John & Carolyn on start to the season and Bishop St

[HitchcocksShins]

Look at you two, eh? Think I'll start referring to you collectively as "Coomo"

[oldweststander]

Wasn't the Leisure Centre the Mansfield Independents under Mayor Eggington, who came up with the classic about building an arena to replace the Leisure Centre: which used to hold concerts, sports events and TV events. Of course nothing ever happened.

The council isn't under the same political colour now - of course that doesn't mean that they're any better.


And for those who don't know, the roads are maintained by Ben Bradley's lot in West Bridgeford, not Mansfield DC.

The new Oak Tree Leisure Centre was built at no cost to Mansfield council whilst Mayor Egginton was in power.
It was done as part of a deal allowing Tesco to build the new superstore if they funded the new leisure centre.

The current Mayor's idea is to knock the perfectly good Civic Centre down, build houses on the land and move the council into the old CO-OP which isn't really fit for purpose.

I'm not sure you understand the decision making process for local government if you think it is the "Mayor's idea".
The Civic Centre is far too big for MDC, hence the reason a lot of it is now rented out to other organisations. It has been a long-term plan, since way before the current Mayor, to use hybrid and home working to reduce the desk space requirements. Changes to how people work since Covid have pushed this forward.
The land that the Civic and it's car park are sat on is valuable in the housing market, so with central government funding continually reducing, and many councils struggling to balance the books, it makes sense to sell off an asset that is no longer required.
People have moaned for years about the Civic being out on a limb, so creating a central 'one stop' hub in the town centre makes a lot of sense.

Not strictly correct Dave.

It was not on the political table before the current Mayor arrived, yes officers mai have had the will but the previous Mayors and portfolio for Finance would not have allowed it.

Under a previous CEO £6m plud was spent on refurbishing the Civic Centre, the rental income from the DWP brings in welcome finance to the council, nothing there you don't already know.

As for home working, it's a disaster, officers uncontactable, no one knows who is at work or who isn't or maybe should be but instead are looking after the grand children.
Not saying the latter is happening all the time by everyone but I do know of a case where an officer was asked yo attend a meeting at the CC but couldn't because she was looking after grandchildren.

So buying Beales and moving the council there is the Mayor's idea, which I understand is already having problems keeping proposed partners involved.

[DoomMerchant]

Dave, MDC could always consider clearing a large space and building a new build small office block. Somewhere like say, Lord St and Bishop St for instance?

[zod]

I'm not sure you understand the decision making process for local government if you think it is the "Mayor's idea".

People have moaned for years about the Civic being out on a limb, so creating a central 'one stop' hub in the town centre makes a lot of sense.

It's the Mayor and Ben Bradley's idea, they even had to submit a proposal to the government for the funding!

Who has moaned that the Civic with it's ample free parking is out on a limb?
Moving the offices to an inaccessible part of town with limited parking is a daft idea.

[Dave Wayne]

Wasn't the Leisure Centre the Mansfield Independents under Mayor Eggington, who came up with the classic about building an arena to replace the Leisure Centre: which used to hold concerts, sports events and TV events. Of course nothing ever happened.

The council isn't under the same political colour now - of course that doesn't mean that they're any better.


And for those who don't know, the roads are maintained by Ben Bradley's lot in West Bridgeford, not Mansfield DC.

The new Oak Tree Leisure Centre was built at no cost to Mansfield council whilst Mayor Egginton was in power.
It was done as part of a deal allowing Tesco to build the new superstore if they funded the new leisure centre.

The current Mayor's idea is to knock the perfectly good Civic Centre down, build houses on the land and move the council into the old CO-OP which isn't really fit for purpose.

I'm not sure you understand the decision making process for local government if you think it is the "Mayor's idea".
The Civic Centre is far too big for MDC, hence the reason a lot of it is now rented out to other organisations. It has been a long-term plan, since way before the current Mayor, to use hybrid and home working to reduce the desk space requirements. Changes to how people work since Covid have pushed this forward.
The land that the Civic and it's car park are sat on is valuable in the housing market, so with central government funding continually reducing, and many councils struggling to balance the books, it makes sense to sell off an asset that is no longer required.
People have moaned for years about the Civic being out on a limb, so creating a central 'one stop' hub in the town centre makes a lot of sense.

Not strictly correct Dave.

It was not on the political table before the current Mayor arrived, yes officers mai have had the will but the previous Mayors and portfolio for Finance would not have allowed it.

Under a previous CEO £6m plud was spent on refurbishing the Civic Centre, the rental income from the DWP brings in welcome finance to the council, nothing there you don't already know.

As for home working, it's a disaster, officers uncontactable, no one knows who is at work or who isn't or maybe should be but instead are looking after the grand children.
Not saying the latter is happening all the time by everyone but I do know of a case where an officer was asked yo attend a meeting at the CC but couldn't because she was looking after grandchildren.

So buying Beales and moving the council there is the Mayor's idea, which I understand is already having problems keeping proposed partners involved.

I didn't say the move to Beales was planned before the current Mayor, I said the move to hybrid and homeworking was.
The refurb that you mention reduced the available desk space to 7 desks for every 10 staff, some staff were trialled on permanent homeworking at that point, and hybrid working was being pushed.
The take up wasn't high through a combination of staff not wanting to do it, and a lack of trust from managers, but the covid lockdown changed mindsets.
No officers should be uncontactable as every member of staff has access through their laptops to the same 'landline' phone numbers they had on their desks previously.
If it is not known whether people are at work or not, then that is down to individual department managers, not council policy. With regards the meeting, was the officer given advance warning, or just expected to drop everything and go in at a few hours notice ? That is not how the policy was designed to work. Many couples now only have one car as they don't both need to travel to work on the same day, so if the other half had gone to work how are they supposed to get there at short notice ?

[Dave Wayne]

I'm not sure you understand the decision making process for local government if you think it is the "Mayor's idea".

People have moaned for years about the Civic being out on a limb, so creating a central 'one stop' hub in the town centre makes a lot of sense.

It's the Mayor and Ben Bradley's idea, they even had to submit a proposal to the government for the funding!

Who has moaned that the Civic with it's ample free parking is out on a limb?
Moving the offices to an inaccessible part of town with limited parking is a daft idea.

Free parking is only useful if you have a car, otherwise it is a long trek from the town centre.
Limited parking ? Right next to Four Seasons.
Inaccessible ? Next door to the Bus Station.

[Amberheart]

Anyway I really hope something can be done with the Bishop Street soon , I had great memories sat in there as a kid with my grandad in the 1970s

[HitchcocksShins]

Speaking of Ben Bradley, is he still on the clubs pay roll? Remember a few years ago we'd been giving him a nice little chunk of change for reasons unknown.

[zod]

Limited parking ? Right next to Four Seasons.
Inaccessible ? Next door to the Bus Station.

Four seasons is a carpark now? Or do you mean the old Tesco multi-storey which isn't right next to the proposed offices and is awkward for disabled people to access?
Bus station assumes I want to use a bus.

If I want to visit the current offices, I can pull up in the car park and walk a hundred yards.

I cannot see anyway of doing this at the proposed new location.
Seeing as the old short stay carpark has now been replaced with some plants and slabs.

[zod]

I'm not sure you understand the decision making process for local government if you think it is the "Mayor's idea".

I didn't say the move to Beales was planned before the current Mayor.

That reads like you did to me.

[Martin Shaw]

third reminder - please keep the whole discussion related to the Bishop St stand.

[Captain Cunno]

Start firing them Pms out Shawster !!

[Sneag]

third reminder - please keep the whole discussion related to the Bishop St stand.

Tribal bickering apart Martin, it was JR & CR themselves who brought the role of MDC into this discussion.

It sounded to me that their appeal to MDC was to facilitate any planning permission required for the redevelopment.

[mousemousemouse]

Going back to what someone else said about building something substantial

I reckon that's what they're planning also, which makes sense. Why waste time and money on something small that will hold an extra thousand or two when they can build something bigger and better and more fit for purpose. But needs to be sorted very soon, or atleast something to get the fans buzzing.

Would be great to turn it into something that can evolve (corners filled in etc)

[HitchcocksShins]

third reminder - please keep the whole discussion related to the Bishop St stand.

You sure it wasn't the second?

[BigGuy]

Biggest political thread on the board, bet it still doesn’t wake up the sleepy politics forum.

Just need Rob to pop along and tell us he hates the tories and we have Bingo

[Richard Cranium]

It’s great if they’ve got plans for something ambitious on that side and of course that’ll take time but in the short term something needs to happen. If that’s not Bishop Street then have we even looked into the possibilities of temp stands in the corners either side of the IGS? That’s the only solution of the Police/SAG whoever aren’t going to work with us and let us put crap away followings in the QLE where the stand can be segregated and shared with home fans and then we can sell all the North Stand to our own supporters.

Looking ahead it’s only likely to be Notts, Donny, Swindon and potentially Gillingham at that stage of the season likely to bring 4 figures in away support.

If we continue to challenge for the top 3 you’ve got Crawley, Accrington, Salford, Harrogate, Sutton and Colchester all coming in the new year that won’t need anymore than a few hundred.

[Rob]

We'd still be left with a 3 sided ground. Best place for a temp stand is on the Bish.

[Richard Cranium]

But that’s not a quick fix for this season. They’ve said they can’t do anything with it because of access. Even if they were allowed to do it from Bishop/Lord Street that probably still wouldn’t be done until the Sunmer. I’m talking about getting something in place to benefit from it this season

[HitchcocksShins]

Perhaps we can seek some advice from Team Bath

[Rob]

But that’s not a quick fix for this season. They’ve said they can’t do anything with it because of access. Even if they were allowed to do it from Bishop/Lord Street that probably still wouldn’t be done until the Sunmer. I’m talking about getting something in place to benefit from it this season

True enough, I don't know how long it would take to simply flatten the Bish and tarmac it over. However, it only took a few weeks to knock the old West Stand down and of course you aren't wasting money as you are doing work that will be needed. I suspect ground work, fencing etc will be needed for any temp structure.

[Dave Wayne]

But that’s not a quick fix for this season. They’ve said they can’t do anything with it because of access. Even if they were allowed to do it from Bishop/Lord Street that probably still wouldn’t be done until the Sunmer. I’m talking about getting something in place to benefit from it this season

You're missing the point mate. Even if we had a 20,000 seat stadium, Rob wouldn't be happy if it was 3-sided.

[Stoney]

Would there be issues with ripping down Bishop Street this season in regards to the advertising boards though? I'm guessing the companies have paid up front for a full seasons pitch side advertisement.

If we started ripping it down tomorrow I'd imagine every firm would be eligible for refunds.

[Rob]

But that’s not a quick fix for this season. They’ve said they can’t do anything with it because of access. Even if they were allowed to do it from Bishop/Lord Street that probably still wouldn’t be done until the Sunmer. I’m talking about getting something in place to benefit from it this season

You're missing the point mate. Even if we had a 20,000 seat stadium, Rob wouldn't be happy if it was 3-sided.

That's actually true Dave

[Sneag]

But that’s not a quick fix for this season. They’ve said they can’t do anything with it because of access. Even if they were allowed to do it from Bishop/Lord Street that probably still wouldn’t be done until the Sunmer. I’m talking about getting something in place to benefit from it this season

True enough, I don't know how long it would take to simply flatten the Bish and tarmac it over. However, it only took a few weeks to knock the old West Stand down and of course you aren't wasting money as you are doing work that will be needed. I suspect ground work, fencing etc will be needed for any temp structure.

The big concrete & steel chewing machine that pulled down the old West Stand, didn't have to do it from the pitch, it just squatted on the car park behind the stand.

I'd expect taking the Bish down might be a more delecate operation.