What would you do to improve Middlesbrough/Teesside?

A

Air Resistance

Well-known member
A classic out of football season thread. Reading the thread a few days back about Middlesbrough centre and linthorpe road, there seemed to be a number of posters who were resigned to nothing changing and continued decline. We all know there are some fantastic parts of Middlesbrough and the wider Teesside, but what would you do to improve the area and make it a better place to live and visit if you were in a decision making position?
 
I don't think former industrial areas can really be saved if I'm a 100% honest, depressing as that is.

It would take a monumental amount of money (in the double digit £Billions), will and political/government support for a couple of generations to make any difference.

It won't happen.

Flag ship sticking plasters every 5 years or so as vote winners or to pay lip service to the issues then back to normal.
 
Would take billions as there's entire areas that need flattening to drive out the toerags. Teesworks and the new jobs will help, but need to improve the police force, flatten the dumps and build new houses, new shopping precincts, need more lanes on Marton road, better public transport.

If someone had 50 billion, and 100 years, we might get somewhere.
 
accentuate the niceness of the area. make it greener, both literally & in the way it operates. more trees, natural areas, cycle/walk/scooter paths, try and get the main streets thriving again with whatever it takes - less rates, coffee shops & cafes, more people mixing & doing stuff - build on the strong community spirit & pride. encourage modern businesses. make sure public transport works (I actually think its pretty well served all ready compared to a lot of places).









(and shoot & eat all the people that are just too rich & have oversized cars, mainly out nunthorpe way)

(and anyone with a plastic lawn)
 
Look to places like Leeds who attracted private investment (First Harvey Nicks outside London) which in turn attached further investment as the city transitioned from a grimy post industrial place to a destination city for bars, restaurants and shopping.

Obviously Leeds is bigger, but faced similar problems to those facing Middlesbrough now.

The biggest thing holding us back is the politicians who go for big headline making announcements designed purely to boost their own profiles and often have no substance of longevity behind such announcements.
 
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The_Lizards_Jumpers said:
Look to places like Leeds who attracted private investment (First Harvey Nicks outside London) which in turn attached further investment as the city transitioned from a grimy post industrial places to a destination city for bars, restaurants and shopping.

Obviously Leeds is bigger, but faced similar problems to those facing Middlesbrough now.

The biggest thing holding us back is the politicians who go for big headline making announcements designed purely to boost their own profiles and often has no substance of longevity behind such announcements.
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Great post Lizards
 
Focus on the history and heritage to attract visitors. Build up as a commercial and regional hub for Tees Valley, this would require partnership with say Darlington due to the rail link issues, but no reason why Tees Valley couldn't aspire to be a mini Greater Manchester. A lot of the recognition is there outside the region, mainly due to the football club imho, but in the past too many competing personal agendas rather than working together.
 
The_Lizards_Jumpers said:
Look to places like Leeds who attracted private investment (First Harvey Nicks outside London) which in turn attached further investment as the city transitioned from a grimy post industrial places to a destination city for bars, restaurants and shopping.

Obviously Leeds is bigger, but faced similar problems to those facing Middlesbrough now.

The biggest thing holding us back is the politicians who go for big headline making announcements designed purely to boost their own profiles and often has no substance of longevity behind such announcements.
Click to expand...
Great post, managed to articulate much better than my post later in the thread. I always remember when I lived in the area that any plans to develop Middlesbrough where always scuppered by other local councils who would say for example......'but what about Stockton, Thornaby......etc...)
 
Main thing would be a large switch to new industrries (there is already a growing number of games companies setting up in Middlesbrough due to the Uni. Oh and fix all those potholes in the roads that seem to get worse and worse!
 
I would turn the old Debenhams site into a street-food hall on the bottom floor, then a games hall on the second. That building has so much potential, the longer it’s left unused the closer it is to being turned into a Wetherspoons.
 
I think if you look at what Stockton Council are doing with the town centre, there is a lot to be learned there. Lets put to one side the amount of money Stockton Council has wasted over the years for now, but if you look at the philosophy of reinventing the town centre as a leisure space because lets face it - retail in town centres is dead, I think you have a good starting point.
The freeport status will bring jobs and investment to the area but the infrastructure needs updating in parallel to accommodate all that. A direct rail like to London is a must. Having HS2 linking teesside to the north west is also a must but I believe that has now been shelved...?
Also, a football team in the premiership would be good :cool:
 
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