New Arts Hub
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Posts
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[quote quote=105872]ddraig. You quote 60% of respondents agree with the proposal to have an arts and cultural space at the People’s Market. When they were asked, were they told that it would cost 4.1/2 million pounds to bring to fruition? I guess not, as I believe on the same lines as MP1953,the 60% may have turned out to be 2%.
[/quote]
So you would have each consultation explicitly ask each Wrexham resident?
And the £4.5m figure is misleading, since the council contribution is at £1.5m.
Again I am not saying the council have consulted to communicated well in this project – but throwing figures around like that is misleading to say the least.
So you would have each consultation explicitly ask each Wrexham resident?
[/quote] When you have to make decisions on projects, are short of funds as WCBC are, is it not the first thing you ask . How much will it cost? Or do you go ahead willy, nilly
[quote quote=105859]
Have a walk around town and ask say 200 people and ask them would they support this project, if you got more than a handful I would be very surprised, personally think it is the City Status brigade at work once again !
How about the 95 people that replied to the online consultation?
“Nearly 60% of respondents (57.32%) agree with the proposal to have an arts and cultural
space at the People’s Market with comments such as “Any cultural improvement will lead to
a social improvement in the long term.” It was felt that it would enhance the visitor
experience in Wrexham; boost the local economy and jobs and give an identity to the town.
There were also those respondents that felt that there is no place for art in Wrexham and a
large proportion of those not in favour cited the loss of the market and market traders as
being detrimental to the town although the project will actually include market stalls and will
increase footfall to the area and attract new audiences to the market.”Reference:
http://moderngov.wrexham.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=4154[/quote]
People who would take the time to fill in an on line survey would be in favour, as I said go round the town with a clip board !
[quote quote=105887]
People who would take the time to fill in an on line survey would be in favour, as I said go round the town with a clip board ![/quote]
Agreed people who were strongly in favour would fill out the survey, but so would those who were just as strongly against.
ddraig,
I am not against an Arts/Hub as such. I find it difficult to understand the Business Plan to sustain it. I do not know if you have read the Fourth Street Report or not. The Hub will rely on revenue from the People’s Market . The Fourth Street Report tells us the Peoples Market is presently losing £246k per year. The Rent for the Café is quoted at £32,500 and on top of this there will probably be a Service Charge of around £20k. This is a lot of pie and chips to break even, and we are a pie and chips town, we are led to believe. I really do have reservations about the magnitude of this project.If Wrexham had a Vanderbilt, Peabody, Carnegie or Saatchi minded to fund a Peoples Market Arts Hub I still have no doubt it would fail, as it is in the wrong place with the wrong demographic, but its their money.
Going ahead with this project using Wrexham Council Tax even in part is a different matter. Its all very well stating the odd £80k isn’t a large amount if it is private money on the hook but it isn’t.
There are families, couples and single people in Wrexham that genuinely struggle to pay their Council Tax.
Wrexham Council should be trying their hardest to minimise the likelihood of asking for a further increase in CT every year rather than pushing ahead with a vanity project that suggests they care even less about people that struggle to pay it than people in Wrexham care for this arts hub.
If Wrexham Council has enough money to fund this we can assume no increase in 2016 CT yes ?
No!The finances for this whole project needs to put together in a proper accountancy format with a red , amber , green categorisation of the income streams. That would start to visually show what a disastrous proposition this is. There cant be a single business advisor or accountant that could support the financials as most would either be red or amber as far as being secured. The uncertainty level is sky high.
The variables for the income on this project account for at least 80%- but the expenditure is known for about 80% – this creates a 100% risk level of whether the ‘business’ would be able to pay its way.
The Wales Audit of Wrexham Council next year is really going to be interesting as to how they can endorse the actions of this Council.[quote quote=105913]If Wrexham had a Vanderbilt, Peabody, Carnegie or Saatchi minded to fund a Peoples Market Arts Hub I still have no doubt it would fail, as it is in the wrong place with the wrong demographic, but its their money.
Going ahead with this project using Wrexham Council Tax even in part is a different matter. Its all very well stating the odd £80k isn’t a large amount if it is private money on the hook but it isn’t.
There are families, couples and single people in Wrexham that genuinely struggle to pay their Council Tax.
Wrexham Council should be trying their hardest to minimise the likelihood of asking for a further increase in CT every year rather than pushing ahead with a vanity project that suggests they care even less about people that struggle to pay it than people in Wrexham care for this arts hub.
If Wrexham Council has enough money to fund this we can assume no increase in 2016 CT yes ?
No![/quote]
Sorry that is nonsense.
Would you say the same of Wakefield? Very similar demographic.
It will fail. It’s not wanted, it’s not needed. It’s in the wrong location, and it’s being pushed through as a vanity project that will ultimately be a big white elephant. It’ll kill what’s left of the market, as the arts hub will be promoted and people will forget the market is there.
Ironic, as there is no market for an arts hub. If there were, Glyndwr would’ve set one up at one of their sites, given that they’re home of the arts in town. They haven’t.
It’s as doomed as WH Smith.
Not sure how painting the outside brickwork black with signage of “OW” will let visitors know what to expect inside. A complete rebranding is needed together with signage that tells visitors there is a market and art gallery inside. How about Holt Street Market and Gallery . I am sure people on here will come up with much better suggestions!
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