Teesside Silicon Valley

I was just about to post this... Fair article but the mayor sounds like a Simpsons character building a monorail.

Hope it works out for the people living in Boro.
 
This is the problem with the elected mayor governance structure. You get these "independents" coming in from big business who want to shake things up on big vanity projects looking to get column inches and nationwide exposure to expand profile etc. They don't work to any policy or framework which may have gradually been built up over a number of years to actually make somewhere a better place to live.

However, all that being said I don't think Middlesbrough council has been well run for a number of years. Certainly other north east local authorities (Stockton, Gateshead, Newcastle), at least from the outside looking in, have delivered much better services for the last 20 years.
 
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The article said the CNE building is derelict.. I used to work for garlands in there (I'm sure a few of us have done our 'time' 🤣) why don't they just do a full refurbishment job in there and keep it as public property so any company that uses it pays rent to the people of the town?
 
Why do we always have to be a version of something else ? Articles in the Gazette always focus on how we have a Teesside version of something that's happening in London, Leeds, Newcastle etc?

Besides which, having worked in Silicon Valley for the last few years, it's one of the most boring, sterile, middle class enclaves of California outside of the campus' of Facebook, Google etc...
 
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The_Lizards_Jumpers said:
Why do we always have to be a version of something else ? Articles in the Gazette always focus on how we have a Teesside version of something that's happening in London, Leeds, Newcastle etc?

Besides which, having worked in Silicon Valley for the last few years, it's one of the most boring, sterile, middle class enclaves of California outside of the campus of Facebook, Google etc...
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Nice lizard! How's this for a Monday morning quiz, I've worked in the original American silicon valley.. you know where that is?
 
The_Lizards_Jumpers said:
Why do we always have to be a version of something else ? Articles in the Gazette always focus on how we have a Teesside version of something that's happening in London, Leeds, Newcastle etc?

Besides which, having worked in Silicon Valley for the last few years, it's one of the most boring, sterile, middle class enclaves of California outside of the campus' of Facebook, Google etc...
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I enjoyed spending some time there around 20 years ago. As the company I worked for was partnering with a company there. I enjoyed a wonderful 18 hole round of golf over there. At a course on the coast called Half Moon Bay.
 
spanishman said:
I enjoyed spending some time there around 20 years ago. As the company I worked for was partnering with a company there. I enjoyed a wonderful 18 hole round of golf over there. At a course on the coast called Half Moon Bay.
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The course that's part of the Ritz Carlton hotel? Spend a couple of weekends staying there, although not for golf I must add.
 
The problem with Teesside is there's far to many councils for a small-ish area - we have Stockton, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, Hartlepool - although not in Teesside, Darlington isn't exactly far away - so we have five councils for an area with around 600,000 people

We need one "city" council to unlock further development grants and funding - but i can't see the fat cats in each council voting for that... can you? Because some of them will be without a job

Until they're merged together as one.... they'll continually compete against each other
 
The_Lizards_Jumpers said:
The course that's part of the Ritz Carlton hotel? Spend a couple of weekends staying there, although not for golf I must add.
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This place. It says it is a public golf course. Probably why we drove out there to play it. https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=h...38.529596],[-20.061909999999997,161.8059084]]

Not sure about a hotel being there at the time. I am trying to remember when it was. My guess is it was either the late 90s or the early 2000s. as I was a euro programme manager in 98/98 and a millennium programme manager in 99/00.
 
Whenever I see an 'artist's impression' it's a signal for me that it's not going to happen... what was the last one the 'western gateway' in Cannon Park..... didn't happen :confused:
 
Juninho10 - isnt that what Tees Valley is supposed to be a regional authority for the whole 5 council.area.
 
Juninho10 said:
The problem with Teesside is there's far to many councils for a small-ish area - we have Stockton, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, Hartlepool - although not in Teesside, Darlington isn't exactly far away - so we have five councils for an area with around 600,000 people

We need one "city" council to unlock further development grants and funding - but i can't see the fat cats in each council voting for that... can you? Because some of them will be without a job

Until they're merged together as one.... they'll continually compete against each other
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We had a 2 tier system where Cleveland Council oversaw big things like education etc and then the unitary authorities of Stockton, Middlesbrough etc that did the rest. This changed in the mid 90s where we had a Local Government Commission to decide on how council's should operate. It chose 4 unitary councils - not sure what the reasoning behind it was.

Our area was first to have this review - I don't know if it was repeated in other areas.
 
fmttmadmin said:
Juninho10 - isnt that what Tees Valley is supposed to be a regional authority for the whole 5 council.area.
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As Juninho10 says, we have 4 or 5 councils, you then have the mayor of Middlesbrough, the Tees Valley Mayor. It’s not sensible and has led to numerous issues in the past and will continue to do so.

As an effective local government it is divide and conquer.
 
The article talks about property speculation surrounding BoHo development - this had already started just before lockdown with one business that had served the community for several years suddenly told to leave. The owners wanted to cash in on BoHo proximity, even at this early stage.
 
FW2 said:
There’s an interesting article in The Guardian today about the plans for Andy Preston’s visions of the town.

https://www.theguardian.com/artandd...o-x-mayor-andy-preston?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
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I think it takes much more than a fancy office block to attract hi tech business. Corporate tax breaks, personal tax breaks, easy access to funding and business services like lawyers and accountants. There's a very good model in Munich, it would be good to emulate that.

And there are plenty of competitors in the UK, with a steady stream of graduates from the ancient universities, or Russell Group universities.

It's a fine ambition, but there's a lot of stuff that needs to happen to stop the office building becoming a white elephant. Right now, there's office space all over looking for tenants, so it's a tough job for Teesside in this environment.
 
Is thinking vertically and deliberately building tallest building landmarks actually going to work to attract business or would it be better to use all the land available and build quality low rise development?
Much of the space will be car parks. Should the new offices build across that with underground car parking etc instead of going upwards - this is one of the questions posed in that article?
 
Alvez_48 said:
The article said the CNE building is derelict.. I used to work for garlands in there (I'm sure a few of us have done our 'time' 🤣) why don't they just do a full refurbishment job in there and keep it as public property so any company that uses it pays rent to the people of the town?
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Is it a public property now. It was always, like most buildings in town centres, privately owned.
Cliff Court Developments might still own it.

This highlights a popular misconception with criticism often being misdirected.
 
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