Yes, another Phoenix rant. Am I the only one thinking someone somewhere is taking the piss, big time?
£225,000, yes, nearly a quarter of a million, to clear the land around the iconic Jugs of Tea site.
What are the council/we getting for their/our money? Let's see what The Visitor list:
"Demolish buildings". They are so iconic I'm sure someone would buy the Jugs wall!
"Remove services from buildings". Does that mean the derelict buildings have live services? How much does it cost to have the electric and gas cut off? Don't pay the bill, they'll cut you off for free.
"Grubbing up the area and crushing material for landfill". No doubt selling the landfil material or giving it away for free.
"Importing top-soil and turfing the area over". A grand should cover that, only 224 grand to go.
"Maintenance of the area (i.e. grass cutting)". Now they're really taking the piss.
Re-render a wall and build a new small wall with a few seats.
Total bill, £225,000.
If the council are reading this, here's an idea. Leave the Jugs of Wall in place, don't spend a penny on something that is attracting visitors. Yes, you heard me right, attracting visitors. Go on, take a look around flickr and see what photos of Morecambe are being posted. People are coming here to take photos of the Jugs of Tea, it's even got it's own group. Will they take photos of a lawn? I doubt it.
Leave the Jugs in place until Urban Splash redevelop the land.
Even if the land is cleared, I can't believe someone has costed this at £225,000.