What would you do to improve Middlesbrough/Teesside?

Get rid of Preston or at least stop him buying anymore useless town centre real estate.
Wtf is he planning to do with the Binns building now Fat Mike has decided he doesn't need it anymore?

And stop wasting money on cycle lanes that nobody asked for, nobody wanted and nobody will use - and considering the council are supposed to be promoting local businesses the ones on the Linthorpe Road appear to be getting to have been forgotten about - potential customers will no longer be able to park outside so will go elsewhere.

It would be nice to see just a fraction of the money wasted in the town centre being spent in the estates - the pavements and roads around here have ever growing ecological communities in every crack and pothole - some of the weeds are 3' tall - I'm expecting TPOs to be slapped on 'em at any moment.
 
Jonny_Rondos_Disco_pants said:
What is surprising is that trade generally increase when on a cycle route
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That is correct.

Studies have shown that shopkeepers overestimate how much of their business utilises the on-street parking near their shop & massively underestimate how often it is full of long stay non-shopping parking (shop staff, local residents etc) rather than shoppers.

Once someone is in their car, do they hunt for a parking space on a virtually full high street / down a side street, understand the 'confusing' parking regulations (is it free, is it free for 30 minutes, is this for residents, will I get a ticket) & then parallel park or do they drive to an out of town retail park & park easily.
If they do drive to the high street, do they dwell & go in many shops or does the free parking for x mins encourage them to go into 1 shop & then leave.

Obviously for all physical shops footfall is key & a high quality cycle lane tends to get more people to use that road, cyclists are attracted to it from parallel routes, some bus passengers switch to cycling, some drivers also switch. Cyclists behave as mobile pedestrians, if they are passing a shop & need something, they stop outside, lock their bike & go in, they might not spend as much per trip but their trips are more frequent.

What is important though, is to make sure shops have somewhere for deliveries that doesn't block the cycle lane, otherwise improvements are supressed.

www.bloomberg.com

The Complete Business Case for Converting Street Parking Into Bike Lanes

An annotated, chart-filled review of 12 studies from around the world.
www.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com
 
Interesting the suggestions about changing to one bigger council. It was all before my time but I assumed that the old system was changed because it didn’t work.
 
Air Resistance said:
Interesting the suggestions about changing to one bigger council. It was all before my time but I assumed that the old system was changed because it didn’t work.
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I wasn't on Teesside at the time but I don't recall a referendum on whether it should've been Cleveland unitary authority or Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Stockton each getting their own, I thought it was a government decision to switch from a two tier system to 4 unitary councils.

If it had been Cleveland Unitary Authority it would've been the 4th/5th largest in the country behind Birmingham, Leeds & Sheffield & tied with Cornwall.
If it'd been Tees Valley ie including Darlington, it would've been 3rd largest.

I'm pretty certain Durham had a consultation about whether it should be 7 unitary authorities or 1 and the clear choice was a single authority.
 
Narrow the wealth gap and it will take care of itself. Teesside, like most places in UK, is displaying all the hallmarks of wealth being removed from the majority to better the fortunes of an already wealthy minority.
 
Aet290204 said:
This might be unpopular but I’ll say it anyway.

And yeh I know it’s a sweeping generalisation.

I’m a southerner by birth, I came to Teesside Uni to study, I got a job at Wilton and stayed a few years and I love the area and stay connected through the football team.

“Where you from mate?” “Peterborough” I would reply. “Oh so London then?”

Basically I’m trying to say you’ve all got chips on your shoulders about Londoners and the south and that probably ain’t changed much.

In a nutshell it’s a Teesside inferiority complex that’s holding you back.
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Typical southerner! 😉
 
It's a big, big question.

Probably Infrastructure - Tram system maybe.

Improving links between M'bro - Teesside park - Stockton
 
It is utterly ridiculous there being 5 minute Authorities all competing and bickering, duplicating and wasting money.

Create an identity around a city, Middlesbrough. It should be then properly resourced and supported by Central Government to become the Administrative, Academic, Business, Commercial centre for North Yorkshire. Government Departments would ensure the infrastructure improvements if they were actually affected.
There is nothing between Newcastle and Leeds to compare with a city of that scale.
Major investment in transport infrastructure with a cheap to use rail/supertram system quickly connecting Redcar, Middlesbrough Stockton and Darlington, with loops north up through Norton, Billingham, Wynyard to Hartlepool, and south linking Eaglescliffe, Yarm, Ingleby, Thornaby, Coulby, Marton, Nunthorpe, Ormesby, Normanby.
Affordable green bus services into centres from surrounding villages, suburbs and estates.
New eastern crossing of the Tees, new lower level western crossing of the Tees with A19. Re-route the A66 around the River Tees and knock down the monstrous elevated section. Close that ugly chemical site next to The Riverside. Upgraded re -routed A66 and upgraded Parkway to frame Middlesbrough.
Establish the airport with four daily flights to Heathrow. Incentivise a Low Cost Airline to establish a serious hub.
Significantly remodel Middlesbrough centre given the removal of the elevated A66, making Middlehaven a thriving retail, hospitality, entertainment, residential dock location so popular in other re-developed cities. But connected seemlessly through to a centre blending strong retail, business and urban residential.

Make Stockton a prestigious Leisure destination given its riverfront, the barrage and space.

Have green space and parklands planned around all residential development, but encourage people to live nearer their work by the transport links and the quality of coordinated retail and residential development.
A new Super Hospital for North Tees just off the A19.
Schools and Colleges planned for where the residential population is actually going to live.
 
Johnny Vincents Motorbike said:
How about;

Creating an economy that works for everyone.

A fair contract whilst at work.

Secure homes.

Healthcare availability.

An integrated education system.

A safer community.

Social Security

Enriching peoples cultural life.

A more equal society.

A Green place to live & work.
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No disrespect but that looks like an outcomes framework from a local authority’s cabinet report.
 
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