It’s Hull Fair time again, starting on Friday 9th October to Sunday 17th October 2009.
We’re now celebrating over 700 years of Hull Fair, including white-knuckle rides, side stalls and not forgetting the biggest ride of them all…? Those scary looking tea-cups, designed for small children (although you often catch the parents on them too!)
For anyone who reads this blog regularly, or looks at the archived posts, I always try and follow up on stories I’ve blogged about before. Call it tying up loose ends or being like a dog with a bone, I like to plot progress. Especially when it comes to Hull.
When I posted about the looming upgrade of Castle Street back in June, I should have known that the estimated time-scales would fly out the window.
Latest reports suggest that work might not start for another five years, so that’s more endless queues and frustration to look forward to.
So Hull City’s fans are some of the quietest in the Premiership, according to Sky Sport’s Noise League.
| Top three clubs | Bottom three clubs |
|---|---|
| Stoke 101.8dB | Wigan 86.06dB |
| Tottenham 97.58dB | Hull 84.6dB |
| Liverpool 95.4dB | Sunderland 84.05dB |
I wasn’t even at the game against Man City on Saturday, but I could certainly hear the “Come on you Hull” chants, and as I drove past at the end of the game the general banter continued as the fans poured out of the stadium.
Yorkshire and Humberside are falling behind on their transport infrastructure and once again it comes down to the usual problem: money.
A report by the ICE (Institute of Civil Engineers) states that Yorkshire and Humberside receive the lowest transport funding than any other region in the UK.
I blogged back in July about the Humber Bridge, saying there would soon be an update on a report commissioned to find out the impact of the tolls.
It turns out that scrapping the tolls would benefit the local economy by £1.1bn over the next 25 years, with the report listing improvements to the region if the tolls were abolished or even reduced to £1.
There’s been an interesting article in the Hull Daily Mail this week about a survey that has been launched to find out the effects of Humber Bridge tolls on local firms.
The benefits of the Humber Bridge for transport in the region are undeniable but have the bridge tolls ever affected your decision to use the bridge? Or even prevented you from taking jobs across the River?
We face one of the highest tolls in the UK, £2.70 for a single car crossing, and the Humber Bridge Board has construction costs debt of over £330M.
Although it’s anticipated that the costs will be paid off by 2032, there have been so many calls over the years for the Government to write off the debt.
(You can read their response here, but to save you time, it’s a “no”)
So, in the meantime, the drum beats on and this latest survey should give us all yet again another indication of whether we think the tolls deter investment in the area.
I can’t help but think it must do, but I’m also very aware that it’s not just businesses who are affected. Let’s not forget that the tolls also hit the most vulnerable the hardest – such as those who travel across the Bridge to hospital appointments.
The findings of the survey are due to be released in September this year so stay tuned.
Traffic management in Hull. Not my favourite topic of conversation at the moment following my attempts to make it across the City in rush hour. Not the best time to try either, admittedly, but it’s a pretty common complaint amongst those who sit in a pool of frustration and boredom in the gridlock day after day.
So, what is the general opinion on Hull City Council’s ideas, and the numerous suggestions which have been flying around, for solving the problem?
One of the ideas I’ve heard of is a car-free City Centre, where cars and commercial traffic will be banned from going into an “environmental zone”. Other than deliveries to shops and offices during restricted hours, only buses and cyclists will be able to whiz though the centre, dodging pedestrians as they happily breeze through.
Widening the main roads into the City and creating more bus lanes is another idea that has been thrown into the hat of tricks, along with upgrading the existing gridlocked ring road route. You may be sensing my scepticism.
I am, however, delighted to see that Council officials have ruled out a London-style congestion charge, which surely would have been a death sentence for our vibrant City. I’m also pleased to see that Council’s are taking positive steps towards developing park-and-ride schemes.
Even so, there can be no doubt that every single driver is dreading the looming £200m upgrade of Castle Street, which will see Hull’s busiest road restricted to a single lane in each direction for up to four years. Don’t worry though, if you get caught stuck in traffic and are unable to make it across the city, you can always use Cityvisitor to find the nearest B&B or pub in Hull to pass away the time.
