The first Town Deal Board meeting was held in March 2020, so we’re pretty much at the fourth anniversary (see: https://www.gooletowndeal.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GTDB-Minutes-13-03-2020.docx for the minutes of meetings). While it’s true that the Covid pandemic caused disruption and allowances should be made for that, still, there does not seem to be much in the way of sensible developments to improve the town centre.

The £25 million originally allocated to Goole (attracting the money took effort) will now buy significantly less than four years ago.  What is planned seems to be an exercise in how to waste money rather than invest it wisely. The only real beneficiaries appear to be the people who have earned salaries and fees from the Town Deal, and the consultants.

Parents want play areas for their children distributed around the town so there is not so far to travel to them. The town centre needs more to draw people in to create footfall. Most people don’t mind working hard, but they want to build comfortable and secure futures for themselves rather than working very long hours, often across two or three jobs, to still be barely managing while making a few very wealthy people even wealthier.

The Town Deal isn’t addressing any of the challenges that face Goole as a community.

The sporting village idea is mentioned in the very first Town Deal Board minutes. It’s a pity that goal was dropped.

A very obvious thing to do would have been to consult Goole residents on what their priorities were for spending the £25 million. Instead, East Riding Council hand picked a Board to impose a plan which suits ERC on the residents.

It’s time for an impartial review so that what is left of the money can be used to put Goole on a better footing.

If you agree, please sign the petition. Please also share the petition as much as possible by email, texts, word of mouth and using social media.

Thanks and best wishes, Richard.