We are calling on the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Steve Read responsible to investigate the Goole Town Deal projects, and preferably have a comprehensive review undertaken.

The Town Deal schemes are an initiative of the 2019 Johnson Govt.

There are long standing concerns. Among plans causing controversy are:

• moving the library out of the town centre (and separating from the museum) into the new leisure centre.
• considerably increasing visitors to the Victoria Pleasure Grounds located in a residential area where narrow streets and blind corners, along with pressure caused by a concentration of HMOs, means the streets cannot ope with existing traffic levels - there has been no direct consultation with local residents about the impact on their quality of life.
• also part of the Victoria Pleasure Grounds plans is getting rid of the 400m running track, the only one in the East Riding which will mean the end of the youth athletics club - the public has been wilfully misled that England Athletics and Sport England support the plans when there is written evidence they oppose getting rid of the track. Town Deal money is allocated to a new 3G football pitch but there is already a 3G pitch built to serve the Goole area using grants and significant local crowdfunding.
• Other plans for the town centre include plastic cubicles which are an invitation to vandalism and other criminal behaviour.
• Why is the Market Hall project costing £4 million?
• An obvious first step would have been to consult the citizens of the town as to what their priorities are, and then using those priorities to draw up plans. That was never done.
• There is a lack of transparency and accountability which is undermining public confidence and trust - one consequence is the very low turn out for the last local govt elections. Consultations are a shop window display rather than anything meaningful, minutes and other information is a sales pitch rather than engaging with the community.
• The public are being treated as very junior subordinates of a large corporation who must be unquestioning and obedient, rather than as citizens and voters in a healthy democracy. 
• The Town Deal Fund could have done so much good, especially as we approach its 200th anniversary. Instead, there is growing feeling the money is being frittered away, and a sense the democratic clock is being turned back 200 years to far more authoritarian and autocratic times.

Therefore, we urge Mr Reed to intervene and ensure that these projects are reviewed thoroughly before further implementation takes place. Please sign this petition if you believe in responsible use of public funds and effective community development.