Published at 11:11, Thursday, 26 April 2012

THE TIME IS APPROACHING WHEN HEADS MUST ROLL.... that was the headline on our editorial comment on March 15. Like so many others we were sick and tired of the endless wrangle between Copeland Council and the Whitehaven Miners’ Social Welfare over the Pow Beck community sports stadium.

Six weeks on, we now say the time has finally come for heads to roll. Copeland Council, as the accountable public body among the Pow Beck development partners, must shoulder a lot of the blame.

Shambles? Foolhardiness? How else to view yesterday’s council announcement that the partners have had pulled out of negotiations with the Miners and would now explore other approaches for building a stadium – but still at Pow Beck?

That can only mean finding another access. One could be from the railway side of the Recreation Ground – but really, has this costly scheme not already been shunted into the sidings, especially when we have to live with the added embarrassment of losing two prestigious Rugby League World Cup matches in 18 months’ time.

So we’re told the Pow Beck plans are no longer affordable in their present form or that it is feasible to continue negotiations with the Miners. Too bad that that conclusion wasn’t reached a long time ago before a large slice of £1 million was spent on telling us it was viable.

There are now strong calls for a complete rethink, possibly looking at the Copeland Stadium as an alternative location. This, too, could have been done a long time ago – but because Pow Beck was tied into town centre regeneration, it was just as quickly tossed aside.

It has all ended up in such a mess we have no hesitation repeating our call for resignations.

Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk