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SALFORD FOLLY OF THE YEAR WINS MARY BURNS AWARD
 

Star date: 3rd January 2013

SALFORD STAR MARY BURNS AWARD FOR FOLLY OF THE YEAR

Ladies and gentlemen welcome to the annual Salford Star Mary Burns Awards ceremony. These prize gongs are given out to honour the most deserving individuals and organisations in the city for their stupid statements, dodgy dealings and iffy activities over the past 12 months.

There were two nominations for Salford Folly of the Year Award, a tight fought contest between the cursed Salford City Stadium and the deserted Greengate Square. But in the end the judges were unanimous in their derision…Ladies and gentlemen get your pointing fingers out and boo the Salford Folly of the Year.

Click here to find out which folly has triumphed…

Salford Folly of the Year Award Salford Folly of the Year Award Salford Folly of the Year Award
Salford Folly of the Year Award
click image to enlarge

THE SALFORD STAR MARY BURNS AWARDS

Category: Salford Folly of the Year
Winner: Greengate Square

The judges had an incredibly hard choice to make between the £22million Salford City Stadium which has almost bankrupted Salford City Reds and definitely cursed bottom of the league Sale Sharks, and Greengate Square, the new £13million fountain at the edge of Manc city centre, on the site of the old Victoria Bus Station.

The judges trooped down to Greengate Square during the pre-Christmas shopping frenzy when Manchester was packed with shoppers and the Square had a full programme of events – a Victorian Carousel, the Camp Cooks and a visit from Father Christmas himself…

…Unfortunately, mid afternoon there was virtually no-one there…one bored looking kid on the Carousel, a couple of people at the Camp Cooks van and Father Christmas and his elf almost getting the butterfly net out to forcibly greet the few disinterested passers by. This certainly swayed the judges...

The £13million Greengate Square, or what Salford Council calls its "stunning public realm", consists of a new footbridge, two stainless steel tall metal things, some fountains that spout water out of the ground and lots of bins (for full funding details and background see previous Salford Star story – click here).

Salford Council has argued that the `funding total of £13.3million' for the scheme is money well spent because the space could kickstart "up to £490M of private sector investment in the area over the next 10-15 years". On the judges visit there was not even any evidence of anyone spending a quid on the Victorian Carousel during the busiest week of the year.*

So, ladies and gentlemen please splash your hands in the puddles of public cash for the winner of the Salford Star Mary Burns Award for Salford Folly of the Year…

The Greengate Square £13million fooooountaaaaaiiiin!!!

Applause…

If anyone from the Greengate Square would like to make a thank you speech please fill in the Comments box below...

* The Salford Star did ask Salford Council if it was paying for the Christmas events at Greengate Square and, if so, how much, but, as usual, the Council has not replied...

See other Salford Star Mary Burns Awards winners...

Unfortunate Website of the Year: Visit Salford - click here

Fiddling While Rome Burns - click here
Tony wrote
at 13:00:19 on 07 January 2013
his publication is brilliant at exposing the folly of Salford Council. The monies would be much better spent improving the living standards of many of the Salford residents that NEED financial help, NOT the resident spongers, they want weeding out. What I don't understand is how you have allowed the bad Council members to remain in power. Insist that the law/rules be changed so that you can throw them out. When anyone is caught fiddling, eg Hazel Blears she should be gone, no second chance. Come on get off your asses and make it happen
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mary ferrer wrote
at 17:50:54 on 06 January 2013
Well Salford Star, how many awards are you handing out,because that lot up at the Civic have made a hell of a lot of decisions like this in the last few years.And there are a few in the pipeline. This will carry on till there is proper opposition to the decision makers. The Council are throwing OUR money about on total folly,hair brain schemes without any challenge.Thank you Salford Star for highlighting some of the MANY projects Salford Labour Council are wasting OUR money on. Keep up the good work.
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Baz wrote
at 17:48:20 on 06 January 2013
What a disgraceful waste of OUR money . IT'S TIME THE IDIOTS STOPPED PISSING our money away . Salford Clowncil are a Ponzi Scheme .
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Victoria Square wrote
at 22:07:30 on 05 January 2013
Instead of wasting money on all these schemes, hoping to attract private sector funding, why dont the council actually do something useful with the money? Why should the private sector invest? If they just sit back for long enough, then the council will give them money or underwrite a scheme, meaning that they throw more of our money at an "investment" in the hope of getting a "return". Does this ring any bells regarding other recent Salford star stories???? (Cough cough Salford Reds cough cough). What Salford are doing is like a Ponzi scheme/giant pyramid (not a building suggestion ;DDD) scheme but it is our money that keeps going into these follies. Now if someone on the council did this right, they could do this Ponzi scheme and tehn eventually get the government to bale them out. Oh hang on, the banks have already done that. One final thing. A big square of concrete like that would make a cracking bus station. DOH!
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Do They Care? wrote
at 22:07:24 on 05 January 2013
what a crock of shite, I wonder how long it will be before Manchester compulsory purchasesa and claims it as an eyesore. How in this day and age do we allow money to be squandered on peoples artistic ego,wanting to leave another shite legacy to the people of Salford that no doubt in ten years will become an office block /Hotel. At least with that you would have employment. On the plus side its a decent place to put open air urinals for folk on there way home at night to have a piss.A well deserved Award Salford Star
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OBVIOUSLY.... wrote
at 22:07:11 on 05 January 2013
13 Million Quid spent on a square? Where's the cash gone ? - The Developer, The Designer, Their Construction Crew and payments to relevant individuals/councils to get the ball rolling. Yes, I Know we the residents who pay for it could have done it cheaper...but our humble councillors in Swinton's Ivory Towers wanted to make a statement...such a shame they couldn't consult on this .
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Arnie wrote
at 12:55:42 on 05 January 2013
£13 MILLION of OUR money squandered on a concrete square ? SO WHERE'S THE MONEY GONE ? This mess could be constructed for less thsn £1 Million . SO WHERE'S THE MONEY GONE ? How does this mess represent value for money for the Taxpayers ? This mess needs urgent investigation .
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blueliam wrote
at 19:57:15 on 04 January 2013
What your telling me that Greengate square is finished. I just thought it was still under construction or something, thats it is it? A concrete square. This cant be right, can it?
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Pete Shorrock wrote
at 08:33:27 on 04 January 2013
Well people.....WAKE UP... It's you...the good people of Salford that keep these imbecilic councillors in seat. Start a rebellion....a vote of no confidence... Like Laurence Grant says....CALL a public enquiry. TAKE power back from these shambolic out of touch and classless cretins.
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salford pimpernel wrote
at 20:07:29 on 03 January 2013
I can see all Manchester's vagrants down there in summer stripping off and using the fountains as a giant bidet when the toilet paper runs out, just think when this countries roads and streets have been flooded with water this council decides to give nature a hand and pay £13 million for the privilege. If Salford council wanted a large turnout of people for this they should of put all the councils councillors in the stocks and charged people for throwing rotten food at them, they would have made a fortune
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Winston Smith wrote
at 18:57:47 on 03 January 2013
I think the Salford Star could raise a few quid by having Christmas cards made out of these photos. I'd certainly buy a few AND you could be in with a chance in the Mayor's Christmas card contest
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Laurence Grant wrote
at 18:57:34 on 03 January 2013
...and yet they won't spend a few hundred quid on Community Safety training for their officers and elected members to work closer with communities and other key stakeholders. Local Authorities have shut up shop pretty much and the double strains of increasing needs stacked against increasingly reduced resources means that risk averse leadership and talent drain have been allowed to go unchecked and are now endemic. These follies are the sign of desperate dinosaurs of local govt departments and visionless patsies and party apparatchiks. Where is the business plan for this? Council tax payers should call for public enquiry as to the level of consultation and planning that went into (or not) this insane and doomed-to-fail profligacy in these austere times. If this happened in commercial/independent/charity sectors that would be the case so why any different
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not happy wrote
at 18:55:58 on 03 January 2013
Salford Council said that the space could kickstart "up to £490M of private sector in 10-15 years in this day and age who's got that kind of money to invest (PEEL HOLDINGS)my be.have Salford council got a crystal ball to see into the future.Don't think so.if they did have all this money to spend who's going to get it not the people of Salford who's paid for these two fountains.So who evers on Salford council don't think of 10-15 years in the future think of the people of Salford now and invest in them now and not two pieces metal that nobodys intersted in,
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Frustrated with Irwell Riverside wrote
at 12:14:46 on 03 January 2013
Waste of Council Tax Payers money, people visiting the City Centre are more likely to say its part of the regeneration of Manchester, Again why are we the people rNot being consulted on anything anymore in regards to Regeneration, or Spend, including the DFG Group, ( Charlestown & Lower Kersal DFG ,defiantly need an award. For high wages and no action) let the people decide and not those Councilliors you never see anymore.
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wrote
at 11:27:13 on 03 January 2013
Come on be honest, who in Salford is not happy with our £13million going towards this magnificent piece of crap called a stunning public realm. How out of touch are our Labour elected Councillors?
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A.P. wrote
at 11:26:48 on 03 January 2013
AN EXCELLENT WELL DESERVED AWARD . SUCH A SHAME THAT THE FOUNTAIN DOES NOT SPEW SHITE , AS IT WOULD THEN TRULY REPRESENT SALFORD CLOWNCIL .
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