£48m interchange will be a highlight of the coming year (From The Bolton News)

Another white elephant...the mind boggles

Building a bus station which has less stands than the current bus station which will mean less buses will be able to use it which will mean a further reduction in the bus network for the town!! That is building a bright future immediately - considering one of the Councils philosophies is to get more people using public transport!!!!!

The economic climate has NEVER been part of Bolton's downturn - that has been the fault of the current Labour leaders (Yes Morris and his cronies) who have money hoarded up somewhere but cutting frontline jobs and staff all in the name of the recession and the ConDems austerity measures.

Not every town in the country is suffering - only those that are being mis-managed!!!! Look at Bury - less than 6 miles away from Bolton Town Centre and see a thriving upcoming and family-orientated town - now thats how a town can thrive. Now compare that to Bolton and hey-presto!!!!

Bolton is a mis-managed town and because of it its dying on its feet day by day - chain shops leaving, independent shops closing, pay-day loans outlets moving in, dirty streets, graffiti, wastelands, burnt out buildings, boarded up buildings.

A brand spanking new bus station is definitely not going to be the catalyst for the town - a change in direction and a change in councillors is what is required. The town needs a new focus and the current councillors do not have any focus apart from their own bank balances!

Sign of a sad town when economic hopes are pinned on a new bus station.

Two jokes in the paper on the same day.
One is the above, the other is Morris seems to single handledly saved jobs at SCA in Horwich.
I love getting up every day, to see which accolade he has awarded himself !
now what will we get tomorrow Cliff !

This will not pull the wool.......the town needs a complete overhaul not just simply some new bus station smaller that the one we already have. The council will have to do much more than this to appease the already restless residents of this town as it declines before our eyes. As has been said on here many times before, we need new Councillors with new ideas and not the current bunch of has beens who continue to allow this town to deteriorate further (if that's possible). The sooner, the better!

OOOOO Cant wait maybe it well blend in with that pointless arch over rundown shops and pubs at the top of newport street eh?

Why do we need a bus station? What is wrong with bus stops along the streets? Saving £50,000,000. We could then turn the present bus station into a much needed car park which would do more to boost the town centre.

I sense some sarcasm from sunfun with the carpark idea!

Bolton has got it completely wrong. Instead of spending all this money on a new (smaller) bus station and refurbing the market why don't they repair the roads and offer free parking. Get rid of all the abusive alcoholics that plague the top end of Newport Street. Limit the number of pawn brokers / cash generators that drag the area down and try and encourage some decent shops back. The rot started when the Market Hall was refurbed and all the stalls cleared out.

Moving the bus station could kill off the market during the week as older people and pensioners can just get off the bus and they are right at the market. Once it moves they may think twice about going if they have to travel across roads to get from the bus to the market.

Obviously somebody's palm is being greased through all this.

Bus station to nowhere,the best use of the bus station would be to load most of the councillors on a bus and ship them out with Morris driving,hopefully he wouldn't have the brains to find his way back.

A stroke of genius, a new Interchange for a Town that nobody wants to visit. I thing Cllr Morris should be given the honour of opening the new Bus Station, then put him on a bus with a one way ticket to nowhere !!! Totally laughable

All I have to say is this;

Bolton needs money spent on cleaning it up, not things which make it look like a city, all for the hope we will one day be granted the status. I would love my home town to become a City but what is going to bring people to it? There is nothing left!

People need to be attracted to it and they will walk away thinking what people used to think about Bolton, 'what a great place'

Bolton has lost it's pride and the town centre is now only fit for the scum this town produces, everyone else goes into Mnahcester and why wouldn't you?

We have a great history of some fantastic, talented people. Bolton can clearly produce greatness but at the moment, it is ill and needs a doctor.

A bus station would be nice yes, but so would some decent shops and entertainment. We need to gain our pride back before it becomes a ghost town.

Put me in charge and I will show you. Enough has been said about the disgraceful state of Bolton town centre. Councillors are no more than egotistical attention seeking rookies. They are mostly interested in Bin collections and Mr Jones' extension being approved. The macro economics of Bolton needs someone like me who will tell the idiots in charge what they are and need to get out of the way of progress.
And please, Bolton News, have more dignity and purpose. At the moment you are no more than a glorified leaflet; your reporting is just as embarrasing as the condition of Bolton.

Yet again money being thrown at bolton. We just get the scraps if we are lucky. More money for the market when we do not even have one in Horwich. Bolton council let it die.

WHY NOT JUST BUILD A GIANT STATUE OF MR MORRIS >SO ALL THE NATION CAN SEE THIS CLOWN IN ALL HIS GLORY .

Wow..thank goodness I'm leaving this town for university this year. The town centre is something that makes me ashamed to be from Bolton. Why spend all this money on a smaller bus station than we already have when the rest of the centre is in a state and the money could be used to improve other areas??

I just hope the overhaul of the Market doesn't have the same effect as the overhaul of the Market Hall, losing the small traders from that was bad enough, don't let this happen all over again!
Bolton One is in a very unsuitable position for access by car or bus.
The bus interchange was very nice when it was built, but soon fell into disrepair and looks grotty, as does the train station. Not very welcoming!! And I thought the new interchange was to replace Moor Lane Bus Station, is this not so? I prefer it to stay at Moor Lane, nearer the market, although it is a fair way from the other shops, such as they are :-(

How many shops / businesses are being forced to close or relocate to accomodate this white elephant?

Building a great big 21st century interchange to deliver the general public to a town center filled with empty shops, burnt our buildings and a few pound shops. Yep, another great waste of money.

I left Bolton three years ago, I now follow it on my laptop and I must say I am totally embarrased when people ask me where I'm from. Here all I can read is how rank the councillors are and read about another white elephant being built. Why don't you spend the money on cleaning the town centre and creating something that will attract visitors to the town. Give Bolton some life and don't let it die anymore.

thought the bus station wouldn't be operational until 2015?

How about an on-line campaign to force Mr. Morris and his cronies out of office?

Really fitting for a victorian town, absolute waste of effort until the **** hole is sorted out.
They will exit the interchange only to be presented with Great Moor street charity shops, derelict fads boared up buffet king nee revelution nee Chester moon shires ! Oh nearly forgot the rubble pile next to the turkisk baths, bookies money lenders etc.

Cliff Morris wonderful you never disappiont the residents with your delusions of adequecy.

I notice today there is a new sign up over Bolton 1, proclaiming it to be the Jason Kenny Centre. Can any body tell me the connection between a world class track cyclist and what is not much more than a paddling pool?

Tories whipping themselves up into a frenzy again.
You lot really should relax and calm down.
Have a day out in Bolton town centre. Go to the museum and art gallery. Do a bit of shopping and visit the market, it's really very good these days. Have a nice meal and maybe stay-on and go to the excellent Octagon theatre to see a very good play (they're all very good).
When you get home, you'll find that you've had a very enjoyable day, but don't tell anyone especially your leader that would never do.

hatonfire wrote:
Tories whipping themselves up into a frenzy again.
You lot really should relax and calm down.
Have a day out in Bolton town centre. Go to the museum and art gallery. Do a bit of shopping and visit the market, it's really very good these days. Have a nice meal and maybe stay-on and go to the excellent Octagon theatre to see a very good play (they're all very good).
When you get home, you'll find that you've had a very enjoyable day, but don't tell anyone especially your leader that would never do.

Mentalist Alert!

I Repeat.

Mentalist Alert.

Hey Bolton Council... let's screw up the market too!

Ooops you did that once and are just about to do it again...

Oh BTW for those interested in commenting on the cop & horses (sounds like a top pub!) article, well I will give you some democratic rights to comment here: http://articlechase.
com/beyondnews/threa
d-3350.html

I think the bus station is a good idea and bus/rail interchanges are the way forward however it will solve nothing as to the mess of the town centre. We need new shops and restorated or modern buildings. The town centre needs massive investment and its leaders need a new long term vision to improve it. For a town with a population of 270,000 we have a fifth rate town centre with few facilities.

hatonfire wrote:
Tories whipping themselves up into a frenzy again.
You lot really should relax and calm down.
Have a day out in Bolton town centre. Go to the museum and art gallery. Do a bit of shopping and visit the market, it's really very good these days. Have a nice meal and maybe stay-on and go to the excellent Octagon theatre to see a very good play (they're all very good).
When you get home, you'll find that you've had a very enjoyable day, but don't tell anyone especially your leader that would never do.

1. can you reccomend a decent restaurant?
2. can you tell me which shops are open after 530pm?
3. my last bus home is at 6pm, therefore can you tell me how to get home after 6pm without it costing more than 3 quid?
4. doesn't the museum and library close at 5pm nowadays, like the shops?
5. If I am to get into town before 5pm, can you tell me the directions to what you mention from Bolton bus station for a wheelchair user?
6. Can you actually guarantee that the streets I will be using will be litter free (ie litter from the past month and not just that day!)?

If any of ther above apply then blow me down with a feather then Bolton is definitely a bustling town centre, just as Cllr Clifford Morris says and I should be ashamed that I accuse the councillors of doing sweet FA to the town centre!!!

ooops forgot to mention, yet again, Mr or Mrs or Ms Hatonfire. I am NOT affiliated with any political party and I argue the fact from what I know and see with my own eyes and not any polticial manifesto - which you seem to do so.

I'm sure I read somewhere that cllr Morris and mr Harriss have advised that the new travel interchange will be closed for business between the hours of 12 noon and 2pm so that all passengers and bus/train staff can take advantage of the numerous local restaurants.

Well done Stan and Olly, the saviours of Bolton town centre

Oh and hatonfire you'd be aswell laying off the crack pipe for a while.

Look like Bolton has also got its fair share of moaners and idiots like other towns,

Wigan Trotter wrote:
Look like Bolton has also got its fair share of moaners and idiots like other towns,

Well Wigan, I'd say that we have more than our fair share.
They just don't understand the basic principle of commerce i.e. transferring goods from producers to consumer. Rule No.1, It is not enough for consumers to want the goods but that the have the ability (cash) to pay for them.
As we all know (even the idiots) the ConDem government have reduced the spending power of the average person with bigger reductions on the way.

I don't know about Wigan but Bolton has always had moaners who love to criticize and insult their own town but to make matters worse, it is now the (un)official policy of the local Tories to say how dreadful Bolton is and blame the Labour council.

It's quite obvious Bolton town centre is going downhill fast so we need to come up with a radical solution. Given that we have class theatres like the Octagon and the Albert Halls how about focusing on turning Bolton in to an entertainment centre. The "old" bus station could be turned in to a cinema complex complete with car parking and this would provide more business for restaurants etc. It's quite clear shopping is dying in the town centre so lets look at other alternatives.

Hatonfire says "They just don't understand the basic principle of commerce i.e. transferring goods from producers to consumer. Rule No.1, It is not enough for consumers to want the goods but that the have the ability (cash) to pay for them.
As we all know (even the idiots) the ConDem government have reduced the spending power of the average person with bigger reductions on the way."

In response to your simplistic approach, cash is available, it just isn't being spent in Bolton Town Centre, actually Middlebrook, Trafford Centre, Chorley & Bury are all thriving.

Any sane individual will recognise that you can not, for a prolonged period, live beyond your means unless you are building something that will have a value that far exceeds the cost of capital employed. The UK and inparticular the previous government has NOT done this, the additional borrowings were being used in essence to keep the country standing still, you could say avoiding a difficult decision. In your rule number 1 you actually agree with me here as you state you have got to have the ability (cash) to pay for the goods you want.

Finally going back to your basic principles of commerce, i would argue the Rule 1 is have a marketplace and something viable to sell before you spend a fortune on infrastructure. In my view Bolton Town Centre has a marketplace but unfortunately with the exception of a couple of shops (M&S & Debenhams et al.) it doesn't have anything of note to sell. Therefore i would not build the new interchange as we already have a bus and train station that whilst not state of the art are fit for purpose. I would therefore use some of the £50 million (what would of been spent on the interchange) to offer incentives to SME's (small and medium sized enterprises) and their customers to come back into the town centre. SME's could be offered incentives via business rates relief or subsidised rent terms to comeback into the town centre, this in turn gets other cogs of the economy turning, for example, shop fitters are required to fit out the units being rented, logistics companies are required to deliver goods to the stores, staff are needed to sell the goods, window cleaners to keep the shop looking spic an span you can see where i'm going....... Then at the same time the council could use a little more of the £50 million to help attract and increase foot fall into the centre by subsidising the car parking giving the town centre a level playing field with the reebok and other out of town shopping outlets on which to compete.

Basically it needs to be a multi faceted approach. Spending a small fortune on an interchange when there is nothing to see or do when you get here is down right incompetence. It shows that Keith Davies, Bolton Council’s director of development and regeneration is so far out of his depth when he suggests the interchange will be the highlight of the forthcoming year.

I'm an immigrant to Bolton and I love the town but I find so many people, especially on the Bolton News comments pages to be dour, pessimistic, negative and against anything that seems like progress. To me it makes sense to put the bus station next to the train station as was successfully done in Bury many years ago. In any case, the money for the new interchange isn't coming from Bolton Council it's coming from Transport for Greater Manchester and therefore COULDN'T be used for anything else.

Get real all you moaning minnies!

Chrome1 wrote:
Put me in charge and I will show you. Enough has been said about the disgraceful state of Bolton town centre. Councillors are no more than egotistical attention seeking rookies. They are mostly interested in Bin collections and Mr Jones' extension being approved. The macro economics of Bolton needs someone like me who will tell the idiots in charge what they are and need to get out of the way of progress.
And please, Bolton News, have more dignity and purpose. At the moment you are no more than a glorified leaflet; your reporting is just as embarrasing as the condition of Bolton.

I couldn't agree more, the Bolton News is a free mouthpiece to these councillors who just want to fill their own pockets and spout on endlessly about the wonderful things they are doing to improve Bolton. Of course we are all to blame for keep voting these faceless pigs back to the trough. I have done more for my local area in the last 12 months than my elected representative and I don't claim expenses for a few simple phone calls to the relevant council department.

Well that's another nail in the towns coffin. The council have now reached rock bottom, but still it keeps digging. when will the public decide to take the spade off these morons

hatonfire wrote:

Wigan Trotter wrote:
Look like Bolton has also got its fair share of moaners and idiots like other towns,

Well Wigan, I'd say that we have more than our fair share.
They just don't understand the basic principle of commerce i.e. transferring goods from producers to consumer. Rule No.1, It is not enough for consumers to want the goods but that the have the ability (cash) to pay for them.
As we all know (even the idiots) the ConDem government have reduced the spending power of the average person with bigger reductions on the way.

I don't know about Wigan but Bolton has always had moaners who love to criticize and insult their own town but to make matters worse, it is now the (un)official policy of the local Tories to say how dreadful Bolton is and blame the Labour council.

Well we'd all better vote UKIP then because all Labour did was to let us get swamped with immigrants.

Mr Morris spouts that the rsidents just keep knocking Bolton town. Prehaps he should take a long hard look inwards to why this is happening.
Cliff residents aren't interested in the wider politics of the country they are only concerned with local issues that labours local councillors have been running in both boom and bust.
In the boom they failed on all accounts to capitalise on the upward economy only to blame the coalition on the down turn.
This suggest that these are local management and poor planning issues having massive impact on peoples quality of life.
By failing to promote quality employers to locate in the town centre. I fact quite the opposite has happened.

heaton watcher wrote:
I'm an immigrant to Bolton and I love the town but I find so many people, especially on the Bolton News comments pages to be dour, pessimistic, negative and against anything that seems like progress. To me it makes sense to put the bus station next to the train station as was successfully done in Bury many years ago. In any case, the money for the new interchange isn't coming from Bolton Council it's coming from Transport for Greater Manchester and therefore COULDN'T be used for anything else. Get real all you moaning minnies!

There is already a bus station next to the train station which isn't even used by all bus routes!!!! In fact they had to remodel the bus station due to lack of activity and shrink the size of it!!!!! And now they are building a brand new bus station with a 5 minute walk, along a covered footbridge, whilst doing nothing with the current bus station at the station. Everyone seems to have forgotten about that bu station in town!!!!

hatonfire wrote:

Wigan Trotter wrote: Look like Bolton has also got its fair share of moaners and idiots like other towns,

Well Wigan, I'd say that we have more than our fair share. They just don't understand the basic principle of commerce i.e. transferring goods from producers to consumer. Rule No.1, It is not enough for consumers to want the goods but that the have the ability (cash) to pay for them. As we all know (even the idiots) the ConDem government have reduced the spending power of the average person with bigger reductions on the way. I don't know about Wigan but Bolton has always had moaners who love to criticize and insult their own town but to make matters worse, it is now the (un)official policy of the local Tories to say how dreadful Bolton is and blame the Labour council.

You seem to continually miss the point, hatonfire. There may well be less money to be spent by people due to the tough austerity measures, which actually contradicts your argument on another newspeice with regards to moving council workers into town centre and more spending power for the restaurants!!! But as "thretotter" says one needs a market place for teh ghoods and services to be sold which Bolton no longer has. For example, where are the local Topshop, or even Burton's and Dorothy Perkins? - just to name 3 national chain stores that have left the town over the last 6 months!!!

You also seem to forget about the money that was NOT spent during the "boom" years and is still not being spent or the money raised through teh sale of many council properties and land which, again, is not being utilised, or what about the money the council recieves from being a shareholder in The Manchester Airport Group - again not being utilised, or the money it receives from the various county court fines over the years (mainly due to non-payment of Council Tax)???? The money is all being saved up - why???? Frontline staff are being cut, front line jobs atre being lost, services are diminishing and yet the momey is there to keep it going. Yet the Labour councillors would rather hoard the money, cut services and blame the cuts on the ConDem Government. Bury is thriving, Chorley is thrivibng - because people would rather go to a town centre that has a full array of shops rather than a down-trodden rubbish strewn town-centre where the council has no pride!!! Mistakes by the council started long before the recession and the flat-lining of the economy and yet you just want to view it as from 2008!!!! Its about time you woke up and realise that this council has been no good for the last 10-15 years. It needs new blood - I honestly do not care from which Party they will come from but it is needed to reviatlise the town.

The laissez-faire attitude to your own town, makes me think that you honestly do not care what happens to the town centre and creating arguments for srgumentaing sake. If I was in Bolton, now,. I would be canvassing the council, the parties, etc etc for answers to get get solutions and resolutions - action is needed, rather than a sit-back attitude.

Andy Higham wrote:
How many shops / businesses are being forced to close or relocate to accomodate this white elephant?

How many people like me are loosing their job because of this stupid interchange??? Guess I best get in the line at the job centre eh???

Free parking is the answer. Take the yellow lines off any street wide enough to take cars two abreast (ie Bradshawgate, Gt Moor St, Blackhorse St, Le Mans Crescent etc. etc.), and knock down a few eyesores to create some more parking. Then the town might come back to life. Meantime, we have Moor Lane bus station, and Newport St bus station, which are bigger now than they were in the 1970s when more people used buses. We don't need another, we need CAR PARKING!

Thing I've noticed about people on here is that whenever anyone spends money on something, they fly completely off the handle for no reason.

Anyway, I don't see the interchange as a bad thing. An expensive thing, but not a bad thing. One positive you can get from it is that all of the town centre's public transport will be unified (to an extent). Having lived in Heaton all my life (and being able to get the 575 from the station), I can't imagine how awkward it'd be for an old person to get across to Gt Moor St in the cold. This will make a lot of lives much easier I think.

Secondly, it'll take the focus off our horrible train station. I hate that thing, it smells of wee and it's extremely depressing to stand in. But seriously though, do you prefer that area around the train station right now? It's just casinos and pound shops round there. Would you SERIOUSLY want to keep the area as it is?

However, I do agree with the majority on here. There is much that needs to be done to Bolton first. It's not a quick fix though and I bet a lot of it is out of Boltons control. How do you attract more shops to the town centre when there's the trafford centre down the m60? When there's Manchester City Centre down the train line? I don't think we're the only Gtr Mcr town suffering here, people.

Free Parking? Removing yellow lines? No chance, don't make me laugh. Never in a month of Sundays. I do believe cheaper tariffs would work though. The price of parking needs revision. Less Over-Zealous wardens? Try to stop bending the rules and make good time. Don't waft the cheese under their noses if you don't want to get bitten.

Maybe putting money into a decent University will attract a bit more. There is still evidence that it's horrifically mismanaged.

Part of me's glad I'm moving to Lancaster in a few weeks. I'm hoping Bolton can look at the place and get some tips.

The problem with the town centre is a lack of space believe it or not. Retail chains are drawn to out of town developments because of the huge open floor space available, ample on the doorstep free parking and accessibility. The developers are not stupid, they target retailers, using other retailers as the bait, along with the now almost uniform building format so are relatively cheap to fit out. Soulless they are but it works well. The idea is an American import.

Seemingly Bolton Council and others, didn't see it coming or were blind as it started with the Arndale Centres in the 1960's.

The interchange too is a very old idea, that I think is out of date before it's built and is a mistake in my humble opinion - take away easy accessibility to the market which the interchange will do and they will kill it (eventually) when across this great nation of shopkeepers, true markets are in a revival period. The market is once again Bolton's Jewel in its crown, lovingly polish it and admire its sparkle.

As for the rest of the centre, the Council really needs to speak with commerce and decide where or what it wants to be in 20 years time, which I hope is not hanging on to the tail of Manchester City Council.

In the meanwhile, dump the over zealous, private contractor parking police who hover like vultures, 5.30 - 6.00pm must be feeding time as waiting for my son to finish work - there must have been at least 3 of them, barking orders and threats to people waiting to pick up Town Hall and BN employees and round the corner, dropping off for the Albert Halls - not good.

tommy wrote:
Thing I've noticed about people on here is that whenever anyone spends money on something, they fly completely off the handle for no reason.

Anyway, I don't see the interchange as a bad thing. An expensive thing, but not a bad thing. One positive you can get from it is that all of the town centre's public transport will be unified (to an extent). Having lived in Heaton all my life (and being able to get the 575 from the station), I can't imagine how awkward it'd be for an old person to get across to Gt Moor St in the cold. This will make a lot of lives much easier I think.

Secondly, it'll take the focus off our horrible train station. I hate that thing, it smells of wee and it's extremely depressing to stand in. But seriously though, do you prefer that area around the train station right now? It's just casinos and pound shops round there. Would you SERIOUSLY want to keep the area as it is?

However, I do agree with the majority on here. There is much that needs to be done to Bolton first. It's not a quick fix though and I bet a lot of it is out of Boltons control. How do you attract more shops to the town centre when there's the trafford centre down the m60? When there's Manchester City Centre down the train line? I don't think we're the only Gtr Mcr town suffering here, people.

Free Parking? Removing yellow lines? No chance, don't make me laugh. Never in a month of Sundays. I do believe cheaper tariffs would work though. The price of parking needs revision. Less Over-Zealous wardens? Try to stop bending the rules and make good time. Don't waft the cheese under their noses if you don't want to get bitten.

Maybe putting money into a decent University will attract a bit more. There is still evidence that it's horrifically mismanaged.

Part of me's glad I'm moving to Lancaster in a few weeks. I'm hoping Bolton can look at the place and get some tips.

Sorry, but the same people will be using the station. It may look good for a while - don't forget that the present station/bus station there was once new and didn't smell of wee ...

bolton the sh!t hole of the north