Following the local elections last Thursday and the groundswell of support that now gives us four out of six local councillors, we should be able to get answers to some difficult questions.
Pontefract is a historic market town, built around the remains of the once key centre for law and government in this part of the North. A former military garrison town, centre of administration for the Osgoldcross Wapentake.
We have three railway stations, a racecourse and a royal charter going back to 1197. The location of a historic Royal Castle the remains of which still draw thousands of visitors a year exploring a history that includes civil war sieges and the death of Richard II.
There is a healthy pyramid of Junior and secondary schools topped by Carleton Community High School and the Kings School and New College a first rate Sixth Form college that draws young people continuing in education from across the district. We have vibrant community groups, positive community involvement by faith groups and charities, historic re-enactments,a thriving Music Festival that has been running since 1903. The Pontefract Liquorice Festival which is acknowledged as a national annual event drawing visitors from across the country. One of the best pantomime societies in the country in the St Giles and St Marys Panto society, great bands and choral societies and a score of other accomplishments and claims to fame. An absolutely superb art nouveau museum and a recently refurbished Town Hall with assembly rooms and the Nelson Room
When WMDC was brought into existence in 1974 public administration centred on Wakefield, many of the Municipal Boroughs across the West Riding of Yorkshire were subsumed and there was and still is a public belief that with the influence went the money.
For many, Pontefract has been on a downward trend ever since. Current plans to close the police station and centralise policing to a new location in Normanton, despite talk of leaving an undefined presence fill people with dismay and our law courts future in jeopardy. Our MP's set up a Health Authority which planned to close the publicly subscribed 450 bed Pontefract General Infirmary and the smaller 110 bed"Cottage Hospital" which is due to replace it in 2010 will not take account of the huge growth of population planned for the area.
There are other problems which many other communities face, threats to local post offices as part of the governments 2500 closure programme, low level crime and some violent disorder linked to the Labour Governments 2003 Licensing Act, problems within our "Night Time Economy", huge associated cost to ratepayers by littering and poor refuse collection in the Town Centre.
A chewing gum problem - You can cross the market place without touching the floor by stepping from one blob or cluster of dried chewing gum to another, which is currently receiving attention but the £25,000 budget allocated is unlikely to clear the surface, never mind scratch it.
We have some great shops national and local and a vibrant indoor market, good eateries, some very interesting pubs and some scary ones, we also have some empty shop fronts, opportunities for some if only we can improve footfall. We probably have more phone shops than most places and the good hearts of people mean that we have a full spread of charity shops.
We have historic buildings great architecture and the odd monstrosity, fascinating Medieval Ginnels and a huge traffic problem which many people see as inflicted by WMDC traffic engineers at Town End (they deny that but have so far done little to resolve it)..can we have our roundabout back please?
Again on the plus side we have a genuinely exciting and innovative masterplan to make much of our history and engineer out some of the 60s and 70s developments and replace them with more interesting and effective solutions (which still does not take account of our traffic problems).
How do we move forward? Well that is the big challenge that we need to address,
There are some great organisations engaged in youth activities, but there are many young people who do not engage with them or find the things that they want to see.
Some peoples poor personal standards have passed down generations and the associated costs of littering, graffiti and criminal damage are then passed on to the law abiding.
We need to get things back under control, we need to identify our local priorities and resolutely address them, so that the people of Pontefract can enjoy it and we can have a period of strengthening and refocussing the town as a good place to live in, to grow a family in, to visit, to spend money in, to respect to be proud of.
There has been talk recently of a Town Council, but looking at the other local towns that have gone down this route, it only seems to add a further costs to the people who live here, there are clearly some potential positives but in many cases it has exposed populations to an unlimited liability, if you would, an open cheque book which adds a precept to an already overinflated council tax bill and will take more money from your pockets for an uncertain result.
Short term: We need to fight to protect our local post offices which also serve the elderly, vulnerable and those with limited mobility, improve policing as necessary to reduce the disorder. Educate people about the costs of cleaning up after those that choose to litter or otherwise damage our environment, who are effectively causing the spending of money which we can use elsewhere, or improve our local facilities.
Support local events, societies and community groups, on positive programmes that improve our quality of like.
Put a brake, on unrestrained development without correspondingly improved transport infrastructure and services, fight some of the crop of loopy schemes that will just serve to make our area a grimmer place to live.
Support local renewable energy projects such as the improvements at Ferrybridge by Scottish but oppose the plethora of emerging industrial wind farm applications that are just too close to peoples homes and present real health concerns for many.
Pontefract is a historic market town, built around the remains of the once key centre for law and government in this part of the North. A former military garrison town, centre of administration for the Osgoldcross Wapentake.
We have three railway stations, a racecourse and a royal charter going back to 1197. The location of a historic Royal Castle the remains of which still draw thousands of visitors a year exploring a history that includes civil war sieges and the death of Richard II.
There is a healthy pyramid of Junior and secondary schools topped by Carleton Community High School and the Kings School and New College a first rate Sixth Form college that draws young people continuing in education from across the district. We have vibrant community groups, positive community involvement by faith groups and charities, historic re-enactments,a thriving Music Festival that has been running since 1903. The Pontefract Liquorice Festival which is acknowledged as a national annual event drawing visitors from across the country. One of the best pantomime societies in the country in the St Giles and St Marys Panto society, great bands and choral societies and a score of other accomplishments and claims to fame. An absolutely superb art nouveau museum and a recently refurbished Town Hall with assembly rooms and the Nelson Room
When WMDC was brought into existence in 1974 public administration centred on Wakefield, many of the Municipal Boroughs across the West Riding of Yorkshire were subsumed and there was and still is a public belief that with the influence went the money.
For many, Pontefract has been on a downward trend ever since. Current plans to close the police station and centralise policing to a new location in Normanton, despite talk of leaving an undefined presence fill people with dismay and our law courts future in jeopardy. Our MP's set up a Health Authority which planned to close the publicly subscribed 450 bed Pontefract General Infirmary and the smaller 110 bed"Cottage Hospital" which is due to replace it in 2010 will not take account of the huge growth of population planned for the area.
There are other problems which many other communities face, threats to local post offices as part of the governments 2500 closure programme, low level crime and some violent disorder linked to the Labour Governments 2003 Licensing Act, problems within our "Night Time Economy", huge associated cost to ratepayers by littering and poor refuse collection in the Town Centre.
A chewing gum problem - You can cross the market place without touching the floor by stepping from one blob or cluster of dried chewing gum to another, which is currently receiving attention but the £25,000 budget allocated is unlikely to clear the surface, never mind scratch it.
We have some great shops national and local and a vibrant indoor market, good eateries, some very interesting pubs and some scary ones, we also have some empty shop fronts, opportunities for some if only we can improve footfall. We probably have more phone shops than most places and the good hearts of people mean that we have a full spread of charity shops.
We have historic buildings great architecture and the odd monstrosity, fascinating Medieval Ginnels and a huge traffic problem which many people see as inflicted by WMDC traffic engineers at Town End (they deny that but have so far done little to resolve it)..can we have our roundabout back please?
Again on the plus side we have a genuinely exciting and innovative masterplan to make much of our history and engineer out some of the 60s and 70s developments and replace them with more interesting and effective solutions (which still does not take account of our traffic problems).
How do we move forward? Well that is the big challenge that we need to address,
There are some great organisations engaged in youth activities, but there are many young people who do not engage with them or find the things that they want to see.
Some peoples poor personal standards have passed down generations and the associated costs of littering, graffiti and criminal damage are then passed on to the law abiding.
We need to get things back under control, we need to identify our local priorities and resolutely address them, so that the people of Pontefract can enjoy it and we can have a period of strengthening and refocussing the town as a good place to live in, to grow a family in, to visit, to spend money in, to respect to be proud of.
There has been talk recently of a Town Council, but looking at the other local towns that have gone down this route, it only seems to add a further costs to the people who live here, there are clearly some potential positives but in many cases it has exposed populations to an unlimited liability, if you would, an open cheque book which adds a precept to an already overinflated council tax bill and will take more money from your pockets for an uncertain result.
Short term: We need to fight to protect our local post offices which also serve the elderly, vulnerable and those with limited mobility, improve policing as necessary to reduce the disorder. Educate people about the costs of cleaning up after those that choose to litter or otherwise damage our environment, who are effectively causing the spending of money which we can use elsewhere, or improve our local facilities.
Support local events, societies and community groups, on positive programmes that improve our quality of like.
Put a brake, on unrestrained development without correspondingly improved transport infrastructure and services, fight some of the crop of loopy schemes that will just serve to make our area a grimmer place to live.
Support local renewable energy projects such as the improvements at Ferrybridge by Scottish but oppose the plethora of emerging industrial wind farm applications that are just too close to peoples homes and present real health concerns for many.
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