Are we kidding ourselves that Whitehaven are of Super League standard??

Who says the money can't be used elsewhere. The funding comes from a socio-economic pot for West Cumbria and for Copeland. No one has decided it can only be spent on the half a stadium in the Pow Beck. Copeland BC is only continuing with this white elephant so Elaine Woodburn can save face.
Now is the time to ditch it and spend the money on something which will make a difference to more than a few hundred rugby watchers.
How about resurrecting Whitehaven town centre? Or the harbour hotel we've been after for so long?

The priority must be surely just to get on with the project. It is ridiculous of cllr Moore to suggest that money is spent elsewhere because he knows that is not possible, but been in opposition it's always easier to say things knowing you will never have to deliver them.

The priority must be surely just to get on with the project. It is ridiculous of cllr Moore to suggest that money is spent elsewhere because he knows that is not possible, but been in opposition it's always easier to say things knowing you will never have to deliver them.

If Tom Tom / sam smith is a person in authority using this newspaper to have a backslapping,self aggrandising conversation with her/his self, to score cheap political points then I think that we should be told who it is! I can't stand to listen anymore to people who say they work only for the good of this community but are actually only concerned with the power and the glory!
Instead of hiding behind the anonymity that the w/haven news has more than generously provided, then this person should accept responsibility and bow out of the spotlight with a little dignity.

We always welcome readers' comments, whichever side of the fence they come from, but unfortunately we have had to block messages from TomTom and Sam Smith because we have found they use fake email addresses - which contravenes our website's T&Cs - and both come from the same IP address, which suggests they are one the same person.
Ironically, this came to light after a message from TomTom criticising us not for posting his/her comments "which only goes to show the credibility of your paper". It is precisely to protect the credibility of this paper that we have these rules, otherwise people are pulling the wool over readers' eyes.
Play nicely, people!

Sunny Bob is correct in one respect the cost of a public enquiry could be another 6 figure sum which may or may not be a further waste of money. Personally I would have thought an independent auditor should be appointed and asked to report on all aspects relating to the non stadium. Publish the minutes of all meetings and accounts of where the money has come from and gone to. It needn't cost a fortune and should give us the transparancy that should have been in place all along.

If Sunny Bob removed the blinkers and tried to understand the terms elected (to select by vote for an office) and democratic (of or for the people in general) his views might be taken seriously. Neither of these definitions fit the present regime in Copeland. The Council Leader is elected by 34 councillors (and governed the Leader's selected 7) all of whom were elected by only 20% of the Copeland electorate. The Council Leader cannot be dislodged by the electorate but only by the 34 majority party councillors who do not all necessarily reflect the views of the 20% electorate who elected them. Thus the electorate has no control over the leadership.
An elected mayor on the other hand is voted for directly and wholly by the electorate and can also be dismissed by the electorate. In 2002 Hartlepool chose to elect a Monkey and with great success. Copeland meanwhile has got, and is stuck with, a disastrous Calamity as self- interest is deemed more important than democracy. One can at least respect Mr Dixon for publicly expressing his views and being re-elected whereas Sunny Bob can't even use his proper name.

Ah, 'Sunny Bob' urging to 'move on'. Well done, you have used the dictiionary well, however, your substance has the consistancy of jelly.
I know Mr. Dixon from opposite sides of the table, as it were, and I will say that his integrity is of the highest order. He is not aware of my writing this. I will state that if more people in the unions and local government were as intelligent as he then workers would be looked after in a more appropriate manner. Secondly, the borough would not be in the pitiful state it is at present.
Both Mr. Dixon and Mr. Norwood have, in your quotes, spoken with sense although, and obviously, you are cerebrally challenged enough not to recognise this.
There are too many 'Sunny Bob's within this borough that are mindlessly voting in, year after year, second raters that will be the undoing of our town, if not already and irreversibly already achieved, by these people.
If you listen very, very intently, shhh, you can just about make out the words of, 'thank goodness we don't have local elections this month', coming from the council chambers.
Wake up people: or suffer the consequences of mis-management as voted for by your goodly selves, for years to come. Your choice.

Mr Walkers comments are interesting. What went wrong, what the miners demanded, the additional costs involved that would break the budget and burden the tax payer. The thing he fails to add is that all these issues should have been flagged up at the beginning of the project, well before the champagne corks were publically popped by him. This is the typical smoke & mirror tactics regularly used by our council to hide the fact that, through their incompatent project management the tax payer has been done out of £1.2 million that could have gone into this community,not forgetting the embarrassing humiliation they have brought on Copeland & WRLFC.
Additionally councillor Woodburns comments in her letter to the editor this week confirm her totalitarian attitude and failure to acknowlege her incompetence. When you lead you have to deliver, when you fail to deliver you do the honourable thing nice and quietly. Why do Walker & Woodburn beleive they should be different?