new year.
This seems a reasonable outcome for the bus station at the moment. Although Lancastria House is an attractive and characterful building and it is a mistake to demolish it. Can’t say I’ll miss the Market Hall or its car park.
The council Chief Executive Lorraine Norris said Preston only needs a 36 bay bus station. This would appear to be true at the moment although Lancashire County Council are planning to spend a lot of money on bus routes into Preston.
The bus station has a number of foibles. Buses need to reverse out and it is quite a walk from the shops. Many years ago Corporation buses terminated outside the Harris and Miller Arcade and this would seem a better place, although having an exchange terminal for those who get off the other buses is a benefit.
The new bus station car park is also awkward to get in and out of and the ramps between levels are very tight. Otherwise it is an excellent car park, the one I use when I visit Preston.
Halving the bus station capacity seems very simple. Just block off one side, all buses could use the Preston Bus side. The other side could be developed maintaining the car parks and leaving one frontage. In America traditional city centre building frontages are maintained but just behind is a high rise office block.
As for buses reversing, there is such a lot of space on the concourse that an adaptation could be possible although it seems a step of imagination.
The other worry that could smooth the loss of the bus station is the design of the proposed replacement. It’s hard to believe it will be anything but a low budget design if funding is so hard to come by. This is a bad time where the council is claiming to be squeezed by running costs in the existing bus station and then squeezed to pay for a replacement. There is a fear that people are making long term decisions based on short term criteria.
Overall the council has got itself in a mess by waiting for the Tithebarn Project and allowing the bus station to deteriorate. Similar to Blackpool who waited for their casino and ended up with a car park. Yet Blackpool claimed special hardship and got a lot of money for a new prom and tram system and the council borrowed £20m to buy the Tower and £30m to resurface every road in Blackpool. Why can Preston council not make more effort to save the bus station.
Special thanks to the Evening Post for its running Twitter commentary on the council meeting.
Preston Council’s D-Day (for Demolition)
On Monday 17th December 2012 Preston Council will have what may be their biggest day for a long time. Transforming the face of Preston for 100 years. Here is the list of demolitions taken from the Preston Council website, sounds easy if you look at it quickly:
‘It is recommended that Cabinet agrees:
2.1 The closure and demolition of the Market Hall, Car Park and Lancastria House;
2.2 The relocation of the Markets Operation: The design, location and scale of the replacement will be determined by the business case including sustainability, current traders’ requirements, funds, and heritage considerations. (A key objective is to preserve the character of the Market Canopies);
2.3 To instruct the Corporate Management Team to bring forward proposals for redevelopment of the Markets Quarter including refurbishment of the Market Canopies;
2.4 In principle, to demolish the Bus Station and Car Park and devise proposals to bring forward the site for development;
2.5 Delegate to the Corporate Management Team the authority to negotiate with the County Council a development scheme for the Bus Station and Car Park site.’
Knock down the Market Hall, yes please!
Refurbish the market canopies, yes please!
Knock down the Market Car Park, indifferent.
Knock down Lancastria House, the old Co-op, an attractive and worthy building. No!
Knock down the bus station, surely not!
The report, quite rightly, is is a long read. It sounds like the council is in trouble with its buildings, but I could list a few dozen repairs needed to our house but it will manage without. The council are trying to protect services.
Without reading it in full it is hoped the council isn’t making decisions that in the long term will be regretted, in particular the bus station and Lancastria House. Services are here today and gone tomorrow but buildings create a visible long term character.
Two buildings were erected that always seemed badly positioned: these are the Market Hall and the Guild Hall. That the bus station is on an island has never been popular, although it potentially has a modern airport feel inside. These are interesting times.
Read the full Council report on the Preston Council website: downloads a pdf. There is a lot of information here.
Breaking the Bottle Necks with the Central Lancashire Transport Plan to 2025
Lancashire County Council today published a transport paper that will be subject of public consultation in front of a government inspector in early 2013. The cost of the plan is estimated at £275million. It isn’t clear if a replacement Preston Bus Station is included.
In summary the plan includes improved road, rail and bus links with parkway stations, improved junctions and bus routes. The objective being to ensure that business investment in Lancashire isn’t constrained by transport issues. It certainly seems good progressive thinking.
Yet if transport is so significant, is Preston Council’s half size bus station and removal of 1000 parking spaces a good idea. Most significantly it isn’t clear that the funding for any of this is available at this time. You might think Preston Council would not vote to knock down the bus station without there being funding on the table for a new one.
A very ambitious plan would include a link from the A582 to the M55 via a river crossing west of the dock.
The plans include:
– a new road linking the M55 near Bartle with the A583/584 near Clifton to support new housing in North West Preston and the Enterprise Zone employment site at Warton.
– capacity upgrades to the A582 between Cuerden and the A59 at Penwortham.
– Penwortham Bypass direct link between the A582 Broad Oak roundabout and A59 west of Penwortham.
– improvements to roads to make it easier for people to catch the bus, walk or cycle. Focussing on nine ‘public transport priority corridors’ that follow all the main routes into Preston city centre, from Moss Side, Hutton, Warton, North West Preston, Broughton, Longridge, and Chorley, and Euxton/Buckshaw Village between Leyland and Chorley.
– introduction of more bus only lanes.
– improvements to rail stations at Preston, Leyland and Chorley, a new ‘parkway’ station to serve North West Preston would be pursued at Cottam.
– space to be given over to pedestrians and the opportunity to green public spaces, in areas such as Seven Stars, Hough Lane and Towngate, Tardy Gate, Bamber Bridge, Penwortham, Lane Ends, Broughton, Ribbleton Lane and New Hall Lane.
Central Lancashire Core Strategy – plans for development adopted jointly by Chorley, Preston and South Ribble district councils following a public examination earlier this year in front of a government-appointed Planning Inspector. Without this scale of highways and transport improvements.
The cost of the proposals is estimated to be in the region of £275 million, with various sources of public and private funding identified to support it. Key amongst these are developer contributions collected through planning obligations and the community infrastructure levy.
Thanks to the Lancashire Evening Post for bringing this report to our attention.