Barrow Rising and the Mythical Field of Dreams

[Wintergreen]

Not much happening with the Field of Dreams this week only a request in the Evening Mail from Team Barrow for more public input to find out what the people of Barrow really want and urging them to complete an online form which they didn’t actually supply a link to! Undeterred, I visited their website but couldn’t find one there either, but browsing about I found the Head Honcho of Team Barrow – Dr Simon Case (aka Lord Case) and digging a bit further my heart sank. This is the guy who was the Head of the Civil Service from 2020 to just a few months ago. So a former Head of the Blob – the very definition of inertia in this country, who also headed up the Tories’ Partygate enquiry until someone pointed out that he was actually at most of the parties!

He seems to have fallen out with most people in the current government and eventually resigned due to ‘health issues’ - probably an excessive amount of bladed articles affecting the upper back by the sound of things. So a guy from Bristol, former Whitehall type and a sitting Lord combines with the glacial BAE and the new council to ask the public (10 months into the project) - what should we do? I hope Forum members will offer a few suggestions with what to do with their millions when/if they do get their online questionnaire er, online. If this was China we’d be sitting in our shiny new seats Friday night.

[Main Stand SeasonTct]

The consultation is also reported on the Westmorland and Furness website dated December 12th it says at the end of the report in the link below that it will be available to complete soon

https://www.westmorlandandfurness.gov.u ... own-centre

[Main Stand SeasonTct]

The link is now live for the survey from Team Barrow to see what folk would like to see as improvements in the town.
Link below takes you to a page where you will find another link at the bottom of the page that takes you to the survey.

https://www.westmorlandandfurness.gov.u ... own-centre

[Wintergreen]

Christmas Eve?
Got to wonder at the timing of this - do they not want people to see it?
Anyway plenty of time for crackpot conspiracy theories next year.

So give it a go and see if we can future-proof our club and save it from a very uncertain long-term future.

We have nothing to lose and everything to gain!

[barrowaberdeen]

You'll have a job, it is all about the Town Centre.

[Methuselah]

I,m not being funny but forms should have been sent out to every home in the Barrow and Furness area by the council.It is nothing to do with Kendal,not everyone has the internet..The money was allocated to Barrow.We have already has enough money creamed off the top by people and what have they done? Decided to finally ask people who actually live here after about 3 yrs since being awarded the first batch of money.
The guy in charge should be available in a local office based in Barrow along with the people implementing the scheme.I can honestly see this money disappearing before anything has been done due to the inaction over the past 3 years.
Whilst I would like Barrow AFC and Barrow RFC to receive money to help improve facilities the current committee in charge will probably say it is outside their remit.

[Blue Bayou]

Like I have previously said.
The town it self will see very little, if anything at all, from this 'Barrow money'.
The bulk of it will end up lining the pockets of quangos.

[Main Stand SeasonTct]

Like I have previously said.
The town it self will see very little, if anything at all, from this 'Barrow money'.
The bulk of it will end up lining the pockets of quangos.

Seven Million pounds was recently awarded from the fund to Alfred Batrow Health Centre towards transforming it into a neighborhood health 'one-stop-shop' with GPs, nurses, dentists, and other services under one roof, part of the government's NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild programme to bring care closer to residents
Also five million pounds from Team Barrow and local school leaders will help decide how best to spend a multi-million-pound education improvement fund.

The £5m Brilliant Futures Fund, which is an investment from Team Barrow and was first announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer when he visited the town in March, will be used to strengthen learning and increase educational attainment

On top of this £650,000 from Team Barrow was awarded to vital charities info In link below

https://businesscrack.co.uk/2025/12/19/ ... in-action/

[Methuselah]

This is just putting back what should have been there in the first place.Without improving the infrastructure in Barrow eg : - housing theatre facilities,market ,shopping area who is going to want to live. and work here.It should be a condition imposed on BAE that before they employ people in the shipyard the majority of them have to live in the area,otherwise the money earned in the area is going to be spent elsewhere.
Vickers was developed by them first building houses and flats for the workforce to live in .That is the way forward otherwise money earned in the town is going to go to other parts of the country.If BAE started to build housing estates of a suitable standard surely people would want to stay if the job came with a house attached maybe at first for rent with a view to being able to buy it further in that person' s employment.How else are you going to get people to.live and work here.Without innovative ideas Barrow as a town is going to wither and die along with it,s football and rugby clubs.This country owes Barrow a lot it is now payback time.

[Main Stand SeasonTct]

This country owes Barrow a lot it is now payback time.

A similar phrase was used by Sir Simon Case the Chair of Team Barrow when he spoke in parliament to MPs at a commons select Committee on Team Barrow about the progress/ difficulties and what needs to be done with the government funding to improve the area.

[Blue Bayou]

This is just putting back what should have been there in the first place.Without improving the infrastructure in Barrow eg : - housing theatre facilities,market ,shopping area who is going to want to live. and work here.It should be a condition imposed on BAE that before they employ people in the shipyard the majority of them have to live in the area,otherwise the money earned in the area is going to be spent elsewhere.
Vickers was developed by them first building houses and flats for the workforce to live in .That is the way forward otherwise money earned in the town is going to go to other parts of the country.If BAE started to build housing estates of a suitable standard surely people would want to stay if the job came with a house attached maybe at first for rent with a view to being able to buy it further in that person' s employment.How else are you going to get people to.live and work here.Without innovative ideas Barrow as a town is going to wither and die along with it,s football and rugby clubs.This country owes Barrow a lot it is now payback time.

Absolutely spot on.

[sambino]

This is just putting back what should have been there in the first place.Without improving the infrastructure in Barrow eg : - housing theatre facilities,market ,shopping area who is going to want to live. and work here.It should be a condition imposed on BAE that before they employ people in the shipyard the majority of them have to live in the area,otherwise the money earned in the area is going to be spent elsewhere.
Vickers was developed by them first building houses and flats for the workforce to live in .That is the way forward otherwise money earned in the town is going to go to other parts of the country.If BAE started to build housing estates of a suitable standard surely people would want to stay if the job came with a house attached maybe at first for rent with a view to being able to buy it further in that person' s employment.How else are you going to get people to.live and work here.Without innovative ideas Barrow as a town is going to wither and die along with it,s football and rugby clubs.This country owes Barrow a lot it is now payback time.

Totally agree. What's desperately needed is some modern flats for new starts, particularly for apprentices and graduates starting their working lives away from home.
The old timers coming for the money, travelling up working going back for the weekend dont mind a room in a HMO or hotel, younger people ive spoken to want something better and want to make a life here while working in Barrow.
These are a demography we should be targeting to turn into fans maybe as a second team at first for them but they look for stuff to do at weekends and then could be turned into fully fledged Barrow fans.

[bluessupporter]

It should be a condition imposed on BAE that before they employ people in the shipyard the majority of them have to live in the area,otherwise the money earned in the area is going to be spent elsewhere.
Vickers was developed by them first building houses and flats for the workforce to live in .That is the way forward otherwise money earned in the town is going to go to other parts of the country.

Times have changed since Vickers was first built. Workers travel from Glasgow and many other places to get here. There is a motorway network now, making it much easier to travel long distances than it used to be, and get home at weekends.

Why should BAE build housing when they are getting the numbers of workers they need without doing so? They are a business, and doing so would eat into their profits, which is why they are in business.

[MisterPleasant]

Like I have previously said.
The town it self will see very little, if anything at all, from this 'Barrow money'.
The bulk of it will end up lining the pockets of quangos.

Seven Million pounds was recently awarded from the fund to Alfred Batrow Health Centre towards transforming it into a neighborhood health 'one-stop-shop' with GPs, nurses, dentists, and other services under one roof, part of the government's NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild programme to bring care closer to residents

Shouldn't that money have come from DHSS & NHS budgets rather than sucking up town development money? Other areas are doing the same thing so where is their money coming from? (that's a rhetorical question)

[Wintergreen]

I can see why Barrow Rising are now apparently interested in a flagship piece to build a new image of the town upon. Thinking about it, a kick start for the now rather basic Marina Village estate, some new concrete at the Forum and donations to niche charities aren’t going to get people hurtling down the A590 in droves to put down roots in the area I don’t think. Something big is needed to help ‘sell’ the area and maybe a new sports village type multi-use shared facility might just sway some to come take a look, as well as being a boon for locals. So maybe it’s worth five minutes of your time to help build support for a multi-use shared facility as a potential ‘golden ticket’ not just for the town’s professional clubs but for the whole community. As I said, it takes five minutes and you don’t need to supply any personal details. Follow the link on the Barrow Rising site:
https://www.westmorlandandfurness.gov.u ... own-centre