DERBY TODAY

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Derby is a city of pubs and resembles a building site with areas such as 'Duckworth Square' lying derelict for many years. The City Councils current pet project is the 'Connecting Derby' scheme which appears to be encouraging people to shop in neighbouring towns and cities by making the city centre an obstacle course for shoppers. 'Connecting Derby' seems to mean connecting Derby to Nottingham which is only 15 miles along the A52, Burton which is a short hop along the A38 and a regular bus service will take you to Sheffield's Meadowhall in less time than it takes to drive into Derby, find a parking space and track down a shop that actually stocks what you need. On-going building and roadworks, which began in 1812, are planned to last indefinately. The aim is to provide a view of roadworks from anywhere in the city.

Motorists remain public enemy number one. Parking fines are increasing to half a week’s take-home pay for some people and in the spring any driver using a mobile phone will be fined £40, even if stuck in a traffic jam or sitting at lights. Given that creating jams is now official policy and that traffic lights turn green for about seven seconds before going red again for a fortnight, it’s difficult to know who’s parked, who’s in a queue and who’s dead, having lost the will to live. Clearly the plan is to bring every road to a standstill. And then, while drivers are phoning ahead to say they’re running late, legions of wardens and traffic cops will come along and slap parking tickets on their windscreens while at the same time nicking them for using their mobile phones.

The council is also systematically banning traffic from using certain streets as short-cuts because of complaints from residents. This ensures all drivers are forced to use the same roads thereby ensuring maximum congestion. Many roads are little more than a patchwork of potholes and dodgy temporary repairs with surfaces in the worst shape for 25 years. And street lighting is also in a bad state, with no sign of things improving. While taxes paid by drivers have soared by £10billion since Labour came to power, the state of our roads gets steadily worse.

A giant advertising screen in East Street, bought for £86,250 in 2004, is set to be sold for £10,000 as the city council prepares to cut its losses. Derby City Council paid £54,500 for the screen, which was put up on the side of the Co-op store, and the City Centre Management team at the time paid the remaining £31,750. The aim was for the screen to bring in around £5,000 a month from advertisers, but the council made only £500 a month in its first year. Few businesses came forward to advertise and instead of the expected income it has gone on to make a loss, costing the council about £6,000 in 2006-7.

Council leader Chris Williamson said, "I think, in the end, buying this screen wasn't a good decision for us. It was a decision taken in good faith but it has not worked as we had hoped for. By selling the screen, we prevent losing any more money." Officers from the council had looked at other sites in the city where the screen could be used, once they realised it was failing to bring in the expected money. Sites included St Peter's Street and the Spot, but the council said none were suitable for the screen, either because they would not have attracted more advertising or because there was nowhere suitable to mount it. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Sep/07)

Derby may get an Olympic-sized swimming pool and a new running track as part of proposals being developed by the city council and the University of Derby. The new pool would replace the 25m one at the Moorways Sports Centre. Plans include closing Moorways' running track and possibly selling-off the land. Money raised would help improve the university's running tack and building a big stadium for spectators.

The council said the idea was still in very early planning stages. A feasibility study is to be undertaken and if the plans are well received, a public consultation will held at the start of 2007. Council leader Chris Williamson said, "To provide an Olympic-sized swimming pool in a city of Derby's size is a tremendous step forward and coming as we hope it will do, ahead of the Olympic games. If we can provide this level of training facility in Derby who knows, maybe we may be able to train a future Olympic champion coming from Derby." (Source: BBC News, Oct/06)

An new tourism brochure produced by East Midlands Development Agency which fails to mention Derby has left council leaders fuming. Despite promoting rival cities Nottingham, Leicester and Lincoln as hotspots for tourist growth, Derby is notable only for its absence from the executive summary of Destination East Midlands. The document, which aims to promote tourism across the region between now and 2010, has come as a fresh blow to the city, after East Midlands Airport controversially opted to add Nottingham to its name. Derby City Council leader Maurice Burgess said he was disturbed by the contents of the Destination East Midlands Document.

He said, "We're trying to raise our image, we promote Derby ourselves with the tourist centres and we expect EMDA to be a partner in this. It's not a very close partnership at the moment with the way they've not treated us in an equal way to Nottingham, Leicester and Lincoln. Our Silk Mill has just received a Green Apple award for its part in our heritage and we've all sorts of things in Derby that are very interesting to tourists."

The document wants Nottingham to become 'commonly regarded as being in the top division of provincial short break and business destinations'. Lincoln is hoped to be 'lifted into the top rank of heritage city destinations in Britain'. The closest reference to Derby comes under a selection of 'other notable places', which lists the Derwent Valley Mills Heritage Site, along with Trent Bridge, Newark and Melton Mowbray. Marion Nixon, tourism manager for the city council, said it was disappointing that Derby was not included in the strategy document. "Derby isn't highlighted as a flagship city. It may well affect Derby, in terms of tourism, if people read this," she predicted. "What we want from EMDA is support to develop the city."

EMDA said that the Destination East Midlands strategy had been drawn up after lengthy consultation with local authorities and businesses. "Whilst the executive summary of the strategy does not specifically mention Derby city, it plays a critical role as the natural gateway to iconic attractions such as the Peak District National Park, the National Forest and Derwent Valley World Heritage Site," said a spokesman. "Derby will be a focus for the successful implementation of this part of the strategy."

The American Adventure Theme Park, near Shipley, is closing down and will not reopen for the summer season. Owners Venture World said the park has struggled to break even in recent years and attendance has fallen. All its rides will be put up for sale. It means 13 permanent staff and 400 seasonal workers will lose their jobs.

"American Adventure Theme Park states that it has invested considerably in trying to make the Park a commercial success but a fall in attendances which has been experienced across the UK theme park market has proved impossible to overcome," the firm said in a statement. It is closing after "a period of difficult trading" and the leasehold on the property will revert to Derbyshire County Council, which said a list of options for the site will now be drawn up and presented to the council's cabinet.(Source: BBC News, Jan/07)

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