Scandal of the Redcar Beacon and the visitors to the toilet

Talking up Redcar by using figures that are based on a lie is dishonest and is counterproductive. It eventually gets found out as it did thanks to Councillor Steve Kay.

To sneer at someone for revealing the truth is a disgrace. All summer long the Council has been reporting visitor figures to the Redcar Beacon that nobody believed were true. There was even a big fuss for 'the 100,000th visitor' without ever saying they were including people who were only there to use the toilet. Thanks to Steve Kay we now know the truth. This is not evidence of increased visitor figures. That many people used the perfectly good toilets that were demolished to make way for this eyesore every year.

Interesting that Labour people are claiming the Evening Gazette should not be reporting this but concentrating on the fact that the Council has agreed to retain the Cabinet system which allows it to ignore residents views and keep us in the dark about the real cost of things.

It is a scandal that these figures were used so much over the summer without explaining that most people were only there to use the toilet. It is a scandal too that we were told the cost of the building was £1.6 million when it is more than £3 million. The public said they didn't want it and were ignored. They will not be happy that the cost is more than double what was claimed.

A pier for Redcar is achievable if the Council, as the development authority, produces a plan and facilitates it. But not if, as appears to be happening with the campaign group, you get grandiose ideas about structures on the end of it and appear willing to accept fake figures produced by the Council as the basis for attracting funding. That is treating the grant providers as idiots and they are not. Nor will the public continue to support a pier if they find the Council's contribution and this could be as much as half, will be endless millions.

A simple pier based on the one at Saltburn is achievable for around £6 million and the Council's contribution to this will be a reasonable amount spread over a long period. With the help of our MP that can happen. If you start producing plans for grandiose schemes Redcar people will say no and people outside the town will be up in arms.