Tax Office Closing...

[jsdftm04]

Originally Posted by tiptoad

I wouldn't know, I'm nothing to do with the party. But I don't expect it to be anytime soon, with budgets being slashed by the government.

What was their excuse before the cuts like? They have been hopeless for years

[Baron Green Crack]

Originally Posted by The Partisan

What about the £100 million plus the council has in the bank? Plenty money to spend building new leisure centres in Washington, what about Sunderland? What about Crowtree?

Like I say, vote for nothing and get nothing. Well the voters voted for what they wanted a few weeks back! Will the last person who leaves Sunderland turn the lights out.

Have they really got £100m+ in the bank? Has this been proven (I honestly dont know either way for the record)?

They did invest money in Pools in new leisure centres both in Silksworth and Houghton, the 50m Pool, there has also been a lot of investment in customer service centres such Bunny Hill, Sand Hill View Centre, Washington and the like (Software City?), not forgetting the investment to avoid compulsory redundancies (again not sure if that is strictly true).

They have invested money but not specifically in the city centre although I'm sure they have somewhere in the region of £10m-£20m allocated to the redevelopment of the Vaux site. I also believe they are investing something like £30m+ (I'm not so sure they should be mind you) in the new bridge and SSTC.

I imagine the Crowtree Leisure Centre will be sold off (although there is a conflict with the redevelopment of Holmeside) and the Seaburn Centre will also probably be sold off unless they have plans for the site itself.

[EDGE]

Has anyone go any idea as to what could/should be done? (Please don't say it's too late so nowt!)

[grandpops]

all the buildings behind park lane market are to be demolished starting next month.
the quicksave building, nightclub, multi storey car park & other buildings alongside the railway track are all coming down.
no idea if any building in it`s place though.

[Baron Green Crack]

Originally Posted by EDGE

Has anyone go any idea as to what could/should be done? (Please don't say it's too late so nowt!)

The only way I see out of it is to somehow try to attract a large (high-tec/skilled) employer to the city centre which will in turn hopefully attract other businesses and subsequently more investment. A developer will not invest in offices space speculatively at this time and certainly not in Sunderland. The developer requires a long lease covenant in order to raise the finance (and remove the risk for them) to invest in office development in Sunderland. My concern is that Newcastle has the private sector sewn up in that respect and that it would be more likely that we'd need a public sector organisation to step at least in the first instance to kick start the redevelopment of the city centre.

Beyond this the only alternative for the Vaux site would be to create some sort of high quality housing development (with a degree of mixed-use) in order to somehow make Sunderland the place to live in the North East (a lot easier said than done) and almost resign itself to being a commuter city to Newcastle.

Originally Posted by grandpops

all the buildings behind park lane market are to be demolished starting next month.
the quicksave building, nightclub, multi storey car park & other buildings alongside the railway track are all coming down.
no idea if any building in it`s place though.

Really?

Could be that they are being demolished to avoid paying empty property business rates but hopefully they have someone interested in the scheme and the demolition and site clearance is a pre-cursor to any deal.

[EDGE]

Originally Posted by Baron Green Crack

The only way I see out of it is to somehow try to attract a large (high-tec/skilled) employer to the city centre which will in turn hopefully attract other businesses and subsequently more investment. A developer will not invest in offices space speculatively at this time and certainly not in Sunderland. The developer requires a long lease covenant in order to raise the finance (and remove the risk for them) to invest in office development in Sunderland. My concern is that Newcastle has the private sector sewn up in that respect and that it would be more likely that we'd need a public sector organisation to step at least in the first instance to kick start the redevelopment of the city centre.

Beyond this the only alternative for the Vaux site would be to create some sort of high quality housing development (with a degree of mixed-use) in order to somehow make Sunderland the place to live in the North East (a lot easier said than done) and almost resign itself to being a commuter city to Newcastle.



Really?

Could be that they are being demolished to avoid paying empty property business rates but hopefully they have someone interested in the scheme and the demolition and site clearance is a pre-cursor to any deal.

Sadly I think that is true.There are many examples of this-Manchester,London.Maybe improvements in transport are a natural consequence.

[Baron Green Crack]

Originally Posted by EDGE

Sadly I think that is true.There are many examples of this-Manchester,London.Maybe improvements in transport are a natural consequence.

As you say it's sadly true and being honest the size of the North East cannot really cater for two large business centres. This model can be seen around the world where large urban centres are fed out lying commuter towns and cities. I still think we have a role to play in terms of manufacturing which is no bad thing but attracting large employers to our city centre may prove just to difficult (I hope I am wrong and I certainly dont mean to be defeatist).

I dont think it is necessarily a bad thing (to a degree) although the problem with it comes where Business rates will be reduced in the city which may potentially mean less money for the Council to invest in the future (the council currently get a top up due to the lack of business rates which it collects).

[Maxnormal]

Originally Posted by Baron Green Crack

The only way I see out of it is to somehow try to attract a large (high-tec/skilled) employer to the city centre which will in turn hopefully attract other businesses and subsequently more investment. A developer will not invest in offices space speculatively at this time and certainly not in Sunderland. The developer requires a long lease covenant in order to raise the finance (and remove the risk for them) to invest in office development in Sunderland. My concern is that Newcastle has the private sector sewn up in that respect and that it would be more likely that we'd need a public sector organisation to step at least in the first instance to kick start the redevelopment of the city centre.

Beyond this the only alternative for the Vaux site would be to create some sort of high quality housing development (with a degree of mixed-use) in order to somehow make Sunderland the place to live in the North East (a lot easier said than done) and almost resign itself to being a commuter city to Newcastle.



Really?

Could be that they are being demolished to avoid paying empty property business rates but hopefully they have someone interested in the scheme and the demolition and site clearance is a pre-cursor to any deal.

Reckon that's why. Will be weird being able to see the bus station from Yates'. Would love to think that something grand could be built there but the way the world is (ferked via the recession) i feel it will be another Vaux site fiasco. Dead sad that. Only plus side is we'll get to see many scale models being produced to show what we could have...

[YorkshireMackem]

Originally Posted by Baron Green Crack

The only way I see out of it is to somehow try to attract a large (high-tec/skilled) employer to the city centre which will in turn hopefully attract other businesses and subsequently more investment. A developer will not invest in offices space speculatively at this time and certainly not in Sunderland. The developer requires a long lease covenant in order to raise the finance (and remove the risk for them) to invest in office development in Sunderland. My concern is that Newcastle has the private sector sewn up in that respect and that it would be more likely that we'd need a public sector organisation to step at least in the first instance to kick start the redevelopment of the city centre.

Beyond this the only alternative for the Vaux site would be to create some sort of high quality housing development (with a degree of mixed-use) in order to somehow make Sunderland the place to live in the North East (a lot easier said than done) and almost resign itself to being a commuter city to Newcastle.

Glad to see there's someone with some common sense and positivity on here. Spot on mate.

What I would say is that Sunderland does have some advantages in the eyes of potential business occupiers over Newcastle. For one, land values are currently low, meaning that it would cost less initially for the business to run. I also think the relative freedom in terms of land availability, especially on the Vaux site, means that an occupiers requirements are more easily met.

You are right though, it does need a large catalyst company to act as an anchor for development of the Vaux site. If it goes ahead, the Combined Courts Complex on Farringdon Row could act as that, bringing in law firms and spin off small businesses. Whether that goes ahead is a different matter.

Threads like this piss me off because people constantly squabble about local democracy, when Sunderland's economic problems are far beyond the control or remit of local members. The Council is currently doing all it can in the circumstances by paving the way for private sector development of the Vaux site at some point in the future, contributing to the cost of the new bridge and funding other developments such as Software City.

[king of the road]

Originally Posted by The Partisan

What about the £100 million plus the council has in the bank? Plenty money to spend building new leisure centres in Washington, what about Sunderland? What about Crowtree?

Like I say, vote for nothing and get nothing. Well the voters voted for what they wanted a few weeks back! Will the last person who leaves Sunderland turn the lights out.

When this happening like? Been nowt built since 1973...place is crying out for some investment