What would you do to improve Middlesbrough/Teesside?

Though I’d rectify this thread given some of the other posts about the decline in the area that are currently kicking about.

Another 10 months down the road and im not anything has improved.
 
Are you sure?

I have noticed

A new facility @ Guisborough Hospital has opened

Renovated Guisborough Town Hall has opened

National cycling events around Guisborough

Swans Corner has much improved road layout

Iconic Regent Cinema has opened

New improved Land of Iron museum has opened.

New offices erected in central Middlesbrough near the Bottle of Notes

The Walled Garden is developing at Kirkleatham

I only come up for Boro games and stay around Guisborough, so a lot of Teesside I don't visit and can't comment on

Seems to be a lot more holiday cottages gone up or about to go up.

I am not saying its dramatically improved but there has been more improvements than average. The area in general has been starved of investment and almost forgotten for many years.
 
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Middlesbrough is like any Town especially the Town center. Major retailers are closing everywhere whereas out of Town shopping is becoming the place to be, is it rental or foot fall. The likes of M+S and Debenhams fell behind on line shopping and never recovered. Problem is they still own the buildings for now so the Town cannot move on. We have no real high street anymore unlike Stockton where they seem to be making amends for the lack of shops and putting them all in one place. We have never looked at using the docks around the ground, an ideal water ski or water sports center, never mind a white elephant of a ski center. We are not Newcastle or Manchester and never will be.
 
Norfolkred1 said:
Middlesbrough is like any Town especially the Town center. Major retailers are closing everywhere whereas out of Town shopping is becoming the place to be, is it rental or foot fall. The likes of M+S and Debenhams fell behind on line shopping and never recovered. Problem is they still own the buildings for now so the Town cannot move on. We have no real high street anymore unlike Stockton where they seem to be making amends for the lack of shops and putting them all in one place. We have never looked at using the docks around the ground, an ideal water ski or water sports center, never mind a white elephant of a ski center. We are not Newcastle or Manchester and never will be.
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Rental and footfall a lot more favourable than a town centre. Easier to get into and out of (with the exception of Xmas week because the developers of Teesside Park decided that having an entrance and exit on the A19 was too expensive or made too much sense who knows.

@Redwurzel makes some good points though. Yes there are things that haven't started or got worse but there are just as many good things happening in the area and close by.
 
The centre of Middlesbrough is struggling as a retail venue, unlike Newcastle and Manchester there is a very limited residential population with disposable income. People who work there with the professional jobs (are declining) tend to live somewhere like Hutton Rudby. Its too easy to wizz round Teesside in your car, while people in big cities are more restricted to public transport. However this creates more demand in city centres in places like Manchester. The success of Teesside Park has contributed to the decline of Middlesbrough and other smaller Teesside Towns. In some cities there is no space for a Teesside park so business has stayed more in the centre e.g. Edinburgh.

Another major difference is that in Middlesbrough the Town developed away from the River, possibly because the river was so industralised and relatively modern - over 100 blast furnaces. So there was no quayside type culture. The town also had wide grid style streets like America, rather than quaint medieval streets like York which led themselves to more unique character and keep everything close. Perceived high pollution, coupled with people struggling and using drugs and turning the crime has in the past has put off visitors from a far. Personally I would say now the Town is less polluted than most other large towns, car crime has dropped a lot and so have street prostitutes, pick pocketing type theft almost does not exist. The worst crime seems to be on the estates like Norfolk Place shops with gangs of feral young male teenagers riding bikes/motor bikes and acting like they own the place and the drugs wars on the estates.
 
Close out of town shopping centres, bring shops back into town and introduce free parking and better public transport, more police and stiffer sentences to get rid of the scumbags that blight our town !
 
Make Boro town centre a free town ( like a free port but town )
Low rates and rents to entice more well known brands .
Allow builders to build on the land from the Gare all the way to Redcar creating a 2 mile prom with bars and restaurants and above them sea view flats and apartments the full length creating a vibrant new area with a huge fantastic beach to use . ( the Gare beach runs all the way to Redcar and on to Saltburn , making it a magnet for visitors if it was made nicer )
Add man made ramps in the sea which create waves for surfing .
Now the steelwork has almost gone the area can be developed and made nicer .
Re develope the Eston Hills skiing project and build a ski resort using the natural hills and slopes as an all year round skiing development.
Lots of funding needed but worth considering.
 
Been mentioned several times already but I agree that the a66 flyover needs to go. Whoever thought that was a good idea back in the day needs their bumps felt. It kills the town centre.

Obviously never happen, or even be possible, but id re route the 66 along river behind Riverside, along with the train track and bring the area around stadium into the town centre.
 
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