Bob Howarth: “What’s Up in Bolton 2000”?

This is the text of the talk by Boton Council Leader, Bob Howarth, taken directly from the Deane-Cum-Heaton Labour Party's Branch minutes.

Bolton Council Leader and Branch member, Bob Howarth, was warmly welcomed to the meeting.

  Update

Bob gave an update on a number of issues around the Borough starting with the demolition of the old fire station. He said that the original proposal had been to work with the existing building and develop a mixture of offices, living accommodation and leisure facilities. The site had been sold for £100,000 but the original plan to retain the façade of the old building had been abandoned when the state of it and the cost involved (>£1 million) had been determined. It was found to be in such a poor state that, sadly, it just couldn’t have been saved. The original planning application for the site (a nine to eleven floor office building) had been turned down and a further application was awaited.

Development of the old Central Car Park is also planned. This will affect Victoria Hall. Despite the out of town developments there is still great interest in developing retail businesses in Bolton but we should expect much more volatility in town centre shopping.

  Sports Facilities

The Sports Arena at Middlebrook (mainly for tennis) will be open by Easter with £11 million from the Lottery and £1 million from the Lawn Tennis Association. The Arena will have indoor tennis courts that will be able to be used for other purposes, e.g. for the badminton tournament of the Commonwealth Games in 2002. The Arena is being sponsored by a local company and will be known as the Dabs.com Bolton Arena. An all weather running track has been developed outside the Arena and this will become the home of Horwich RMI Harriers.

The Town Hall Christmas skating rink has proved extremely popular with it being fully used for the whole of its stay in Victoria Square.

There is a possibility of setting up a “Leisure Trust” to run all the authority’s sports, leisure and cultural facilities (including the libraries) and it is also possible to do something similar with housing whereby the Council’s housing stock is disposed of to housing associations and similar non-profit organisations.

The Council unions are against such schemes but the Council itself sees such moves as a way of protecting jobs and improving services. Even in the Thatcher and Major years Bolton did not significantly reduce its workforce.

There are problems with the Water Place in that it needs £0.5 million of refurbishment and unless some sort of partnership deal is done with the private sector one of Bolton’s major leisure facilities would have to close.

There was a question on facilities (or lack of them) for teenagers in easy to access places. Bob said that there are sports facilities at leisure centres and some schools, specifically for young people. Simon added that the tennis courts at Moss Bank Park are easily accessible and very good now. Bob added that further affordable tennis facilities would be available at the Arena when the NW Lawn Tennis Federation moves there.

  The Budget

There has been preliminary discussion of the 2001 budget. The grant from central Government was about £1.1 million less than had been expected and expenditure on education will have to be £0.5 million less than the previous financial year. However, it is still much higher than under the Tories. Most of the extra education money will go on teachers’ salaries.

Bolton’s budget for 2001 will be about £240 million of which £120 million will go on education and around £40 million on social services. As a result of this we have to under spend on roads, pavements, street lighting, etc. Housing is also affected and Council house rents will have to increase as a result.

  Bolton's Roads

Graham asked about the roads in Bolton. He said that at the recent Area Forum meeting the impression had been given that Bolton was about to get a lot of money from central Government for road improvement. Bob said that this so-called “extra money” isn’t actually a grant but only permission to extend the Council’s borrowing for road improvements. The Council is unlikely to take up such extended borrowing.

  New Council Structure

To a question about the new Council structure Bob said that one of the disadvantages is that he doesn’t meet the “backbench” Councillors so much. What’s being done in Bolton now is an experiment and consultation must take place before a new system is fully implemented in 2001. The Council itself is supposed to be neutral on the matter.

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