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DERBY HAS SOLD ITS SOUL TO
DEVELOPERS
The abysmal record of Derby City Council in
relation to the stewardship of the city of Derby
gets worse with each day that passes. Many of us
can remember Derby as a thriving town with a
bustling centre and busy Morledge open Market,
Cattle Market and Market Hall, and a public
transport system geared up to the needs of its
customers which was readily used daily by many
thousands of people. It wasn't too long ago. Now
we see nothing but the ruined remains of what was
a decent place to live, before decades of rotten
planning led us to the present sorry state. The
decisions that brought this about were not
accidental. What is proven time and time again is
that the people making these decisions jump at
every carrot dangled before them by development
corporations instead of working to secure the
future of the city by negotiating for its true
requirements.
This is apparent by the number of poorly-judged
decisions that they make - either in secret or by
last-minute announcements - before people know
what is happening. Examples of this are too
numerous to list here, but have to include the
Railway Station conservation area that suddenly
found itself without the main station buildings
which were its centrepoint, the Tenant Street
hole, the original Eagle Centre with its
merry-go-round stalls which baffled everyone, and
the Morledge court building on its prime site by
the river, surely a graphic example of bad
judgement? As always when plans such as the Eagle
Centre extension are announced, places such as
the Meadowhall Centre, Nottingham and Leicester
are cited as examples of the competition that
Derby's retailers face.
What will happen when everywhere is the same,
with the same retail outlets, designed in the
same way, in the same "modern" shopping
centre? All we will be left with will be the
higher taxes levied by the same people who seem
incapable of the vision needed to reshape the
future of the city properly. Instead of being led
by the nose by developers, those responsible in
the council should be looking at alternatives,
such as tourism, to generate revival. To allow
places such as St Helen's House and Elvaston
Castle to fall into an irreversible state of
decline will mean there will be nothing at all
left for Derby to offer to anyone, especially
those who live here.
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