Welcome to this week’s Talking the Blues Podcast with George and Andy Costigan. We look back on our 2-0 home win against Fulham – a result which lowered the blood pressure in the Costigan households.
We then ask serious questions of the club, local politicians and the Government as to why we are not hearing of future transport & infrastructure developments around Bramley-Moore.
As ever thanks for listening. Talking the Blues is available subscription and advert free on all major podcast platforms.
We look forward to speaking to you during the international break next week
Categories: podcast
Rotheram described apparent proposed changes to the government’s ‘Blue Book’ capital appraisal process as a potential ‘game changer’ with regards to investment projects in the region. Is he deluded? Is he just using government bureaucracy as an excuse for his own shortcomings ? Burnham does seem to get a lot more central govt. support than Rotheram has been able to secure. Is that fair criticism?
Rotheram is not so much deluded as inept. He’s been the LCR mayor since 2017/18 but he’s achieved very little. He takes credit for the new fleet of Merseyrail trains but the procurement was underway before he took office. Of the four new stations he keeps talking about only the Baltic one has got past the planning stage and even that is very unlikely to be completed by the target date of 2027.
He’s had since 2018 to sort the Sandhills issue but did absolutely nothing until the panic after the first test event. He was then photographed with the pen solution and thought that was ‘job done’.
The long term plan for the central and northern dock area is for 1000s of new homes over the next decade and they will need a workable transport infrastructure, too, as well as the many other businesses which will be attracted to the area and the concerts etc at the stadium.
The only sensible solution is for a new station somewhere between the Titanic Hotel and the stadium and the obvious location is where the line crosses Blackstone Street. It would be a damn sight cheaper than the Baltic project as it’s on the surface with plenty of surrounding space.
However, Rotheram thinks the solution, both for our stadium and Anfield, will be his ludicrous bendy buses. They would only add to the mayhem at the Leeds Street/Great Howard Street/Regent Road junction.
We really do have a Poundland LCR mayor!
I read that the new Baltic Station has cost £120m. And that is with the lines already in place and much of the excavation already done. That seems like an eye watering amount of money, but if a new Sandhills Station is going to be in that ballpark or higher, what is the chance of it securing govt.funding? Would Burnham get it?
I doubt the City Council and Police would “get away” with the regular post and pre match traffic chaos if our loveable neighbours were involved. The Club needs to be far more vociferous in demanding change on behalf of supporters. I live in North Yorkshire and my journey home from matches used to average two hours and now it’s three ! That additional hour is spent sitting in gridlocked roads around the area of the ground and is wholly down to the lack of traffic policing. The traffic lights should be temporarily re prioritised to get traffic away from the area. Access to the A565 dual carriageway should be prohibited for approaching traffic, as cars trying to get across junctions are blocking the latter because traffic already across those junctions isn’t clearing before lights change. Not helped by turning a dual carriageway into single carriage to accommodate buses that themselves get clogged in the congestion too. It astonishes me that this has been allowed to persist as an issue and needs addressing urgently.
Enjoyed the Podcast, as always. Have walked to the Ground in the sunshine. Bit of a trek but nice. Doubt i will take a similar view on some Sunday evening when the weather is foul and we’ve lost. The infrastructure is a disgrace, I’ve read about Sandhills yesterday, the lack of public transport and the streetlights, or lack of. The Council have had time to work on all of this. George and Andy comment about the lack of usage of the site maybe being a contributory factor. Perhaps the taxes contribution of the club should be a consideration.
Thanks guys, another very interesting podcast. I had my first visit to the new stadium for the rugby league match and was even more impressed than I expected but the transport infrastructure was as equally disappointing. We were in a bar near Exchange Flags and, an hour after the match ended there was a still a stream of spectators walking back into the city centre. “Like the retreat from Stalingrad” according to my wife.
On a very nerdy point, I spent 25 years helping clients with business cases for HM Treasury approval. Frankly the chances of Steve Rotherham getting approval are none existent. The Treasury Green Book (not Blue https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/the-green-book-and-accompanying-guidance-and-documents) is incredibly complex and time consuming. More importantly the cost benefit criteria which are used are very stringent so the measurable benefits of redeveloping Sandhills station would never outweigh the costs. At the heart of thr problem is how the Treasury approves public sector capital investment. We need to have direct local government investment (like the Germans) but that’s another story…..
Thanks Stephen for your insight, very useful and interesting
We have 4 or 5 games at Hill Dickinson for the 2028 Euros as well, yes it’s 3 years away but will we have improved our facilities of transportation by then?